Hong Kong GSD Symposium 2020: After Graduation: How to Craft A Practice?

White poster with black text and many images, advertising the Hong Kong GSD Symposium 2020.

Event Description

The first of a series of fireside chats with design professionals on what happens after graduation, we invite the founding members from a few architecture firms that we admire to talk about how they started out, and what it took to get them where they are now. Florian Idenburg from SO-IL, Ken Wai from Aedas and Paul Tse & Evelyn Ting from New Office Works will be in conversation with Paul Nakazawa on current challenges and opportunities for architects crafting their own practices.

We will speak about how their differences in firm size, generation, and experience inform their thoughts on:

– How to get started
– Projects and Challenges
– How to manage their firms
– Advice on “Craft”
– Working in cross-cultural settings, particularly as a Chinese or Hong Kong designer

Speakers

Ken Wai is a Global Design Principal at Aedas, one of the largest architecture firms in the world with a focus on Hong Kong and China. Not only is Wai well versed in large-scale developments that typify corporate architecture firms, his interests extend to other scales, with works ranging from corporate headquarters to small residential projects.

Paul Tse and Evelyn Ting are co-founders of New Office Works (NOW), an award winning architecture and design firm in Hong Kong with projects across Asia. Besides architecture, NOW’s works extend to exhibitions for major events such as 16th Venice Biennale Hong Kong Pavilion and publications for Log and San Rocco. Concurrent to their practice, they are also invested in academia, where Tse is teaching as Adjunct Assistant Professor at Chinese University of Hong Kong and Ting as a lecturer at the University of Hong Kong. Before establishing their firm, Tse and Ting graduated from top Architecture Programs (Tse is a graduate of Columbia GSAPP and Ting is a graduate of MIT) and became registered architects in the US.

Florian Idenburg is an internationally renowned architect with over two decades of professional experience. After learning the ropes in Amsterdam and Tokyo, he founded SO–IL in New York in 2008 together with Jing Liu. His years of working in cross-cultural settings make Florian a thoughtful and collaborative partner. SO-IL is a mid-size, well-recognized company diverse in origin, with a team of collaborators who speak a dozen languages and is informed by global narratives and perspectives. With their ambitious private and public clients, they explore how the creation of environments and objects inspires lasting positive intellectual and societal engagement.

Moderator:

Paul W. Nakazawa is an Associate Professor in Practice of Architecture at the Harvard Graduate School of Design. He works internationally as a consultant and adviser to private and public companies, institutions, and governments. His experience encompasses the fields of strategy and leadership development; organizational structure and development; new enterprises/entrepreneurship; and international design practice. Nakazawa previously served as a managing principal for multi-disciplinary design practices in New York, Chicago, Boston, and Charlotte. He was a founding member of AMO, the research and development arm of the Office for Metropolitan Architecture. He currently serves as the Chairman of Snohetta’s Advisory Board, New York, and a director of MASS Design Group, Boston.

How to Join

This discussion will be held on Zoom. Please register in advance here.

Visit https://gsd.hk/symposium for updates. If you have questions about this event, please contact [email protected].

Harvard University welcomes individuals with disabilities to participate in its programs and activities. If you would like to request accommodations or have questions about the physical access provided, please contact the Public Programs Office at (617) 496-2414 or [email protected] in advance of your participation or visit. Requests for American Sign Language interpreters and/or CART providers should be made at least two weeks in advance. Please note that the University will make every effort to secure services, but that services are subject to availability.

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