October 28 – January 5, Interstitial Hong Kong: Exploring the small and marginal landscapes of high density urbanism

Interstitial Hong Kong
间隙香港

exploring the small and marginal landscapes of high density urbanism
探索高密度都市主义中的小型及边际景观

In Hong Kong, a tightly-controlled supply of land and large demand for its use sustain some of the highest land values in the world and drive a notoriously dense form of urbanism. At a granular level, however, density, land-value, and use are unevenly absorbed into the planning and development of the city. In the not-quite-meeting edges of introverted residential complexes, tethered to the unbuildable spaces of flyovers and on-ramps, clinging to steep hillsides and in the odd lots traded by planners and developers as they aggregate density, a counterpart urban form emerges: one of the in-between spaces, one revealing gaps and discontinuities in the urban fabric of the city. Studies about Hong Kong’s urban public space often contort definitions of publicness and openness to include the ambiguous, the informal, the hybrid, the quazi-, the fleeting, or the accidental. Hyperbole and phenomena notwithstanding, it is possible to see much of the city’s public realm as the straightforward spatial consequence of three circumstances of Hong Kong: its geology, its political economy, and its material ecology.

Interstitial Hong Kong reveals the exceptional opportunities within the city’s in-between spaces through an exhibit of two episodes drawn from research and student work in the foundation studio of the Master of Landscape Architecture program in HKU’s Division of Landscape Architecture. The two exhibits, ‘From Miniature to Synchronizer’ and ‘From Border to Mediator’, develop a critical spatial analysis of the city’s landscapes by collecting and communicating the organizational attributes of its public spaces, ultimately developing a spatial morphology through a process of formal transformation.

Curator 策展人:

Ivan Valin
Ivan is an assistant professor of landscape architecture in the Faculty of Architecture at the University of Hong Kong. His research examines alternative paradigms for nature in the city, specifically looking at the histories, forms and impacts of landscape systems in the urbanized tropics. Ivan holds a Master of Architecture and Master of Landscape Architecture from the University of California, Berkeley. He has more than ten years in professional practice in the fields of landscape architecture and architecture and is a founding partner of the Hong Kong-based VALECHE Studio, a research and design consultancy devoted to exploring landscape’s role in recreating the city. His design and research work has been exhibited internationally with the National Building Museum, the International Architecture Biennale in Rotterdam, and the Hong Kong and Shenzhen Biennale.

Dr. Xiaoxuan Lu
Xiaoxuan Lu is lecturer in the Division of Landscape Architecture, where she teaches landscape history and theory, and design studios. Her research and design work has been exhibited internationally in “Crossing Kazakhstan: The Monumentality of Linear Landscape” at Harvard University in Cambridge (2016.4-10), “Dialogues on Urbanization Exhibition” at IIT in Chicago (2015.3-5), and 22nd International Garden Festival at Chaumont-sur-Loire, France (2013.5-11). Dr. Lu received her Bachelor of Architecture from Southern California Institute of Architecture, and Master in Landscape Architecture from Harvard University. She was a PhD Fellow at Harvard University during the academic years of 2014-2016, and received her PhD in Human Geography from Peking University in 2016. She was the recipient of Award of Excellence from the American Society of Landscape Architects (ASLA) in 2012. She has also served as an editor and columnist for Landscape Architecture Frontiers since 2012, which won an Honor Award in the Communications category of 2015 ASLA professional awards.

Susanne Trumpf
Susanne Trumpf is an architect and designer based in Hong Kong. She establishes indialogue, a platform for collaborative design and research focused on conversations, experimentations and questions on architecture and urban strategies. She is currently teaching at the University of Hong Kong (Landscape Architecture), was a guest lecturer and research associate at the PolyU School of Design and taught the Architectural Association Visiting School Hong Kong. She has practiced in several architecture and design studios in Berlin and Hong Kong for over seven years. Susanne graduated from TU Berlin, Germany (BArch) and TU Delft, Netherlands (MArch). Her master thesis received an honorable mention and was nominated for the Archiprix in 2012.

Assistant Curator 助理策展人：
Kelsi Su 苏杭

Thanks to鸣谢：
The University of Hong Kong 香港大学
Faculty of Architecture, The University of Hong Kong  香港大学建筑学院
Design Trust Seed Grant 2017 信言设计大使资助计划 2017
Anderson Lee 李亮聪

Opening Reception and VIP Preview 开幕酒会
6:00PM, Friday, October 27, 2017
2017.10.27 19:00

Date 展期：
October 28, 2017 – January 5, 2018
2017.10.28 – 2018.1.5

Opening Hours 开放时间：
9:00AM – 6:00PM (Last entry at 5:30PM)
Opens on all national holidays.

9:00 – 18:00 (17:30最后入场)，所有国定节假日均开放。

Venue 地点：
HKU/Shanghai Study Centre
298 Bei Suzhou Lu (close to Sichuan Bei Lu)
Hongkou District, Shanghai
Metro Line 10 or 12, Tiantong Lu
香港大学上海学习中心
上海市虹口区北苏州路298号（近四川北路）
地铁10 或12号线 天潼路站3号口