Asian Interior Design Symposium: Hong Kong

Hong Kong think tank members include educators, practitioners and related-industry representatives. They gave their views on education, practice and the future hopes of the industry They include:

Educators:

Mr Leslie Lu, Head of Dept of Product & Interior Design, Hong Kong Design Institute Mr Alvin Yip, Assistant Professor, School of Design, HK Polytechnic University

Practitioners:

Mr. Vincent Lai, Director, Mission & Associates Ltd. Mr. Joey Ho, Director, Joey Ho Design Ltd. Mr. Timothy Cheng, Tiron Interior Architecture Ltd.

Industry-related representatives:

Ms Anna Kwong, FHKIA, MH, President, the Hong Kong Institute of Architects Miss Shirley Wong, Service Promotion, Hong Kong Trade Develpoment Council

Moderator

Mr. Horace Pan, Chairman, Hong Kong Interior Design Association

Speaker

Identity

What are the core values of interior design, and how do they differ from differ building architecture and decoration?

• Firstly, they differ in terms of scale. Interior designers are bounded by the fact that they cannot construct buildings, the work on a smaller scale, but their flexibility, imagination and creativity are in fact greater than architecture.

• We can usually tell if a space was designed by an architect or an interior designer. An architect’s interior is clean and without messiness (and messiness is meant in a very good sense.) Interior designer can design very rich interiors, whereas an architect’s education bounds him, so the potential to create new forms is much greater for interior designers. A new identity for interior designers has to be an all-encompassing, inter-scope identity.

• Within the design world, because of the lesser baggage and history, the possibility for designers to explore different avenues should be much larger. An interior designer’s knowledge about materials, manufacturing, products, furniture, etc. should be broader than that of architects.

• Interior design identity should encompass all kinds of design and yet stick to some fundamental values of design—color, texture, form, space– all of these have to be mastered but the understanding and approach should be all encompassing. That has to be the new identity of any interior designer.

• If we talk about interior design identity, we should not place too much emphasis on whether it is close to architecture, because that puts up boundaries.

• The term interior architect gives the impression of being more professional and reliable. In addition to the ethics possessed by a designer, an interior architect ought to have knowledge about health and safety.

• In terms of design you should not have boundaries, but as a profession you should let people know that you have certain qualifications.

• Some people feel that design relate to democracy, while architecture relates to power. Should we try to get some of architecture’s residual power so as to claim that we are professionals, or do we really believe in creativity, and proudly proclaim that we are designers with a specialty in interior?

• If creativity is not about protecting certain interests, then interior design should be seen as a design discipline, not as an architectural discipline, or a subset of architecture.

• Interior designers should possess a core body of knowledge. Interior design’s core body of knowledge has much in common with architecture. Aside from creativity there is much knowledge to learn. Interior design is different from graphics because it involves health and safety issues.

• Ten years ago the model for architects is Philippe Stark, now it is Thomas Heatherwick. He is a product designer, but could build this strange Cathedral of Seeds pavilion at the Shanghai Expo. To me this is an astounding achievement. Architects could never build such a thing, because they are bound by too many things.

• In Hong Kong, there has been a shift from construction industry to creative industry. This is not just about differentiating architecture from interior.

• In interior design education, we always consider space and spatial arrangement, and infuse them with architectural thinking, because now interior is greatly related to exterior.

• If you can understand a building’s structure and health and safety issues, it can help you develop the interior in a richer way. Interior designers should not merely see themselves as decorators. You should understand a building’s architecture and even mechanical and engineering.

• Interior designers should define our body of knowledge. Once we have that we have a curriculum.

• Architect has set its own curriculum, consisting of structure, history and construction, etc. It is a mistake for interior design curriculum to be based on architecture. Interior design students should learn more multi-disciplinary stuff. If you want to write a terms of reference and write an ordinance, you have to first figure out a standard curriculum.

Value

What is the perceived value of interior architecture / design in Hong Kong? What is the meaning of human-centric design in HK?

• If you take culture into account, then Hong Kong designers are very successful at human-centric designs

• Hong Kong designers have great agility within compact spaces, this is our highest value. Many Hong Kong designers have made many iconic designs in this area. In this regard Asian cities lead the world.

• Hong Kong has many entertainment spaces like karaoke. This is due to the fact that most homes do not have living rooms where one can have friends over. This Asian context is intimately related to our culture and lifestyles.

Responsibility

Are design educators more responsible to teach preservation of the natural environment/sustainability or to teach students to create better and better interior environments?

• The world’s top architects today are not green architects. There has not been an iconic leader in this field yet, and until such a figure appears it is hard to lead students in this direction. Unfortunately design and architecture is still very trend-based, and we look up to leaders and superstars, so without role models it is hard to push students in this direction. However it is now common sense to be more environmental and use less resources.

• Compared to other countries, Hong Kong’s green concepts are often fake. For example, in the U.S., carpets can be recycled, but we can’t really transport the carpets to the U.S. for recycling. So to advertise such carpets as recyclable is a lie. Our industry only use environmentalism as a selling point, while other countries like Britain has made great strides in the area of zero emission. Many users would pay more to go green, but not in Hong Kong.

Relevance

What is the proper relationship among urban design, building architecture, interior architecture/design and furniture and equipment design? What are the relationships in Hong Kong?

• Nowadays architects think of themselves as urban designers or urban planners, they no longer know how to construct buildings. Should the West Kowloon project be done by an architect or urban planner? Now it is done by architects, and they see themselves in this larger, globalized role. But urban design, from street furniture, paving, lighting are not the urban planner and landscape architect’s specialty. These should be done by interior designers; this is their strength. An architect’s training does not include such things. There is a window of opportunity for interior designers to showcase their strength.

To what extent is the practice of interior architecture/design regulated in Hong Kong? What has been the positive and negative results of regulation or lack of regulation?

• Some people think that at the moment we are not ready to go for registration. There is a long road ahead. Regulation or registration may not be beneficial.

• In places where the average standards of architecture are high, like Europe, the regulation is the loosest. The main focus now should not be regulation but professionalisation.

• The goal should be to raise the standard of the profession and let the public know the difference between a professional and non-professional designer. If licensure simply makes some people stagnate while exclude others from the profession, it would not bring interior design forward.

• We should give designers accreditation so that clients have a choice. We can start with CPD, which can be about management, aesthetics, presentation skills, etc.

• Much of interior design’s framework is like architecture, but the goal is not to get certification, but to change the profession in a positive way. We should find out what we lack or things we keep making mistakes about and improve upon them.

• The HKIDA could hold credit-granting joint seminars and start a credit system as condition for membership renewal. This may be better than licensure at this point.

• Setting up ordinance is a long term goal, but at the same time you can have CPD without licensing. Lifelong learning is very important for everyone, whether or not you are professional.