POSsible! Symposium – POS Design

Prof. Leslie Chen is currently Dean of the Faculty of Design and Environment at the Technological and Higher Education Institute of Hong Kong (THEi). He also holds appointments as Honorary Professor at the Faculty of Architecture, University of Hong Kong (HKU), and also at HKU SPACE.

In the specific disciplines of Design, Prof. Chen is currently a Board Director of the Hong Kong Design Centre (HKDC), Vice Chairman of Hong Kong Designer Federation of Design and Creative Industries (FHKDCI), and Advisor of the Design Council of Hong Kong (DCHK).

Before joining THEi in 2012, Prof. Chen has served as founding Head of the Division of Landscape Architecture and Deputy Head of Department of Architecture at the Faculty of Architecture, The University of Hong Kong (HKU).

Prof. Chen has also served as Past president of the Hong Kong Institute of Landscape Architects (HKILA), Past Chairman of the Landscape Architects Registration Board (LARB), and Honorary Secretary of the International Federation of Landscape Architects (IFLA) Asian Pacific Region.

He actively participates in community services and has served as member of many government advisory committees and professional bodies, such as the Town Planning Board (TPB), Antiquities Advisory Board (AAB), Harbourfront Commission, Land and Development Advisory Committee (LDAC), Hong Kong Trade Development Council (HKTDC), Board of Directors of the Professional Green Building Council (PGBC), etc.

With an education background in fine art, visual design and Christian education from the US and working experience as art director in 4A advertising agencies in Hong Kong, she is a grateful recipient of local and international awards on advertising, graphic design and art education. She is a dreamer, doer and advocate of art and design education grounded on her beliefs that all children have inherent creativity and design ability that can be empowered through experience and environment for constructive purposes.

Siu Kin Wai Michael is Associate Dean (Research), Eric C. Yim Professor in Inclusive Design and Chair Professor of Public Design, School of Design, PolyU. He is Founder and Leader of the Public Design Lab. He is a fellow of numerous professional engineering and design organisations. He has been invited by various universities as visiting professor and scholar, including the University of Cambridge, Massachusetts Institute of Technology (Fulbright Scholar), National University of Singapore (ASIA Fellow), UC Berkeley, Central Academy of Fine Arts, and Tsinghua University. His research areas are in public design, policy and management, user reception, inclusive design, and FlexiDesign®. He solely owns over 50 US and international patents and design registrations, and over 50 international invention and design grand awards. He has published over 500 research papers in top-tier academic journals.

Claire Weisz FAIA is a founding partner of WXY, whose work as an architect and urbanist focuses on innovative approaches to public space, structures, and cities. Claire was awarded the Medal of Honor from AIANY in 2018 and was honored with the Women in Architecture Award by Architectural Record in 2019. Her firm, WXY, is globally recognised for its place-based approach to architecture, urban design, and planning, and has played a vital role in design thinking around resiliency. Among its award-winning projects are the SeaGlass Carousel and the Spring Street Garage / Salt Shed. In 2019 Fast Company named WXY one of the World’s Most Innovative Architecture Firms.

Sarah is a catalytic architect. She brings collaborative creations that are grounded in human-design thinking, to connect people to the space in their community and strengthen the social fabric. She focuses on public space, social design and cross-disciplinary creative strategy. Leading the first B Corp in Hong Kong from the architectural industry, she and her team at onebite bridges commercial & public sector with the community through their creative ideas. From the Kai Yip Play Space in Kowloon Bay, to the intergenerational play space in Tuen Mun Siu Hei Court, to City-wide Recycling Convenient Stores, onebite has been leading in innovative public space design in the city. Also as an action-driven team, during the COVID outbreak, two initiatives were rolled out with other community groups to promote good food with dignity which has served over 2000 meals and to produce eco-mask holders with social benefits, sold over 5000 pcs. Being a strong believer in empowerment and participation, the online knowledge-sharing platform, GUTS, has been founded by onebite to bring global insights into promoting better urban space for the public.

Ms. Ruby Yeung has worked as a key management role in the construction and interior fitting-out industry in Hong Kong, China, Macau and Singapore for over 20 years. Ms. Yeung has started focusing on social innovation and social enterprise since 2013 and aims to improve the qualities of local communities through social innovation. She has been taking up the position of Founder and Chair in HKALPS Limited, managing VESSEL in Kwun Tong. She is also the co-founder of the Hong Kong Special Care Dentistry Association and the Loving Smiles Foundation.

Susanne Trumpf is a Senior Lecturer in the Division of Landscape Architecture at the University of Hong Kong, where she teaches design studios, landscape media, and research seminars. Her work explores alternative futures for urban landscapes with a particular interest in material innovation and fabrication.

Susanne has previously taught at Hong Kong Polytechnic University, the AA Visiting School, and Hong Kong Design Institute. She has practiced in Berlin and Hong Kong and is the founder of indialogue, a collaborative design and research platform focused on conversations, experimentations, and questions on design, architecture, landscape, and urban strategies. Susanne graduated from TU Berlin, Germany (BArch) and TU Delft, Netherlands (MArch) in Architecture, Urbanism, and Building Sciences.

James Shen is Principal and Founding Partner of PAO/PIDO. He received his Master of Archi-tecture from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and a Bachelor of Science in Product Design from California State University, Long Beach. Shen has been a Loeb Fellow at Harvard, a Senior Research Fellow at the Harvard Joint Center for Housing Studies and an Innovation Fellow at MIT’s China Future City Lab. He has taught at MIT’s School of Architecture and Plan-ning and Harvard’s Graduate School of Design.

Joe is a designer, academic and educator with over 20 years of experience in design education. He was formerly the Vice Principal of Hong Kong Design Institute and Deputy Academic Director – Design Discipline of Vocational Training Council. Prior to this role, Joe was an Associate Professor in Architectural Design at the City University of Hong Kong.

An award-winning architect, Joe is a Fellow of the Hong Kong Institute of Architects and has served on a number of professional and government bodies, many of which are related to sustainable design and development. In 2018, Joe was invited by the prestigious Red Dot Award to join its juror panel, and was further named Red Dot Ambassador in 2019.

Joe received a Bachelor of Arts in Architecture from the University of California at Berkeley, a Master of Architecture from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and a Doctor of Education from the University of Leicester. He has lectured in many international symposiums and conferences around the world, and his research on open building and spatial / visual field analysis has been published in top academic journals.

Vincent Ng is an award winning architect and urban designer. Graduated from the University of Hong Kong in 1985, Ng obtained the degree of Bachelor of Architecture with Distinction. He further obtained the degree of Master of Urban Design in 1994, and was awarded the Young Architect Award in the same year. In 1999, he founded the architectural and urban design practice AGC Design Limited. Ng was awarded the Ten Outstanding Designer Award in 2013.

Ng was the President of the Hong Kong Institute of Architects in 2015-16. He has also served in numerous government advisory committees including the Harbourfront Enhancement Committee and was elected Chairman of Harbour Plan Review Sub-committee from 2004-2010. He is appointed as a member of Harbourfront Commission in 2010, and was elected Chairman of Task Force on Kai Tak Harbourfront Development. He was also appointed as the Chairman of the Core Group on Public Engagement of the Harbour Commission in 2013, responsible for the conducting of the Public Engagement Exercise for the Proposed Establishment of a Harbourfront Authority. He is a founding member and was Vice-President (Local Policies) of Hong Kong Institute of Urban Design from 2010-2014.

Currently, Ng is serving as a member of the Board of Director of Ocean Park Corporation since 2016, and Chairman of Harbourfront Commission Since July 2018.

Ng is also a columnist writing regularly on architecture and urban design.

As Director, Rasmus works on developing and overseeing projects among others in China and Germany. Having lived and worked for more than 12 years in Shanghai, he has an in-depth understanding of the cultural and societal context of Gehl projects in the region and is well experienced in applying the ‘people first approach’ to his work in Chinese cities. Furthermore, he has lived and worked in Bremen and has experience in developing projects and partnerships throughout Germany. Rasmus holds a Bachelor in Cultural Encounters, a Master’s degree in Strategic Urban Planning from the Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts, School of Architecture and a Master’s degree from Shanghai’s Fudan University in International Politics and Public Affairs.

Ms Alice Yeung joined the Hong Kong Government as an Architect in 1992. Since then her career has been associated with development of public buildings and urban planning of Hong Kong. She started her first posting in ArchSD, designing and delivering public facilities including the Chek Lap Kok (CLK) Airport Control Tower, government facilities in CLK terminal building and Police Headquarters building.
Ms Yeung then posted to Development Bureau working on government policy. Through different postings, she gained wide range of experience from design, project management and advisory service. She also has been working closely with Hong Kong Institute of Architects for many years as the Steering Committee Chair for HK Shenzhen Biennale and HK Venice Biennale to promote HK architecture outside Hong Kong. She is a strong believer in collaboration with industry stakeholders and driving value through creativity and innovation.

Architect, entrepreneur, and urban thinker passionate about architecture and urban environments that have a lasting impact on society. Eric studied architecture at University of Pennsylvania and Harvard University Graduate School of Design, and studied thesis under Herzog & de Meuron. At Harvard he is the recipient of the Faculty Design Award. In addition to his passion in architecture, Eric has started a civic start-up MILES as a real estate platform for short-term commercial uses, and Good Goods, a next generation shared economy platform for retail.

Eric has been invited to speak at various panels and events including Harvard Innovation Lab, Northside Innovation, Municipal Art Society Summit, Awesome Summit, Columbia University Studio X and TEDxDumbo. He has served as the judge committee for Harvard University’s annual Dean’s Cultural Entrepreneurship Challenge. His work has been published in various media including the New York Times, Huffington Post, Fast Company, Good Magazine and PSFK, and was selected as a start-up in residence by Urban-X, a startup accelerator built by BMW MINI. Eric is also a faculty at Parsons School of Design in their Executive Masters Program in Strategic Design and Management.

Chris Yuen is a consultant for the Playright Children’s Play Association with a passion for designing public playgrounds to make them more child-friendly, playable, safe and inclusive. Since 2012, he has been leading play environment team in initiating and completing a series of playground advocacy programmes in Hong Kong. These include the first Inclusive Play Space Design Idea Competition, the pilot Inclusive Play Space at Tuen Mun Park, Junior Playground Commissioner Incubation Programme, Junior Playground Planner and the publication of the Inclusive Play Space Guide supported by UNICEF HK. The play environment consultancy includes participatory approach to play space design, playground planning research, inclusive play design review, play equipment safety assessment, installation compliance audit and inspection training. His latest projects are the “Concrete Pipe Playground” at Fung Mat Road Waterfront Open Space (WE Park) and “Rainbow Jungle” at Kai Tak East Park. He has been involved with the safety of children at play for many years. He is a qualified RPII-Annual Inspector and CPSI since 2004 to advocate for an inclusive and playful society for all with a passionate team.

Cathy has a Bachelor of Arts in Recreation, specialising in recreation planning and management. She has worked in this field, primarily in Local Government, for over 30 years. She has extensive experience in the planning, development and management of open space, sport and recreation environments, and a particular passion for children’s play.

Cathy is the Community Recreation and Aquatics Planning Manager at the City of Melbourne. In her voluntary roles she is a founding member of Parks and Leisure Australia (PLA) Advisory, a group established to progress strategic thinking around national industry issues. With PLA she assisted in development of a Victorian Local Government “Open Space Planning and Design Guide” to achieve quality outcomes for open space provision in changing communities. While on the Board of Play Australia, she managed the development of The Good Play Space Guide “I can Play too”, a Victorian State Government guide on access in play spaces.

In 2021, Cathy was appointed as a Member of the Order of Australia for significant service to the parks and recreation industry, and children’s well-being.

Ms Tracy Wong is the Senior Town Planner from Strategic Planning Section of Planning Department, Hong Kong SAR Government. She is responsible for promoting urban liveability in the high-density environment as steered under the “Hong Kong 2030+: Towards a Planning Vision and Strategy Transcending 2030”. She provides advice from strategic and territorial planning perspectives for mainstreaming blue and green initiatives in various master planning and infrastructure projects. She has been leading the Reimagining Public Spaces in Hong Kong—Feasibility Study, which aims to enhance the quantity and quality of open spaces through reimagining the open space concept and devising design guidelines of open space. She works in collaboration with government departments and local stakeholders to carry forward pilot cases to realise the application of proposed design concepts and principles.

Ms Wong was previously the Place Making Manager (Planning) of the Energizing Kowloon East Office, Development Bureau during which she had involved in planning of commercial developments with public open space and other interfacing pedestrian improvement schemes, leading to the gradual transformation of Kowloon East into CBD2. Besides, Ms Wong had also worked as a Town Planner at Hong Kong District Planning Office, Planning Department in assessing urban planning proposals and conducting land use reviews for urban improvements.

Ir. KAN joined the Architectural Services Department as structural engineer in 2008. Ir Kan has been involved in a number of challenging projects, including the Ping Shan Tin Shui Wai Leisure and Cultural Building and the Transformation of Former Hollywood Road Police Married Quarters into PMQ, both of which had received the HKIE Structural Excellence Grand Awards. He also involved in developing guidelines and information papers on piling, building and geotechnical works so as to promote the best practice in the industry, and to publish and share experience acquired in projects in international conferences and journals.

Ir. Kan is now a Chief Project Manager responsible for strategic planning, risk management, overall control of budget and programme as well as resolving major contractual and consultancy disputes of various projects.

Ada has led a varied career as solicitor, social innovator, creative educator and cultural entrepreneur. She has set up and run creative non-profit institutions in the social innovation, education and culture fields in the past 20 years.

She founded Hong Kong Institute of Contemporary Culture (HKICC) to advocate education innovation in 1998. Since 2006, HKICC founded the HKICC Lee Shau Kee School of Creativity, a unique secondary school dedicated to nurturing talents for arts and culture, and Ada is the school’s Supervisor.

In 2010, she co-founded the Make A Difference (MaD) initiative (www.mad.asia), a creativity for good platform for young changemakers in Asia. In the last 12 years, MaD has undertaken projects at the intersection of creativity and urban/social challenges, incubated social labs, and has worked with cross sector changemakers to come up with bottom-up creative and collaborative solutions.

In 2012 Ada founded The Good Lab (www.goodlab.hk), a social innovation co-working space and hub, which later became a do tank and innovation consultancy to enable tri-sector collaborations for positive changes in society. Since 2016, in her capacity as a Director of the non-profit Ednovators, Ada designed and led the Innopower Teacher Fellowship (jcinnopower.hk), a programme to build teachers’ innovation capacity and implement education innovations.

Ada was an elected member of the Urban Council and Wan Chai District Council between 1995 and 2008 with the last four years as Chairperson of the Wan Chai District Council. She received her BA (Hons) from Pomona College, California USA, and M Ed from the University of Hong Kong. She is an Honorary Fellow of Lingnan University, Hong Kong Education University, and the Hong Kong Baptist University.

Architect, entrepreneur, and urban thinker passionate about architecture and urban environments that have a lasting impact on society. Eric studied architecture at University of Pennsylvania and Harvard University Graduate School of Design, and studied thesis under Herzog & de Meuron. At Harvard he is the recipient of the Faculty Design Award. In addition to his passion in architecture, Eric has started a civic start-up MILES as a real estate platform for short-term commercial uses, and Good Goods, a next generation shared economy platform for retail.

Eric has been invited to speak at various panels and events including Harvard Innovation Lab, Northside Innovation, Municipal Art Society Summit, Awesome Summit, Columbia University Studio X and TEDxDumbo. He has served as the judge committee for Harvard University’s annual Dean’s Cultural Entrepreneurship Challenge. His work has been published in various media including the New York Times, Huffington Post, Fast Company, Good Magazine and PSFK, and was selected as a start-up in residence by Urban-X, a startup accelerator built by BMW MINI. Eric is also a faculty at Parsons School of Design in their Executive Masters Program in Strategic Design and Management.

Sarah is a catalytic architect. She brings collaborative creations that are grounded in human-design thinking, to connect people to the space in their community and strengthen the social fabric. She focuses on public space, social design and cross-disciplinary creative strategy. Leading the first B Corp in Hong Kong from the architectural industry, she and her team at onebite bridges commercial & public sector with the community through their creative ideas. From the Kai Yip Play Space in Kowloon Bay, to the intergenerational play space in Tuen Mun Siu Hei Court, to City-wide Recycling Convenient Stores, onebite has been leading in innovative public space design in the city. Also as an action-driven team, during the COVID outbreak, two initiatives were rolled out with other community groups to promote good food with dignity which has served over 2000 meals and to produce eco-mask holders with social benefits, sold over 5000 pcs. Being a strong believer in empowerment and participation, the online knowledge-sharing platform, GUTS, has been founded by onebite to bring global insights into promoting better urban space for the public.

Joy Mutai is a Landscape Architect and GIS Specialist. She works for the Global Public Space Programme at the Planning, Finance and Economy Section of UN-Habitat. She leads the development of new tools for public space assessments, city-wide strategies, SDG 11.7.1 methodology, nature-based solutions and applies innovative methodologies for community participation/collaborative urban design. She is coordinating the BlockbyBlock Programme and leads the Nature-based Solution area of work within the Global Public Space Programme. She has had experience working with the private sector, non-profit organizations, and local/national governments.