Under many constraints, from high population density and a constantly hot and humid climate to post-war social and political conditions, Hong Kong’s everyday buildings are filled with local wisdom and architectural value.

Projecting Future Heritage: A Hong Kong Archive presents a roving exhibition of Hong Kong architectural drawings from the post-war period to the 1990s, highlighting their value and calling for recognition of them as “future heritage.” 

The exhibition was first initiated for the Venice Architecture Biennale 2025, before traveling to Bangkok for Bangkok Design Week 2026 in the coming weeks.

“We wanted to bring showcase these seemingly ordinary everyday buildings unique to Hong Kong in an international platform such as Venice, because today many are disappearing. Yet we think they are valuable for because they show the intelligence of building in the incredible density of Hong Kong,” said Ying Zhou, one of the project’s curators and initiators.

“We also show them in an archive format in Venice because their selection for documentation and archiving underlines these overlooked values. Their recognition as valuable is the first step to their conservation. We are bringing them to Bangkok to share both the archive, as media for communication and exhibition, and also the contents of the archive, which has resonance with the modern-era buildings in Bangkok as well,” Zhou continued. 

Curator Sunnie S.Y. Lau explained additionally that the idea of the “archival lens” has been applied not only to this exhibition but also extended to other overlooked community areas across Hong Kong. 

“These informal spatial structures have sustained society, the local economy, and even the climate, yet they rarely appear in official urban planning. Many of them are now threatened by redevelopment and enclosure, such as Cha Kwo Ling, an urban village with a history of at least 400 years. This is why we urgently need to document and share these stories internationally, to build recognition of them as ‘future heritage.’”

“This exhibition exists to preserve the stories of these villages, through drawings, films, oral histories, and spatial studies. These materials reveal the role of villages as reservoirs of everyday wisdom, reflecting care for both the past and the diverse futures of the city.”

“A final publication is planned to document the full trajectory of the project—from its conception and research in Hong Kong, to the Venice installation, to the roving adaptations in Bangkok and other cities,” Curator Sunnie S.Y. Lau concluded.

More information:

https://www.bangkokdesignweek.com/en/bkkdw2026/program/150457