Perspective - February 2017

The art of the matter

Once upon a time, art and artworks were afterthoughts when it came to architecture and interior design. Today, art is rightfully acknowledged as playing an integral role in the process — form and function are closely intertwined, and aesthetics are every bit as important as the structural design of a building and how its internal spaces are laid out.
This month’s issue reflects that, as Hong Kong sees three major art fairs taking place: Art Basel, Asia Contemporary Art Show and Art Central (page 46), and we also give you a roundup of some of Hong Kong’s most interesting contemporary art galleries (page 62). We talk to Vivian Chau, the general manager of Jplus by Yoo hotel in Causeway Bay, where art plays a prominent role both inside and out (page 51), as well as Dev Suj, founder of Papinee (page 57) and Sarah Gordon of Hirsh Bedner Associates’ specialist art division, Canvas (page 54).
Elsewhere, we’ve got interviews with Younjin Jeong and Jiwon Baik of South Korea’s URBANTAINER, speakers at BODW last December (page 73); LAVA directors Chris Bosse, Tobias Wallisser and Alexander Rieck, who won the 2016 European Prize for Architecture (page 79); Jim Thompson’s Ou Baholyodhin (page 76), industrial designer extraordinaire Jake Dyson (page 85) and Ben McCarthy of Hong Kong’s Charlie & Rose (page 82).

+ Hunan province’s Angdong Hospital won the first RIBA International Emerging Architect prize in late 2016 for architects John Lin and Joshua Bolchover of Rural Urban Framework, based at the University of Hong Kong’s faculty of architecture — read all about the project on page 20.