While recovering from jet lag that was totally worth the trip, our editor-in-chief, Floor Kuitert, reflects on the grand finale celebrations of FRAME Awards 2024 at the M+ Museum in Hong Kong, explores retail innovations in Shenzhen and recaps Chris van Duijn’s presentation on the typology of landmark. 

Finale with a view 

Last week, I travelled to Hong Kong for the FRAME Awards Grand Finale, which took place at the Herzog & de Meuron and Studio Farrells-designed M+ Museum in the city’s still-developing cultural quarter, West Kowloon. One of my first observations was that this seems to be one of those institutional buildings truly accessible to the public, even if you’re not there to visit the exhibitions. During our site visit in the afternoon, children on scooters enjoyed the shielded areas that are an integrated yet open part of the museum, while early the next morning, a group of women used the ‘grand stair plaza’ for a tai chi session. 

The finale took place in the museum’s auditorium, which overlooks the skyline of Hong Kong Island. During the ceremony, the 35 total winners from the spatial, executional, product and honorary categories were revealed. We were fortunate to have many nominees and winners present. This was our second year holding the awards ceremony outside our home country, and we chose Hong Kong for a reason. From the 1,000+ submissions we received this year, Hong Kong and China ranked highest in terms of entries, reflecting the strengths of the design community in the immediate and surrounding area.

The year 2024 has been special. Personally, this awards show couldn’t have come at a more significant moment – it marked my 10th year at FRAME and my first as its editor in chief. For FRAME, it has also been a year of transition. We have seen a change in management, but our mission is unwavering. Connecting with stakeholders in the spatial design industry has always been core to FRAME, and to see everyone – designers, architects and brand representatives hailing from Hong Kong, mainland China, Singapore, Malaysia, Tokyo and more – coming together at the ceremony and the kick-off cocktail party and dinner hosted by Moroso at Soho House Hong Kong the evening prior, only reaffirmed that mission.

Invisible landmarks 

But we didn’t just hand out prizes. Leading designers, from OMA’s Chris van Duijn to Various Associates’ Qianyi Lin, shared their portfolios and visions through inspiring presentations, and expert panels discussed the latest developments in their sector – and the design industry at large. Altogether, the aim was to give a broader perspective on spatial design, an objective close to FRAME’s heart. 

In reflecting on his firm OMA's work in China (among other countries) over the past decades, Chris van Duijn discussed the firm’s role as a 'landmark architect'. He started by questioning what a landmark is, with the general idea being that it is usually very visually expressive and may sometimes feel a bit detached from reality. ‘You could maybe call it in a kind of cynical way, a bit the pornography of architecture,’ van Duijn said, quickly adding that it doesn’t have to be, and that ideally, landmarks serve a deeper function beyond visual appeal.

A second question he explored was why landmark buildings are so integral to China’s architectural landscape, observing that while landmarks exist globally, they are uniquely institutionalized in China. China’s urban planning where rapid expansion often reduces cities to ‘a kind of Excel sheet,' he explained. 'You see a grid and you see cells, and every cell has information. Information is quantity. It's performance-driven, but what it never is, is about quality. It is never about beauty. Those are factors that are not really considered in urban planning, and that is the point where architecture has to make up.’ 

Ultimately, van Duijn – being slightly cynical but also self-critical – described the typology of the landmark as a ‘compensation for a lack of specificity’ in urban planning, but also emphasized that landmark projects provide opportunities to add value and distinctiveness to the built environment. On top of that, he made a case for the ‘invisible landmark,’ highlighting projects that are very community-centric and site-sensitive and don’t prioritize visual expression. One example was the Simone Veil Bridge in France, which ‘abandons any interest in style, form and structural expression in favour of a commitment to performance and an interest in potential use by the people of Bordeaux.’ The second case study centered around the Hongik University Seoul Campus. OMA’s new addition is situated below ground, with its rooftops forming ‘a network of paths that connect the campus’s main access points with the adjacent neighbourhood of Hongdae.’

Heytea Shenzhen by A.A.N ARCHITECTS.

Retail innovation in Shenzhen 

From modernized tea and coffee brands to visionary fashion labels, Chinese retailers are known for leading the way forward. This recognition was the driving factor behind our book Learning from China, which features retail designs developed by a group of national and international designers in China. So, when I travelled to mainland China to visit Shenzhen – main purpose: to visit CCD’s Shenzhen headquarters and the FRAME China office, designed by Archstudio – I was excited to experience this firsthand. 

With only one day, time was limited, but I managed to take a quick stroll through Upperhills, a multi-use urban development in the central downtown area of Futian, directly connected to Lianhuashan Park and Bijiashan Park. Apart from the many calm and slightly futuristic interiors of tea and coffee brands like Heytea, Superficial Coffee and Wander Out, the commercial area will soon gain a MasonPrince store. With its narrative-driven interior concepts, the digital-native streetwear brand has managed to create a reason for its loyal online base to pay in-store visits, and this new location will no doubt achieve the same. The store has yet to open, but even wrapped in shiny foil, it caught my attention. If only I had arrived a few weeks later.

A final thank you note 

I would like to take this moment to thank our FRAME Awards sponsors once again: Casa Brava and Nio for sponsoring the grand finale event at the M+ Museum, Material Bank for partnering with us as a category partner for the Executional Award, and Moroso for being our monthly partner in June and for hosting the opening cocktail party and dinner for the Awards celebrations in Hong Kong.