UH Manoa School of Architecture Hosts Fifth Biennial International Symposium on Asia Pacific Architecture

Week-long symposium features world renowned architects, international awards presentations and a design charrette activity analyzing the issue of development at

The University of Hawai?i at Mānoa?s School of Architecture will host more than 300 participants from around the world for the Fifth Biennial Symposium on Asia Pacific Architecture, April 5-11, 2003. Architecture students and faculty, architects, and business, financial, and government professionals with an interest in planning issues in the Asia Pacific region are invited to attend the week-long symposium at the UH Mānoa campus.

Entitled ?Creating Livable Communities in Asia Pacific: Value, Relevance, and Connectivity,? the symposium will feature various seminars on the latest trends and issues in architecture in the Asia Pacific region, world renowned guest speakers, the presentation of the prestigious Kenneth F. Brown Award, and a design charette that will have students and professionals from around the world analyzing and designing development plans for the ?Edge? of Waikīkī.

Students and faculty are expected from around the Asia Pacific region, including Australia, China, Korea, and Thailand, and from across the United States, to exchange contemporary, multicultural perspectives on appropriate directions for designing the built environment. Established in 1995, the biennial event also attracts prominent international speakers, including architects, planners, scholars, government and business leaders, who are interested in fostering appropriate design and planning in the Asia Pacific region.

The conference should also be of interest to local business and government leaders as a variety of events and activities will address business and planning issues relative to Hawai?i and the Asia Pacific region, and the invited speakers will share their expertise and insight into such practices across the region. Among the renowned list of speakers expected to address symposium participants are Roberto F. de Ocampo, president of the Asia Institute of Management (Manila, Philippines) and former Secretary of Finance of the Philippines; Christine Loh, co-founder and chief executive officer of Civic Exchange, a Hong Kong-based public policy think tank, and a former Legislative Councilor in Hong Kong who was named twice by BusinessWeek as one of Asia?s stars; and Penn State University architecture professor James Wines, a sculptor-turned-architect and founder of SITE (Sculpture in the Environment), an architecture and environmental arts organization.

Also scheduled to speak during the conference is Honolulu Mayor Jeremy Harris as a unique aspect of the symposium taking place prior to the conference is a design charrette entitled ?Convergence: Development from the Edge of Waikīkī.? Students and faculty of the participating schools will focus on urban design and mixed use building design for two adjacent sites comprising 12 acres situated at an important edge of Waikīkī. Student and faculty teams will be joined by professionals serving as roving advisors as the teams address issues such as tourism and place, local and global culture, comprehensive planning and piecemeal transformations, program and social relations, and sustainability and urban life.

The design charrette offers students and faculty the opportunity to engage a number of critical and converging forces pertinent to many world cities using Waikīkī as a vehicle, to amplify and test thematic symposium issues through concrete context and design, and to be exposed to and exchange divergent viewpoints of students, faculty and practitioners from around the world. The activity also will serve to inform and guide actions in Waikīkī, serving to directly and indirectly shape the future development of the location, which is not only a major tourist destination but also home for many Honolulu residents. The design plans developed by the participants should be of great interest to Hawai?i?s business, government and tourism officials.

Finally, the symposium also features the presentation of the distinguished Kenneth F. Brown Asia Pacific Culture and Architecture Design Award, which recognizes outstanding examples of contemporary architecture in the Asia Pacific region. The award winner receives a cash prize of $25,000 and also serves as a speaker during the symposium. A jury of world-renowned architecture professionals selects the winner and looks for a design that makes the most sensitive, creative, and critical response to its built, cultural, and natural environments. This year?s jury includes Kenneth F. Brown (USA), Gregory Burgess (Australia), Balkrishna Doshi (India), Kenneth Frampton (USA), and Wiliam Lim (Singapore).

For more information on the symposium or to register to attend, visit http://web1.arch.hawaii.edu/events/symposium5.

For more information, visit: http://web1.arch.hawaii.edu/events/symposium5