When Christine Choi was a high schooler in Sydney, she enjoyed going with her friends to “open houses” – properties that had been put up for sale, with the public allowed to walk in and view them. That’s how she developed an interest in architecture, which led her to pursue a degree and eventually a career in the field.
In Choi’s hometown of Macao, however, the opportunities for aspiring architects are limited. The SAR may be home to everything from UN World Heritage buildings to award-winning modern structures, but it conspicuously lacks resources for developing homegrown talent. The University of Saint Joseph provides the city’s only university-level architecture program.
[See more: How to see some of Macao’s best modernist architecture in half a day]
Enter the Architects Association of Macau (AAM), a local organisation dedicated to the promotion and advancement of the architectural profession. The group held its second annual Student Summer Camp from 25 to 27 July this year, aiming to provide students from Macao and mainland China with industry insights and an appreciation of the city’s architectural diversity.
Seeing a limited local understanding of spatial design – a multidisciplinary field that can combine architecture, interior design, urban planning and other specialisations to create functional and aesthetically pleasing indoor and outdoor spaces – the AAM launched educational initiatives around the topic three years ago.
The Association’s flagship student outreach project, “Go-to-School,” is a series of workshops at Macao’s high schools, where students can learn what such design entails. The pilot program was a success: Choi, who now heads the AAM’s board of directors, told Macao News that “The feedback was very good from the schools.”
As the program thrived, Choi and her fellow Association members widened their scope. Turning their gaze to mainland China, they conceptualised the Student Summer Camp to “showcase our heritage architecture and city fabric to [mainland] Chinese students,” said Choi.
[See more: Macao architect Nuno Soares wins silver at the London Design Awards]
Choi and her colleagues focused on showing students a different side of Macao’s architecture as they were curating the itinerary. “The contemporary architecture of Macau is always what people see on social media,” said Choi, but she wanted to highlight the city’s historical landmarks as well.
A key characteristic of Macao’s architecture is the balance between the old and the new, said Choi. While historical sites are often preserved as relics from another time, Macao’s heritage buildings are still in use today, integrated into daily life in the city.
“The challenge is always, how do we preserve and present the heritage architecture? What new function do we introduce to those special buildings?” she said – a question she and her team attempted to explore through the summer camp.
Choi describes the final curriculum as something of a time capsule: students start by exploring UNESCO’s designated Historic Center of Macao, and end by touring modern hotels on the Cotai Strip. Students can “travel through time [in] Macao, from [its historical] heritage to contemporary architecture,” Choi said.
[See more: Liu Jiakun of China bags the ‘Nobel Prize of architecture’]
During the camp, participants took a tour of the Prix Versailles-winning Morpheus hotel. Led by Zaha Hadid Architects’s Bianca Cheung and Melco Resorts and Entertainment’s Keith Chow, the group learned about iconic elements of the building, such as its free-form exoskeleton design, which Cheung described as “an interplay between light and shadow.” One of Hadid’s last works before her passing, Morpheus is representative of Hadid’s architectural philosophy, Chow said.
According to students, the course offered rare insights into the process of architecture from conception to construction. “Physically entering the space to experience it, combined with explanations from the design team, gave me a whole new perspective on architecture,” Yang Zhaohui, a participant from Shenzhen University, wrote in a message for Macao News.
Choi finds joy in sharing her expertise with the future generation of architects. “I have [had] a lot of great mentors that helped me throughout my architecture journey,” she said, “and this [was] how I developed different skill sets.” Through the program, she hopes to pass on this knowledge.
Though the camp’s goal is primarily the education of participants, the process of learning is reciprocal, said Choi. “[Mentoring students helps] me learn about the current era,” she said. “The students are so much more sensitive to technology… But what they might not have is the experience [in] handling different situations and [knowing] how to approach and strategise.”
Looking to the future, Choi sees the Architects Association of Macau expanding its role in both enhancing local youth’s understanding of spatial design and strengthening the group’s connection with the community. “We want to create a knowledge platform where people can share and learn,” she said, whether they’re architects or not.
