The 11th International IDEA-TOPS Award Ceremony and Design Masters Forum was held on 13 October 2021. Benoy Associate Directors Matthew Bibbey and Vicky Wang took part in the day’s events, with Matthew giving the keynote address and taking part in the G10 Designers Summit.
Matthew launched the day as the first guest speaker. His keynote address titled “Design Drivers: Developing unique architectural propositions” used Wenzhou INCITY Mega, Shenzhen Huaide Old Town Renewal and recently completed Suzhou COFCO Joy Breeze projects as examples. He opened with the statement, “Whether it be an imaginative brief, a beautiful site context or a site with high density, as Architects, we always look for what can inform our design to allow us to create something special, unique and specific to the project.” Matthew explained, for example in the case of Wenzhou INCITY Mega, the key design driver/opportunity was to activate and engage with the surrounding landscape to add value through rich user experience as well as seamlessly integrating the development within the wider area.
In the afternoon G10 Designers Summit, Matthew participated in the small-group discussion on “the changing role of the architect in the face of globalization and rapid urbanization”. In discussing the impact of rapid urbanization on sustainable development, he stated that, “rather than considering these as opposing forces, urbanization can actually help to create sustainable communities — when higher level strategy is well considered in addition to forward thinking design”.
Leading architects, scholars and entrepreneurs from around the world, as well as a number of ambassadors to China, attended this international design conference both remotely and onsite. The 11th International IDEA-TOPS Award Committee received 7,712 works from 63 countries, including China, the UK, the US, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, South Korea, Israel, Greece, Switzerland and Portugal. In the end, 18 awards were presented to architects from China and abroad.
The 11th International IDEA-TOPS Award Ceremony was jointly organized by the IDEA-TOPS Award Committee, the Council for the Promotion of Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Cooperation, the Council for the Promotion of Cultural Innovation and Industry in the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area, and the Shenzhen Association for Science and Technology.
