Cary Lau, from top architectural firm Aedas, is a surprisingly modest man – given his achievements to date. Having joined Aedas straight after graduating from the University of Hong Kong when he was just 25, Lau has taken a mere 12 years to become fellow director of the company. He has been cited by many as ‘one to watch’ and his company’s Executive Director, Kyran Sze, has described him as “representational of a spectrum of up-and-coming talents within the global practice of Aedas that has become the vanguard of architectural design. His range of works is diverse and responds to the clients’ needs, and in many cases they are international and local award-winning.” Phyllis Lui met with Lau to discuss the limitations on building in confined spaces, what the future of the city could look like, and the thorny issue of cultural preservation.

Having grown up in Hong Kong, how much do you think the architecture here has changed?
Architecture, beyond the control of the architect, is dominated by the person funding the project. Hong Kong’s development, compared to other places, can be said to be conservative. This is mostly due to land prices, in a place where every inch is so expensive. The chance to try something different is quite limited. I say this because, having worked in other cities, Hong Kong is comparatively conservative.

As an architect, how do you feel about cultural preservation?
We should look at how other countries have done this, but also adopt competition formats, allowing a lot of people to participate, other than the government having to do it by themselves. We see on our travels how other countries have managed to do this. A lot of developments are centred on the cultural contexts – old warehouses converted into museums. There isn’t a lot of that in Hong Kong at the moment. The competitions should be open to students as well as professionals, as it’s about ideas.

What outside interests do you pursue and, in turn, have these influenced your work?
Broadly speaking, anything related to creativity. It can even be the colour of the ground when I am out and about. It is very true that we should keep our eyes peeled when we are out, and sometimes I might come across something that’s so creative it makes me emotional. Product design has always affected me, even as a kid, and it’s one of the most oft seen sculptures. You don’t need to stumble into an art museum to see a sculpture. You can just go into a mobile phone store. There are a couple hundred sculptures there.

After getting a client’s brief, do you usually think about the building first or the context?
They affect one another, so you can’t really separate one from another but you have to consider both at the same time. With Project A and Project B, Project A might be more focused on the exterior. Therefore one would pay more attention to the context compared to Project B. But most of the time, you focus on both.

What do you envisage for Hong Kong’s landscape in the next decade?
High-rise buildings are unavoidable. I am more concerned about the developers’ attitudes and the opportunities for the public to engage with culture. Beyond what we build, what materials we use, we are influenced by the people. The market plays a big role. If we all go and buy a property, and we place a heavier emphasis on the design because that place has two trees, then the developer wouldn’t place such a high demand on it appearing luxurious. This is about the relationship between the consumer and the developer, the effect of supply-and-demand. As for the future, I hope that people’s expectations won’t stop at where they are now. It’s similar to the chicken-egg analogy. The reason behind the current residential state of Hong Kong is, as I said before, that the developers are quite conservative, but also the buyers.

A lot of your projects are on the Mainland. Do you feel that they allow you greater creative freedom due to the space available?
Yes, firstly they have a lot more land, and at the moment they are more accepting to less conservative concepts.

Looking at your works, in particular the Evangel College one, can you explain how you came up with the designs?
It was an open competition, there were a lot of entries, with two stages and they built it afterwards. Each of the classrooms has to be able to hold 30 students. You can see from the design that there are two separate blocks, with shared facilities in between as well as open spaces. This competition was quite a time ago and the school was opened in 2006. Each of the classrooms link up to the open spaces, and we tried to ensure that these classrooms aren’t like the standard classrooms. When I was young the classrooms felt like they trapped us inside. What we wanted to do was to link up outside areas so that during the class teachers can take them out for some outdoor education.

Read the stories of the other up-and-coming stars in their respective fields

Michael Leung, product designer

Annette Chu, interior designer

Hung Lam, graphic designer