Public Lecture 03
Collective
by BETTY NG
In today's lecture,we are honoured to have the chance to participate the sharing of Betty Ng by the Collective Studio which has taken part in many kind of architecture project and interior design .
Collective Studio was established in 2015 in Hong Kong by Betty Ng, with Juan Minguez, Katja Lam and Ying Zhou, the COLLECTIVE has previously worked closely with various international practices including Pritzker Prize laureates Rem Koolhaas/OMA, Herzog & de Meuron, at Massimiliano Fuksas, Frechilla & López-Peláez Arquitectos, SO-IL, MADA spam and at Hong Kong local practices including Aedas and RMJM etc on Architecture, Urban Design and Interior projects worldwide. The studio operates as a Design Consultancy, practicing in Academia, Scenography, Exhibition & Installation Design, Experiential Art, Branding, Graphic Design, Product Design, Interactive Design and Cultural Analysis.
Betty Ng is a Registered Architect in the Netherlands, Betty holds a Master of Architecture Post Graduate Degree from Harvard University and a Bachelor of Architecture Professional Degree from Cornell University, with a concentration on Architecture Theory and Visual Studies. She is currently an Adjunct Assistant Professor of Architecture at the Chinese University of Hong Kong.
Prior to setting up COLLECTIVE, Betty was Design Director at OMA with Rem Koolhaas, and moved with OMA for the Hong Kong office start up. There and then, she was the Project Architect, distinctly for the West Kowloon Cultural District Master Plan. Betty also led the team at OMA on the Design Consultancy Master Plan for Galeries Lafayette in Paris and the Vision 2020 Master Plan Design Consultancy for Hong Kong Mass Transit Railway (MTR).
Why Collective ?
Betty believe that ''any projects that is worked by an individual is not a good work , trying to learn from other is the best way to upgrade yourself.'' Hence, using the word COLLECTIVE to name her studio film , just to emphasis the important of GROUP . The studio design everything in a group , in a team.Without any waste of time, she started to introduce some of her work , cooperated with other master in architecture .
Working overseas
Betty involved in many projects all around the world , she changed her working place from asia to europe , and back to Hong Kong .Being in different place , situation , she found out there is always something that is challenge , but to her , is charming . As the factors are changing the site issue , influencing the context when you design .
HONG KONG
BEIJING
NETHERLAND
LONDON
BERLIN
ASIA ART ARCHIVE OPEN PLATFORM 2016, ART BASEL HONG KONG
Pavilion design
Taking part in the art exhibition in HONG KONG ,Betty and her team wished to created one meeting and open hall area space , MATERIALITY came to their mind .'' our problem is , how we mix the material with the function and how to bring out the spatial quality using material ? '' therefore , a simple form conclusion has made : without wall , it is just a structure support the installation . 2 simple materials are used : terrazo texture and aluminum . The merging of shiny and dull surface . Metal reflect the light , shine up the space and terrazo made the space to be film . '' This is the interesting part of material , we hope people inside feel different with the outsiders.''
DESIGN FROM THE M+ COLLECTION
Cooperated with Aric Chen , betty and their team was required to design a gallery,to showcase the timeline . '' Usually people will think of a linear , long tunnel outlook gallery , but we don't want to be same with the traditional concept in people mind , so we used curved wall and space separation method , to divide the space into different kind of function , displaying different timeline of exhibition.usually partition wall is not connected to the ceiling , a space is left for air ventilation and make this gallery to be movable , like shifting objectives.
BAUHAUS MUSEUM, DESSAU, GERMANY
Participated the bahaus museum competition , Collective team designed a museum based on the steps:
-organise the program circulation
-one level tall building,
-Elevation transparent,connect to the greenery
-research on Bahaus
-Varios function middle exhibition area is created
Since the site in inside a park, hence pedestrian is more being considered when designed ,
"It is the curse of the Bauhaus that every single piece of its collection appears to be a beauty on its own. Too many of its items were captivated as prisoners in storage, being denied their purpose as a tiny building module of knowledge on everyday life.''
From different field of view , different intentions are made :
OPEN FIELD: Museum is knowledge, to access knowledge we need to allow exploration.
EXHIBITION FIELD: To present the complete work we need a complete view.
LANDSCAPE FIELD: Museum is public, it is a living chamber.
LOGISTICS FIELD: Museum is work, it is not merely a showcase and the consumption of end products.
CULTURAL FIELD: Museum spreads culture, it should not contain but be infectious.
During the Q&A ,an audience questioned about how she and her colleagues ' working mode , is it a special session for them when designing or meeting ?Betty quickly replied it with few short strong statement : We dont sketch our parts , we skecth together , we dont prepare model before meeting , we do models together.I have learned a lot from them , not only taking some case studies as references , we learn from humanity ,learn from others is quicker .'''We planned to break over the thought of people that Hong Kong 's architecture is not creative , but we are now creating the relationship between creativity and cities , and we will prove it in the coming years , with the help of my colleagues and my team.'' they take challenges even on small projects , but she mentioned that architects in Hong Kong had reached a different level in the world , at least from the point of efficiency ,they are the best.
From the talk today ,i have learned the skill on designing an art gallery and museum ,as Betty and her team are good in designing gallery, as the y treat art is a living .This knowledge can be applied to my design project : art village . Furthermore , having a team with different experts are better than a team who is willingly to follow all your instructions . '' i dont want a team of rabbits , i want a team with all different skills'' said Betty, a best sentence to end up her talk today was the metaphor of collective with jungle living , funny but true...
A short interview on Betty, on Malaysia fm , briefly have a chat on her studio and what is happening now in her studio.
http://www.bfm.my/betty-ng-architecture-and-experiential-art-live-and-learn.html
