Earlier this year, the University of Hong Kong hosted “Desert Island Buildings,” a weekly lecture series where big names in global architecture discussed their favorite buildings all of time. It was inspired by the classic BBC Radio 4 show Desert Island Discs, where celebrities and thinkers talk about their most essential musical picks.
Designer Anthony Lam plays up the lecture series’ “design your own island” concept with vibrant, cartographic posters reminiscent of the world-building modes in video games. Each speaker in an international lineup including Go Hasegawa, Hua Li, and Alessandra Cianchetta gets their own glitchy imaginary landscape with mountainous peaks and bold, high-contrast colors. Lam announces each speaker with a sturdy, yet slightly fluid inktrap font that pops right out of the design and adds a quietly surreal feel.
Six buildings, a book and a luxury: what would you take to a desert island? Guests share the architecture of their lives.
Based on the seminal BBC Radio 4 Show, Desert Island Discs, first launched in 1942, the Spring Lecture Series at the University of Hong Kong will adapt this format to provide a very personal insight into the minds of an intriguing group of international architects. By selecting six buildings that are most relevant to their work, have altered their design approach or that have left them baffled, inspired, angry or lost for words, the discussion will reveal how the architects think and the importance of their background, education, culture, and upbringing, that has shaped their identity. What are the key moments that have impacted their architectural vision, what keeps them motivated and what concerns them most today? These issues will be discussed and teased out from our speakers which include Go Hasegawa (Japan), Clement Blanchet (France), Hua Li (China), Mark and Jane Burry (Australia) and Alessandra Cianchetta (Italy).
Client—
Department of Architecture, The University of Hong Kong
Typeface in use—
Pleasure Inktrap by Pizza Typefaces
