UABBHK 2025 Concludes with a Civic Performance in the Age of AI
- Written by Media Outreach
UABBHK 2025 transformed traditional architectural exhibitions into a dynamic civic performance, positioning artificial intelligence (AI) not as a tool, but as a platform to co-create ethical, inclusive, and human-centred futures. Through immersive installations, public workshops, and experimental formats, UABBHK 2025 invited audiences to participate in the design of the city — in real time.
"The Biennale has not only showcased the possibilities of design in the AI era, but also activated a civic platform where architecture, technology and public imagination intersect," said Ar. Allen Poon, Chairman of The Hong Kong Institute of Architects Biennale Foundation, during the ceremony. "Today's conclusion marks both a milestone and a beginning — a new phase of creative exploration among Hong Kong, Shenzhen and the world."
Exhibition Highlights: Tech Meets Imagination
UABBHK 2025 unfolded across two venues, Oil Street Art Space (Oi!) and the newly opened East Kowloon Cultural Centre (EKCC), showcasing 25 curated exhibits by architects, artists, researchers, and technologists from Hong Kong and beyond. Teams from 10+ regions, including Chinese Mainland, Hong Kong, Taiwan, as well as Australia, Austria, Italy, Japan, Singapore, the Netherlands, the UK, and the USA, explored how AI can be integrated into architectural thinking, spatial storytelling, and participatory design. Among the highlights were 4 video screening works that extended the exhibition's themes through cinematic and documentary perspectives, addressing topics such as displacement and homecoming, the entanglement of code and culture, and speculative futures shaped by collective memory and student-led design fictions. Interactive installations like Prompt[Pond]ering, Sentient Mirror, and Collaborative Ephemeral Pavilion invited audiences to co-design spaces through AI-driven interactions. Works such as LANdLine Project and Flower Market Imaginaries grounded these future-facing visions in Hong Kong's unique community and cultural context.
"In curating UABBHK 2025, we imagined AI not as a threat, but as a collaborator — a partner in rehearsing the future of our cities," shared by Dr. Jimmy Ho and Ar. Aron Tsang, Lead Curators of UABBHK 2025. "We are proud to have created a platform that enables technology to be tangible, and civic imagination visible."
Extending Impact: Public Programmes on Innovation & Collaboration
To extend the UABBHK 2025's engagement beyond the galleries, two flagship public programmes were launched to bring AI and urban thinking into action: the ArchiTech Hackathon and the Hetao Vision: AI Video Competition.
ArchiTech Hackathon: Bridging Architecture and AI
Held earlier on the 24 January morning and co-hosted with Google Developer Group Hong Kong (GDGHK), the ArchiTech Hackathon was a first-of-its-kind 3-hour collaborative event that brought together 40 architects, developers and students — half from the HKIA Young Architects Group (YAG) and half from GDGHK — to explore how AI can support architectural workflows. The participants learned to use Google's Gemini model and no-code platforms to build AI agents for architectural design code compliance.
Led by Mr. Frankie Wu from GDGHK, Ms. Adeline Chan and Ar. Owen Lam, Executive Curators of UABBHK 2025, the event embodied UABBHK's vision by fostering cross-disciplinary collaboration between the tech and design communities, showcasing AI as a practical and imaginative tool for the built environment.
The winning team is Mr. Eric Chan and Ar. Toby Chiu. They successfully built the AI agent for the competition in an astonishing time of 3 minutes, 56.32 seconds within a 60-minute timeframe, and was able to answer 10 questions, as required by the competition, completing the complex professional architect exam questions with 90% accuracy under four minutes.
Hetao Vision: Innovative AI Video Competition
Also announced during the ceremony were the winners of the Hetao Vision AI Video Competition, which invited creators to imagine the future of the Hetao Shenzhen-Hong Kong Science and Technology Innovation Co-operation Zone (HSITP). All entries were required to be fully AI-generated — both visually and aurally — using tools such as Runway, Pika Labs, Suno, and Udio.
The competition explored how AI can democratise futurology, letting creators of all backgrounds envision interconnectivity, innovation, and inclusiveness across the "one river, two banks" vision of Hetao.
The winning video,titled 深港河脈：一河兩岸的科創樞紐宏圖(Shenzhen-Hong Kong River Network: A Grand Vision for a Science and Technology Innovation Hub Across Both Banks) by Mr. Zhang Xiaoshan, was praised for utilising AI to create a convincing narrative of a cross-border innovation hub, demonstrating a profound understanding of the development of the Hetao area. Two additional finalists were also recognised for their distinctive storytelling and technical creativity.
A public screening of the shortlisted videos will be held in the Hetao Science and Technology Innovation Centre, in February 2026, allowing the public to reflect on the role of AI in imagining future urban life.
What's Next: Visit UABBSZ and Explore the Living Archive
UABBHK 2025 will continue its journey in the Shenzhen & Hong Kong Bi-City Biennale of Urbanism\Architecture (Shenzhen) (UABBSZ) from January to March 2026. Whether you participated in the Hong Kong Edition or missed it, we warmly welcome you to visit the parallel venue of UABBSZ, at the Shenzhen Hetao Science and Technology Innovation Centre. Come and view the selection of UABBHK 2025 exhibits, continuing the creative dialogue and collaboration between Hong Kong and Shenzhen.
In addition, UABBHK 2025's ideas and output will remain accessible through a dedicated digital gallery website and a forthcoming archive booklet, both will preserve the curatorial vision, exhibited works, and public interactions from this edition. These resources will serve as an open, living archive — a springboard for future conversations across architecture, AI, and urban futures.
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