“Vertical Fabric: density in landscape” held its official opening on 25 May 2018 in Venice, Italy. In alignment with “Freespace”, the theme of the 16th International Architecture Exhibition - La Biennale di Venezia, the Hong Kong exhibition adopted the theme of “Vertical Fabric: density in landscape” to illustrate Hong Kong’s unique vertical architecture and urbanism with innovation visions, in order to demonstrate the capabilities of Hong Kong as a vertical city, incubating visions for freespace facing global challenges in technology, environment society and culture.
     It is the first time for the Hong Kong Exhibition to display 111 tower models as exhibits. These tower models are based on 3 different structural bases each with fixed infrastructures of 360mm square plan extrusion and 2m in height as typical Hong Kong tower architecture. They are designed by 94 exhibitors from Hong Kong, the Mainland, Taiwan and overseas, including Thailand, Brazil, the Netherlands, Japan, USA, Spain and Switzerland, etc., which are set to re-define the typological, spatial and facade potential while maintaining the constrains of the tower’s envelope as a collective urban form.
     By installing 111 towers marching along the courtyard extending into the exhibition rooms in Venice, the Hong Kong Exhibition illustrates the aesthetic of density, unique and compactness of Hong Kong’s urban form to the world audience at Venice.
     The Chief Curator of the Hong Kong Exhibition, Professor Weijen Wang said that, “Hong Kong is unique for the compactness of its vertical architecture and urban form in high density. The high density of Hong Kong’s urban landscape will reappear with 111 tower models. We invited architects from local and abroad to re-think the design of tower typology beyond. The Hong Kong Exhibition would become a platform for dialogue with the world, shaping a discourse of Hong Kong’s urbanism and vertical architecture. Meanwhile, the curatorial team wishes to express our incubating needs for vertical freespace while the city is facing global challenges in technology, environment, and society and culture.”