Designs on Life
設計生活 Award-winning environmental architect Kevin Chu is championing sustainable design in Hong Kong.得獎環保建築師Kevin Chu在香港推動可持續發展設計。
Award-winning environmental architect Kevin Chu is championing sustainable design in Hong Kong.得獎環保建築師Kevin Chu在香港推動可持續發展設計。
As far back as he can remember, Kevin Chu wanted to be a designer. He studied at both the Architectural Association and The Bartlett School of Architecture in London, but it wasn't until two years after he returned to Hong Kong in 2010 that he took the plunge and set up his own business. Back then, COC Design (Chu Original Creations) was the only Hong Kong firm focusing on contemporary environmental design and even today it remains in the minority, with many design businesses only labelling themselves as sustainable to increase marketing value when it suits. However, although he was ecologically aware, Chu wasn't living the green dream in the same way that he is now.
“I've always been interested in nature, and influenced by the concept of nature in design,” he says. “When I was younger, I was into hiking and snorkelling and my early designs were always organic looking, but I wasn't particularly sustainable until I met my wife Giulia [Dibonaventura]. She taught me to see that we need to find intelligent ways of designing in order to preserve our environment.”
Chu eventually decided to focus on sustainable design but the way he has chosen to make a living didn't always come easy. His proposals to incorporate recycled and environmentally friendly materials such as oriented strand board into new projects were frequently rejected by his Hong Kong clients, who wanted conventionally sleek and elegant aesthetics.
Kevin Chu一直以來想當一位設計師，他曾就讀倫敦的建築聯盟學院和巴特雷的建築學院，但當他回到香港後兩年—即2010年，他決定成立自己的公司。當年，他的COC Design（chu Original Creations）是香港唯一一家專注當代環保設計的公司；來到今天，不少設計公司均以可持續發展自居來提升價值，能像COC那樣真正活出信念的卻只有少數。縱使Chu十分關注環保，但當時他的綠色生活跟現在卻大相逕庭。
他說：「我對大自然十分感興趣，設計亦深受自然法則所影響。我年青時，我喜歡遠足及浮潛，這促使我早期的設計以天然為主，但我不特別著重可持續發展，直至遇上我的妻子Giulia [Dibonaventura]，她教曉我如何以更明智的方法去設計，盡力去保護環境。」
最後他決定專注於可持續發展的設計，不過他們選了一條不容易走的路，因為希望家居設計時尚優雅的香港客戶，經常拒絕他的建議，不採用循環再用及更環保的材料如纖維板。
“To me, the eco-friendly materials looked beautiful but my clients typically felt they weren't expensive or expensive-looking enough, and had no place in interiors,” he recalls. “They didn't understand the environmental aspect and couldn't understand why you wouldn't have lots of wood or marble if you could afford it. They didn't place any value on sustainable products.”
When they bought their own home in Discovery Bay, Chu and Dibonaventura decided they should practice what they preached and be guinea pigs for his ideas. Project ECO 1 (Environmentally Conscious home) was born, aiming to challenge the perception that green living couldn't also be luxurious.
Chu renovated their house using recycled and upcycled furniture and fittings (including the much-loved strand board on walls) and sourced materials from Eco-certified suppliers all over the world. The result was a minimal, comfortable and ultra-chic home, complete with a self-reliant vegetable patch and rooftop garden, which is 100% illuminated by solar power. As well as interiors, Chu and his team, who are all equal partners at the firm, have won awards for the design of products and exhibition booths. His groundbreaking Foglia floor lamp (meaning “leaf” in Italian) won a Red Dot Concept award earlier this year. Nano-particles on the surface of the lamp's various panels are stimulated by both artificial and natural light, and this clever photocatalytic technology subsequently cleanses the air of toxins. It obviously does its job lighting up a room too.
“While backpacking in Thailand in 2009, I was lying under some trees on a banana farm and noticed how beautiful the sun was as it filtered through the leaves. I thought it would make a nice lamp. It took years to get the Foglia's design, technology and production process right. It is expensive but we are launching five new ones for the mass market, which will be much easier to integrate into a regular home,” he says, referring to his latest products, which include Fly. This is shaped like an aeroplane and is about to launch, retailing for around RMB 2,000 (approximately HK$2,260).他回憶說：「對我來說，環保物料十分漂亮，但客戶覺得不夠矜貴，又或看來不太高貴，不適合室內設計。他們不明白環保問題，亦不了解為何有錢也不採用木材或雲石，對可持續發展的產品嗤之以鼻。」
當他們兩夫婦購入現居的愉景灣單位時，決定身體力行，活出自己的主張，Project ECO 1(環保意識家居）因此應運而生，目的是要展示綠色生活也可表現奢華。Chu以循環再用及升級再造的家具及材料翻新家居（包括以喜愛的纖維板作牆身），並向世界各地有ECO認證的供應商購買物料，打造了一個簡潔、舒適、極致時尚的家，另設自家種菜園地及天台花園，百分百採用太陽光。除了室內設計外，Chu與他的團隊（全部均為合伙人）亦在產品及展位設計上屢獲殊榮，他的Foglia座地燈（foglia在意大利文中名為葉子）在今年初榮獲Red Dot Concept大獎，座地燈採用光催化技術，遍佈表面的納米份子，受燈光及自然光的刺激後，可以淨化空氣的有害物質，同時產生照明作用。
With these and other projects on the go, Chu is hell bent on making his industry greener. He feels that architects, designers and builders are among the worst offenders regarding environmental pollution because they drain or destroy natural resources to achieve their end results. His ultimate aim is to spur Hong Kong into environmental action and to change the mindset of the powers-that-be.
“Hong Kong is stuck 15 years behind everyone else as far as environmental design is concerned,” he laments. “Building regulations are old fashioned and until the government changes the laws and pushes new green concepts, people will continue to be risk averse.”
Exciting—and possibly frustrating—times are ahead.他表示：「我在2009年到泰國背包旅遊，在一個蕉林下乘涼時看到陽光在樹葉隙縫透了下來，十分漂亮，心想這些光影可以造成一盞漂亮的燈，我花了多年時間才完成Foglia的設計，確保技術及生產過程無誤，花費甚高。我們還有五項新產品於大眾市場推出，這些產品可在一般家居使用。」其中一項是形狀有如飛機的Fly，售價為2,000人民幣（約2,260港元）。
這些產品連同其他計劃一併進行，Chu下定決心要積極綠化設計業，他認為建築師、設計師及建造業界是最不環保的界別，因為他們消耗及浪費自然資源來完成工作，他的最終目的是帶動香港落實環保行動，改變當權者的思維。
他感慨地說：「提到環保設計，香港較其他國家落後15年，建築規例陳腐，除非政府立法推行新的綠色概念，否則大家都不會正視問題。」
未來到底是會令人興奮，還是會帶來失望？
coc.design
We need to find intelligent ways of designing in order to preserve our environment.我們要了解如何以更明智的方法去設計，好能保護環境。