UABBHK 2025 Responds with TECHFORMANCE: Architecture as Performance in the Age of AI

Running from
27 November 2025 to 24 January 2026, UABBHK 2025 will take place at the
Oil Street Art Space (Oi!) in North Point and the
East Kowloon Cultural Centre (EKCC) in Kowloon Bay. These urban venues will be transformed into experimental stages for public imagination, civic dialogue, and participatory design — responding to the rapidly evolving role of artificial intelligence (AI) in the architecture sector.

Survey Findings Reveal Gaps in Practice and Ethics

AI is rapidly reshaping architectural practice, but the profession is facing uneven adoption, limited trust, and a lack of ethical or educational guidance. Globally,
67%
of architects use AI for visualisation, but
more than half fear job displacement in design and rendering roles^[1]. A striking
74% believe the profession needs urgent ethical guidelines. Many practitioners describe working with tools they don’t fully understand or trust—tools that may produce compelling visuals, but often lack narrative depth, cultural context, or authorship clarity.

Curatorial Response: From Tools to Performance

Against this backdrop, the UABBHK 2025 reframes AI not as a threat but as a catalyst for civic imagination and creative reinvention. “We chose the theme
TECHFORMANCE because architecture is at a pivotal moment — AI is transforming how we design, while raising urgent questions about authorship, ethics, and identity”, said
Ar. Allen POON, Chairman of The Hong Kong Institute of Architects Biennale Foundation. “As AI changes how we design, we must ensure it doesn’t change why we design.”

“Through
TECHFORMANCE, UABBHK offers a cultural and civic response to the rise of Al in architecture. Rather than treating Al as a purely technical tool, we see it as a performative medium — a mirror that reflects our collective values, assumptions, and imaginations. Architecture is no longer a static product — it’s a civic performance”, said
Dr. Jimmy HO, Lead Curator of UABBHK 2025. “We shift the focus from automation to authorship, from technology to imagination.”

At UABBHK 2025, the public will not be passive viewers but active participants — co-designing future cities and engaging directly with the possibilities and provocations of AI in architecture.

Exhibition Highlights with Three Curatorial Visions

At the heart of
UABBHK 2025 are three curatorial chapters that explore how AI transforms architecture into a civic performance:
real-time public co-creation,
local urban narratives, and
cross-border collaboration. Spanning the
Oil Street Art Space (Oi!) and the
East Kowloon Cultural Centre (EKCC), the exhibitions invite visitors to engage, perform, and prototype the future city.

1. Real-Time Interaction & Public Co-Creation

This chapter turns the UABBHK into a participatory lab, where AI enables live, interactive design. Installations respond to movement, touch, speech, and emotion — blurring the line between creator and audience.

At Oi!,
Prompt [Pond]ering transforms keywords into speculative architecture, while AR-driven
Bamboo Architecture projects full-scale holograms of bamboo structures. At EKCC, works like
Sentient Mirror,
Sketches in Motion, and
Architecture Blind Box translate visitors’ gestures, feelings, and tactile input into dynamic spatial forms.

2. Hong Kong Urban Narratives: Community × Memory × Imagination

This chapter explores how AI can preserve, reinterpret, and reimagine the city’s collective memory.

At Oi!, installations such as
LANdLine Project,
Flower Market Imaginaries, and
Reimagining Breeze Blocks invite the public to co-author stories of heritage and transformation. At EKCC, the
Collaborative Ephemeral Pavilion—built from reused scaffolding and embedded with AI-generated narratives—becomes both a gathering space and a luminous landmark of shared memory.

3. Hong Kong – Shenzhen Collaboration

In this cross-border chapter, experimental works investigate AI’s role in shaping new urban models for the
Greater Bay Area.

At EKCC,
Generative Futures features real-time robotic fabrication;
Think BIG – cl0udbr1dge imagines drone-constructed bridges; and
Exporting Aesthetics challenges conventions of authorship and identity in AI-generated skyscrapers. Together, these projects prototype adaptive, inclusive, and technologically forward urban futures.

In parallel, the
Shenzhen & Hong Kong Bi-City Biennale of Urbanism\Architecture (Shenzhen) (UABBSZ 2025) is tentatively scheduled to take place from late December 2025 to March 2026 at the
Hetao Science and Technology Innovation Center. Under the theme City Theater, the exhibition expands its curatorial perspective. Curated by Zhu Tao, Shen Shaomin, and Ding Ning, it envisions urban space as a performative stage where architecture, technology, and civic life intersect. Exhibitions from Hong Kong will be showcased at the Hetao Science and Technology Innovation Center as part of UABBSZ 2025, continuing UABBHK’s legacy as the world’s first exhibition dedicated to urbanism and urbanisation—complementing Hong Kong’s focus on AI and civic performance while deepening cross-border dialogue.

Public Programmes: AI Video Competition

To engage a wider public, the curatorial teams of the 10th Bi-City Biennale of Urbanism\Architecture (Shenzhen and Hong Kong) (UABBSZ & HK) are jointly inviting creators from around the world to use artificial intelligence tools and, through innovative and forward-looking visual works, envision future scenarios for the Hetao area between Shenzhen and Hong Kong in China. Registration is now open via:
https://forms.cloud.microsoft/r/1C9KicszFS.

For more information, please visit UABBHK 2025’s website:
https://uabb2025.hkia.org.hk/en/ai-competition.

A Civic Rehearsal for AI Futures

UABBHK 2025 is not a showcase of new technologies — it is a civic rehearsal. It invites architects, the public, and students to reimagine what it means to design with machines, without losing the human voice. In this Biennale, the audience is not passive. They are co-authors of the urban narrative, performers in a shared story, and participants in shaping the ethics of emerging technologies.

For more information, please visit UABBHK 2025’s website:
https://uabb2025.hkia.org.hk/en.

2025 Hong Kong & Shenzhen Bi-City Biennale of Urbanism\Architecture (Hong Kong)’s Disclaimer:

The Cultural and Creative Industries Development Agency of the Government of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region provides funding support to the project only, and does not otherwise take part in the project. Any opinions, findings, conclusions or recommendations expressed in these materials/events (or by members of the project team) are those of the project organisers only and do not reflect the views of the Government of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, the Culture, Sports and Tourism Bureau, the Cultural and Creative Industries Development Agency, the CreateSmart Initiative Secretariat or the CreateSmart Initiative Vetting Committee.

Hashtag: #UABBHK2025

The issuer is solely responsible for the content of this announcement.