Rocco Yim’s twin passions for his craft and home city shone through again last night as he humbly accepted the HKIA Gold Medal for 2024, among the highest accolades within Hong Kong’s architecture community.

Pictured above (centre) with Housing Secretary Winnie Ho and HKIA President Benny Chan, he urged his peers to channel their creativity towards the well-being of society.

“This is a joyous occasion,” he said after receiving the medal from Chan. “But I understand that for many of you, this is not a time of joy, but of anxiety and uncertainty.”

Noting the economic headwinds buffeting the industry here and on the mainland, Rocco said he had a positive message to share.

“To those of you who ask the persistent question – do architects have a future in Hong Kong? – I have an answer. It is yes, definitely.” To the sound of rapturous applause from hundreds of guests across the HKCEC Convention Hall, he said he needed to add two provisos.

The first was about constructively leveraging Hong Kong’s creative prowess. Not creativity seeking only to create wow value, but to contribute to the collective well-being of society. “We are good at this because we know and love our city.”

The second proviso, he said, was about acting together to counter challenges. “We should understand and cherish our respective strengths and be empathetic to each other’s needs, be they material or spiritual. We need to be in it together.“

In awarding the HKIA Gold Medal, Chan said Rocco was an extraordinarily talented architect who had made significant contributions to the skylines of major cities around the world, not least Hong Kong. Some of his most notable local projects since founding his practice in 1979 include the Hong Kong Palace Museum (pictured above), the IFC and the HKSAR Government Headquarters.

One of his most iconic masterpieces is the Guangdong Museum, designed while setting up his first branch office in Guangzhou in 2006.

Over the years, Rocco has won countless international design awards, provided leadership to many industry authorities and associations and inspired thousands of students through his teaching and research at local universities. He is an Adjunct Professor at HKU SPACE and the Department of Architecture at HKU, and Honorary Professor in the Faculty of Social Science at CUHK.

And he confirmed that a much-anticipated book will be published in the coming months. Now that will be a story worth reading!