On Tuesday November 29, 2016, the Asia Society Hong Kong Center is the center stage for our first KOHLER Design Forum in Hong Kong. Mark Bickerstaffe, our director new product development K&B APAC and EMEA, is co-presenting with our guest speakers Wilfred Lau, Silas Chiow, and John Shamon at the forum, discussing connected and smart cities, connected Wi-Fi networks and user and guest experiences.
Our three guest speakers each take the stage for about 15 minutes to talk about their views on improving the livability of a city through technology:
|Wilfred Lau is a director at Arup, a global planning and engineering consultant. He draws on many years of experience with large scale multi-disciplinary projects across Asia and has headed Arup’s consulting activities in East Asia for the past twelve years where he could see the technological developments first hand. He share insights about inter-connectivity in the digital age.|
|Silas Chiow is an American architect, urban planner and project manager and the director of Skidmore, Owings & Merrill LLP (SOM) in China. He has led projects in the most dynamic cities in the world and gained valuable experiences on building environments and human habitations.|
|John Shamon who is the senior vice president of design and project services at Rosewood Hotel Group in Hong Kong has been in the hotel industry for many years. He has been involved in more than 90 new and renovated hotel projects in over 25 countries. His view from a hotelier’s perspective on city development adds an unique angle to the topic. He touches upon the fact that hotel room spaces are smaller than in the past and hence need to be more efficient. Previously they often doubled as office space which now is obsolete in favor of common areas within the hotel with wireless technology and smaller devices.|
|Mark Bickerstaffe, our global and digital nomad, closes the presentation round and will show the audience how connected service solutions will change our lives and improve safety, well-being and bring delight to the user and guest experience, especially in the bathroom space.|
After the presentations, the speakers will form a panel and discuss current issues and challenges building smart cities and sharing views on augmented reality and cloud computing. The architects, interior designers, hoteliers, design and technology aficionada in the audience have the chance to share their opinions and experiences and ask the experts questions.