ISD Faculty and PhD Student Won Multiple Awards at the Global Design Awards 2025

Under the auspices of the Hong Kong Designers Association, two Global Design Awards — a Judge's Award and a Top-10 Award in the Spatial/Interior Design category—were awarded to X-ARt, founded by ISD faculty Prof. Tristan BRAUD and Mr. Brian LAU, for their art-tech piece "Through The Years, To Touch You". The Judge’s Award was presented by Mr. Thomas GARVEY, President of the World Design Organization, while the Top-10 Award was given to the ten highest-scoring entries by a panel of Hong Kong and international judges.

Other X-ARt members include artist Ms. Dominie CHAN and physicist/photographer Dr. Christopher CHAN. Together, X-ARt explores the intersections of Man, Nature, Art, and Technology. "Through The Years, To Touch You", an art-tech piece that investigates the trials of departure and diaspora faced by the villagers of the tiny island of Yim Tin Tsai, showcases proprietary software and hardware technologies being developed at the XRIM lab and demonstrates how art, design, and technology can be integrated. The piece debuted at last year’s Sai Kung Hoi Arts Festival and has already garnered much publicity and public attention.

Another piece, resulting from a collaboration between Dr. Marcel Zaes SAGESSER and Ms. Gyuwon Sylvia LEE of Sound Studies Group, School of Design, Southern University of Science and Technology (SUSTech), and Prof. Tristan BRAUD and Ms. Zhen WU (XRIM Lab, ISD PhD Year 3, HKUST), won a Top-10 Award in the Digital Design Category. The project, titled "High Sections, Low Leaps", consists of a series of speculative multimedia installations focused on the futures of urban districts in the Greater Bay Area. Site-specific artworks integrate AI-generated images of potential futures onto 3D reconstructions of real districts, complemented by sound design based on creative reinterpretations of on-site recordings and construction noises. The project was initially presented at the SeeD Pilot Project Exhibition in Longgang District, Shenzhen, and has been invited to several venues in 2025.