pearl river delta
珠江三角洲
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Detailed project list is here.
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1. Keep an eye on the WhatsApp group.
2. Stay close to Kev. He has a specific way to approach certain buildings.
3. Don't rush to photograph. Absorb. Take a seat. Feel the space.
4. Stay hydrated.
5. Be on time. We will leave without you.
6. Avoid photographing strangers.
7. Always know where your Buddy is.
8. Always have at least two ArchiMarathoners in view at all times.
9. Switch your phone to low battery mode each morning.
10. Listen out for the "Disperse" command.
11. Act like you belong. Confidence is king.
12. Point things out to each other. If you see something, say something.
- “Did you notice...”
- “Why do you think they..."
- We intuitively know a lot about space, but we only make it lucid to ourselves when we say it out loud.
- The thing that you think is obvious, is not obvious to others.
- The question you have, others have. So please ask it.
13. Keep your “Top 5” in the back of your mind.
14. Don’t Die. Your safety is your responsibility. Be mindful of your personal safety at all times.
15. Your belongings are your responsibility. Do not assume that someone else is monitoring your gear. Do not leave your bag unattended.
16. Sometimes things don’t work out. Sometimes buildings are closed. We roll with it. Serendipity is the best part of travel. We embrace it.
17. “Its not what it looks like, its what it does.” What is the architecture doing to improve the human condition?
18. Have fun!
19. For all rules, and agreement click here. (add link to tour agreement) -
Your tour buddies are:
Ani Karapetyan
Eddie Page
Lisa Harnett
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Everything on our itinerary is worth visiting however, there are some more worthy of others.
★
INTERESTING
Worthy but if time is limited, they are the first ones to leave out★★
GOOD TO SEE
Definitely worth the time to go visit★★★
MUST SEE
Not to be missed and the highest priority
★★★+
MUST SEE + SPEND TIME
It will take some time at this project
This is our dream list. The itinerary changes depending on group pace, weather and priorities. Enjoy the ride.
ITINERARY
WEEK 01
Wednesday 26/11/2025
Thursday 27/11/2025
Friday 28/11/2025
Saturday 29/11/2025
Sunday 30/11/2025
Monday 01/12/2025
Tuesday 02/12/2025
WEEK 02
Wednesday 03/12/2025
Thursday 04/12/2025
Friday 05/12/2025
Saturday 06/12/2025
Day 1 Wednesday 26 Nov 2025
HONG KONG 香港
Sunrise 06:42 Sunset 17:38
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Welcome to Hong Kong, and especially Hong Kong Island where the name of the former colony came from. It was the original part that was ceded to the British in 1842 as a result of the First Opium War. Today we will focus on HK Island with its former colonial flavour, especially around the Central area. Starting from our hotel, we will walk through some of the commercial buildings near Admiralty such as The Henderson and Lippo Centre. Walking past Bank of China (no public access) and head out past the Legislative Council building, seeing Hong Kong Club from the outside and maybe the Modernist City Hall complex if we have time (there is a classic yum cha place in there with a view of the harbour and traditional yum cha trolleys, hence possible lunch spot for the group). From there we will head back inland to HSBC Headquarters, followed by the highlight of the day, Tai Kwun Centre, former police headquarters and prison. We shall then visit Asia Society Hong Kong Center which has another interesting integration with Hong Kong landscape and former colonial buildings. Depending on time, we might be able to get to Oil Street Art Space hopefully before dark. For those interested, I am intending to have a typical (but quickly disappearing) Hong Kong style ‘western’ food for dinner.
The Henderson
2024 - Zaha Hadid
Wiki I Info I Location I Drawings
★★★
Lippo Centre
1988 - Paul Rudolph
Wiki I Info I Location I Drawings
★★
The Hong Kong Club
1984 - Harry Seidler
Wiki I Info I Location I Drawings
★★★
IFC
2004 - Cesar Pelli
Wiki I Info I Location I Drawings
★
HSBC Building
1985 - Foster + Partners
Wiki I Info I Location I Drawings
★★★+
Tai Kwun Centre
2018 - Herzog & de Meuron
Wiki I Info I Location I Drawings
★★★+ Tu-Su, 11.00-19.00
Asia Society Hong Kong Centre
2012 - Tod Williams Billie Tsien
Wiki I Info I Location I Drawings
★★★+ Tu-Su. 11.00-18.00
The Murray
1969 - Ron Phillips
2018 - Foster+Partners
Wiki I Info I Location I Drawings
Accommodation : Hong Kong
Ying'nFlo, Wesley Admiralty, Hong Kong
Map: Google
Day 2 Thursday 27 Nov 2025
HONG KONG 香港
Sunrise 06:43 Sunset 17:38
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Today we are focusing on Kowloon peninsula which was ceded to the British in the Second Opium War in 1860. We have been granted access to the Polytechnic University where we will see the Jockey Club Innovation Building by Zaha Hadid. We could also go to Hong Kong Design Institute but upper level access uncertain. We shall head back into heart of Kowloon after that and for those interested, we could drop in to the Kowloon Walled City Park. Although the building are long gone, there is a ‘film set’ exhibition currently for those interested. There are food places nearby. There is also a shopping centre called Airside by Snøhetta nearby but it doesn’t look that interesting. I am leaving the main highlight till last and we will spend a bit of time at M+ and the Kowloon West area which has amazing sunsets. Dinner we might venture to Shum Shui Po area for a bit of classic HK style street dinner known as DaiPaiDong.
Jockey Club Innovation Tower
2014 - Zaha Hadid Architects
Wiki I Info I Location I Drawings
★★★+ Special access granted
WKCDA Tower
2021 - Herzog & de Meuron
Wiki I Info I Location I Drawings
★★★
Accommodation : Hong Kong
Ying'nFlo, Wesley Admiralty, Hong Kong
Map: Google
Day 3 Friday 28 Nov 2025
HONG KONG 香港
Sunrise 06:44 Sunset 17:38
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Today is it all about the New Territories, a large swath of area that were leased for 99 years in 1898, seen as “as good as forever”. 99 years later of course is the hand over back to China in 1997. Despite the rapid urbanisation in recent decades, the New Territories still retain some of the original Hakka walled villages and other communities, a glimpse into Hong Kong’s past. We shall catch the train to Fanling and try to catch public mini-buses to Wo Hop Shek Crematorium. Depending on our success in moving everyone in mini-buses, we might have to resort to using Uber, and try to see some of these remanent walled villages. We shall have lunch in the Fanling area before heading back south to Shatin to see another project by ArchSD, the Che Kung Temple Sports Centre before heading back to Hong Kong Island for dinner.
Accommodation : Hong Kong
Ying'nFlo, Wesley Admiralty, Hong Kong
Map: Google
Day 4 Saturday 29 Nov 2025
HONG KONG 香港
Sunrise 06:44 Sunset 17:38
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We are catching an early high speed train across the border to Shenzhen area. We will need to get there early to make sure we clear the immigration before catching our booked train. The train ride itself is only 14 minutes to Futian station. We will pop out of the station and see OMA’s Shenzhen Stock Exchange and the SBF Tower by Hans Hollein next door. After that we shall get to our hotel in Futian area to leave our bags, if they let us check into our room early, even better. Shenzhen is massive, just like most Chinese cities. We may consider visiting Shenzhen Energy Mansion by BIG but it’s a bit of a disappointment so we shall play it by ear. We will primarily be moving about in Didi’s. Either 3x 4-seater Didi or 2x 6-seater. After lunch we shall visit the Qiaochenbei Park visitor centre and toilets, the OCT Loft Creative Culture Park area, an urban rejuvenation of former light industrial area, with a drink at Tan90 Bar in the area. If there is still time and/or daylight, we might visit the CloudLand Tourist Information Centre before heading back to the hotel. I picked this area for hotel as the buildings light up at night and it’s the usual imagined version of Shenzhen in the commercial district.
Kowloon West —> Futian
09:23 - 09:37
Train No. G5812
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Carriage 3, Seat 5A - Kevin
Carriage 3, Seat 5B - Andrew M
Carriage 3, Seat 5C - Eddie
Carriage 3, Seat 5D - Ani
Carriage 3, Seat 5F - Maya
Carriage 3, Seat 6A - Jason
Carriage 3, Seat 6B - Timos
Carriage 3, Seat 6C - May
Carriage 3, Seat 6D - Andrew T
Shenzhen 深圳
sunrise 06:45 sunset 17:38
SBF Tower
基金大厦
2018 - Hans Hollein + Christoph Monschien
Wiki I Info I Location I Drawings
★
Qiaochenbei Park
Visitor Centre & Toilets
侨城北公园游客中心及公共卫生间
2022 - Atelier Xi
Wiki I Info I Location I Drawings
★★★
CloudLand Tourist Information Centre
云之园游客中心
2021 - Atelier Xi
Wiki I Info I Location I Drawings
★★
Day 5 Sunday 30 Nov 2025
SHENZHEN 深圳
Sunrise 06:46 Sunset 17:38
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We are relocating from our hotel in Futian area to our stay in Nantou Ancient Town and drop our bags at Jiangnan House. But since tomorrow is Monday and galleries are closed, we shall head to Pingshan area which is about 1 hour away by car. There are a few buildings to see such as Pingshan Art Museum and Pingshan Theatre next door. After lunch we could visit the Great Lawn Library and see how locals use parks on a Sunday. We shall then head to an old village where they have restored and added to many of the buildings and the fish pond at the front has turned into a traffic-able ‘Soft Square’ with a giant net. After that we shall head back to Nantou Ancient Town, check in and look for dinner.
Pingshan Art Museum
坪山区美术馆
2019 - Vector Architects
Wiki I Info I Location I Drawings
★★★+
Pingshan Theatre
坪山大剧院
2019 - Open Architecture
Wiki I Info I Location I Drawings
★★ Access uncertain
Soft Square Changshou Village
龙马社长守剧场
2024 - ZXD Architects
Wiki I Info I Location I Drawings
★★★
Day 6 Monday 1 Dec 2025
SHENZHEN 深圳
Sunrise 06:47 Sunset 17:38
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Today we can spend a bit of time exploring the fabulous buildings in Nantou in the morning an early afternoon. Then we shall venture over to the newly opened Shenzhen Bay Cultural Plaza (aka the Giant AirPods), a large complex of buildings by MAD Architects. There seems to be a lot to explore and also it would be nice to see them lit up at night so timing to be later in the day would work. It’s a relatively chilled day.
In-Between Pavilion
同源馆
2023 - TAO (Trace Architecture Office)
Wiki I Info I Location I Drawings
★★
CM Design Office
厘米制造
2021 - CM Design Office
Wiki I Info I Location I Drawings
★★
Serpentine Bookhouse
环形树屋
2022 - Atelier Xi
Wiki I Info I Location I Drawings
★★
Shenzhen bay Cultural Plaza
深圳湾文化广场
2025 - MAD Architects
Wiki I Info I Location I Drawings
★★★+
Day 7 Tuesday 2 Dec 2025
SHENZHEN 深圳
Sunrise 06:47 Sunset 17:38
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Depending on how we are feeling, we might head to Yanluo (about an hour north by Didi) to see the sports park and Wing of the Swallow projects nearby. OR… we go to Steven Holl’s Vanke Centre (aka Horizontal Skyscraper). After that we head back into Shenzhen for Dafen Oil Painting Village where they copy oil paintings. Dafen Art Museum, an early Urbanus project, was more an urban community project than it is specially about the building’s interior. We finish off the day at the former Kingway Brewery which has some of the best adaptive reuse anywhere in the world.
Yanluo Sports Park
燕罗体育公园
2020 - TJAD Original Design Studio
Wiki I Info I Location I Drawings
★★★
Day 8 Wednesday 3 Dec 2025
SHENZHEN 深圳
Sunrise 06:48 Sunset 17:38
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Early morning start to get to Shenzhen North high speed train station, probably breakfast there, for our train to Guangzhou. We will be catching the metro to Haizhu Plaza station and walking to our hotel to drop off our bags. We shall head to Yong Qing Fang, another important historic area that’s been renovated by Vanke. Guangzhou is very much about food and there isn’t enough space to fit all the yummy Cantonese food in the time we have there. There is a great wonton (Guangzhou classic) store outside Yong Qing Fang and I suggest early lunch there before venturing in. There are a couple of other projects to see such as another Zaha Hadid Architects shopping centre or another interesting renovation of an existing residential building. After that we shall head back to the hotel and explore the area around the hotel. I have plan and location for dinner of course and a small, hole-in-the-wall beer bar that feels more like someone’s home. Nearby there is also one of the best lamb skewers (not Cantonese) I have ever had and they delivery to the bar for supper!
Shenzen North —> Guangzhou South
09:15 - 09:51
Train No. G6142
GUANGZHOU 广州
Sunrise 06:52 Sunset 17:40
Infinitus Plaza
无限极广场
2021 - Zaha Hadid Architects
Wiki I Info I Location I Drawings
★★★
Day 9 Thursday 4 Dec 2025
Guangzhou 广州
Sunrise 06:53 Sunset 17:40
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Today we will be catching Didi down south (about 1 hour) to Shunde area to visit the He Art Museum by Tadao Ando, before going to Panyi area for lunch and explore the Shawan Ancient Town where you will see some of the best Lingnan architecture. After that we shall head back to see Guangzhou Opera House by Zaha Hadid, aiming to be near sunset and more importantly see the urban spaces at night around that area. We may visit this strange interior design for a Sichuan restaurant nearby and may consider eating there, or find somewhere else. You simply can’t go wrong with food in Guangzhou.
He Art Museum
和美術馆
2020 - Tadao Ando
Wiki I Info I Location I Drawings
★★★+ Mo-Su. 10.00-18.00
Canton Tower
广州塔
2010 - Information Based Architecture
Wiki I Info I Location I Drawings
★
Guangdong Museum
广东省博物馆
2010 - Rocco Design Architects
Wiki I Info I Location I Drawings
★★
Guangzhou Library
广州图书馆
2012 - Nikken Sekkei
Wiki I Info I Location I Drawings
★★
Guangzhou International Finance Centre
广州国际金融中心
2010 - Wilkinson Eyre
Wiki I Info I Location I Drawings
★★
Song Sichuan Cuisine
宋·川菜
2018 - Republican Metropolis Architecture
Wiki I Info I Location I Drawings
★★
Day 10 Thursday 5 Dec 2025
GUANGZHOU 广州
Sunrise 06:54 Sunset 17:41
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We may consider a very early morning yum cha in the area as it is more a breakfast or brunch food anyway, before heading to Guangzhou South high speed train station (30 minutes roughly by Didi) and catch the train to Zhuhai, which is a border city to Macao. It is a bit of a long queue trying to get into Macao as foreigners so hopefully we will be all cleared, get to the hotel and then have lunch. I am trying to hook up UIA’s president who did renovation of the Portuguese School there to show us around or at least help grant us access. There is quite a lot to see just walking around the old town which is actually quite small. It is worth seeing the little crypt display under the former cathedral which is by a bunch of Portuguese architects, including João Luís Carrilho da Graça who does some beautiful work in Portugal. There is a little wine bar that we go to and possibly having Portuguese food for dinner as it is part of the culture that is Macau. It is worth wandering the streets of the old town at night also.
Guangzhou South —> Zhuhai
10:57 - 11:56
Train No. G6333
MACAU 澳門
Sunrise 06:51 Sunset 17:41
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We may consider a very early morning yum cha in the area as it is more a breakfast or brunch food anyway, before heading to Guangzhou South high speed train station (30 minutes roughly by Didi) and catch the train to Zhuhai, which is a border city to Macao. It is a bit of a long queue trying to get into Macao as foreigners so hopefully we will be all cleared, get to the hotel and then have lunch. I am trying to hook up UIA’s president who did renovation of the Portuguese School there to show us around or at least help grant us access. There is quite a lot to see just walking around the old town which is actually quite small. It is worth seeing the little crypt display under the former cathedral which is by a bunch of Portuguese architects, including João Luís Carrilho da Graça who does some beautiful work in Portugal. There is a little wine bar that we go to and possibly having Portuguese food for dinner as it is part of the culture that is Macau. It is worth wandering the streets of the old town at night also.
Macau Portugese School
1965 - Raul Choräo Ramalho
Wiki I Info I Location I Drawings
★★
M30 Infrastructure Building
2022 - Rui Leäo & Carlotta Bruni
Wiki I Info I Location I Drawings
★★★
Accommodation : Macau
Hotel Central
Map: Google
Day 11 Saturday 6 Dec 2025
MACAU 澳門
Sunrise 06:51 Sunset 17:41
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If we didn’t manage to see Mandarin House the previous day, we should visit that. We should visit the ‘ugly’ side of Macau, the casinos area, old and new. We can catch free ‘fortune buses’ to the Cotai area from the older casinos closer to old town. Cotai is land reclaimed between former islands of Taipa and Coloane and has some of the most extravagant casinos around. There is the hotel by Zaha Hadid that’s worth seeing as well as the Apple Store nearby. We head back to old town area by the same buses.
Everyone are leaving today at different times and to different places. For those going to Hong Kong Airport, you can travel from Macau to Hong Kong Airport (HKG) by ferry, bus, or a combination of transport. The direct ferry from Macau Taipa Ferry Terminal is the fastest for getting to the airport, taking about 1 hour and 10 minutes. Alternatively, you can take a bus across the Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macau Bridge, the world's longest sea bridge and sea-crossing, a hybrid structure of bridges, an underwater tunnel, and artificial islands, which is a cheaper option and takes approximately 1 hour and 30 minutes. On the Hong Kong side of that journey, you will have to disembark and go through immigration which is in a Richard Rogers building. For those who are staying in Hong Kong, we may either do that same route, but we then have to get to the AirPort Express back to Wan Chai area. Or we can catch the ferry directly to Central which is easier but quite a boring and bumpy trip.
W Macau
2023 - Zaha Hadid
Wiki I Info I Location I Drawings
★★
Macau —> Hong Kong
??:????:?? Bus/Ferry
HONG KONG 香港
Sunrise 06:49 Sunset 17:39
Accommodation : Hong Kong
Gloucester Luk Kwok Hong Kong
Map: Google