Building a show

West Kowloon Metroplan, a model created byTao Ho.

As M+ is a few years away from completion, Chen, chief curator Doryun Chong and executive director Lars Nittve are hoping to generate continuous buzz with a series of pop-up exhibitions held during its development and construction phase.

"I don't limit good architecture to what's iconic," explains Chen, a Chinese-American of Taiwan descent.

"But I'm not against the architect as celebrity, either. A lot of 'starchitects' are innovative thinkers and space makers. Yet architecture is more than just flashy buildings. It's an integral part of life and society, and impacted by economic and social factors. We have some examples of iconic buildings. We also have artists such as photographer Iwan Baan who question iconic architecture."

One of Baan's photos shows the Bird's Nest in Beijing under construction, with workers in the foreground taking a break and watching television. "It's ironic that a building made for media consumption should show that," Chen says.

One of the most important works in the collection is the influential American architect Frank Lloyd Wright's sketches for the demolished Imperial Hotel in Tokyo. It shows the influence of Eastern concepts in Wright's design, along with perhaps the work of the first "starchitect" in Asia.