The long voyage of "New Trends of Architecture in Europe and Asia-Pacific 2004-2005" got off to a very good start in Lille, France on October 9, 2004.
18 groups of architects from Europe and Asia-Pacific came together in this European Capital of Culture 2004 to attend the opening program. Since last December, the City of Lille has organized more than 1,000 events and attracted more than five million visitors so far. "New Trends of Architecture" has been realized as part of the third season of the European year of culture in Lille, which focuses on architecture and design.

The exhibition is now held at Maison Folie de Moulins, which is a suitable site for the exhibition, since it itself is evidence of a new architectural trend. Lille renovated and converted old factories and historical heritages into cultural facilities called "Maisons Folie" rooted into a district and opened to the public beyond 2004, and Maison Folie de Moulins is a renovation of an old brewery of the 18th century.
The exhibition is composed of 20 sets of A0 size panels, 34 models, and DVD projections.

The press preview was provided on the day before the opening, and about 50 journalists paid a visit to see the exhibition. The official opening was held at 10:00am on October 9 with the attendance of Ms. Catherine Cullen, deputy mayor of Lille, and Mr. Dominique Perrault, European Commissioner of "New Trends". Although the party was held in the morning on Saturday, it was attended by many people, including journalists, local architectural students, and exhibiting architects' friends and students based in Europe. After his discourse, Mr. Perrault introduced all the exhibiting architects to the public and made a tour of the exhibition to see the works and meet with the architects, half of whom he chose himself.

After the opening, a workshop was held at the Maison Folie of Roubaix (La Condition Publique). La Condition Publique is one of the most important elements of the industrial heritage of the region and was refurbished for the use of cultural purposes (exhibition, cinema, conference, performance, artists-in-residence, café, restaurant, etc.).
For the workshop, the Visual Arts Department offered the theme "New Cultural sensitivities. New place of culture?example of the Maisons Folie" to think about the new cultural places and the role of the architect, and had organized guided tours for the architects to visit three Maisons Folie on 8 and 9 october. The workshop was animated (in English) by Mr. François Chaslin, architect and critic for France Culture Radio, and the architects discussed the concept and meaning of Maisons Folie or architectural creation/renovation from their professional points of view, referring to their own practice and local context.

"New Trends of Architecture" is not only an architectural event, but aims at creating dynamic encounters and exchanges. From this third edition starting in the year of the enlargement of EU, the "New Trends of Architecture" project has been restructured from "EU-Japan" to "EU-Asia-Pacific". We are very happy to have in Lille all the architects from new participating countries and regions: Slovenia, Australia, China, Hong Kong, Korea and Malaysia. The Lille exhibition poster featuring the work by Sadar Vuga Arhitekti from Slovenia is a token of Lille 2004's welcoming EU new member states. We sincerely appreciate the hospitality and hard work of Lille 2004 Team.
After closed on November 7, the exhibition will travel to the next venue, Hong Kong. The experience and spirit of exchange in Lille will be taken over and shared by Hong Kong, and the following host cities: Tokyo, Cork and Melbourne.