Commissioned by the Hong Kong developer Swire Properties, the Hong Kong Museum of Art was conceived as part of an alternative proposal from for the West Kowloon Cultural District master-plan created by Foster + Partners.
The Swire vision proposed to distribute a number of new cultural facilities around the perimeter of Victoria Harbor – Hong Kong’s most valuable natural asset; with the Hong Kong Museum of Art as the crown jewel on the Victoria Island-side.
The site for the new museum proposed by Swire Properties was the former Tai-Ma navy yard in the city’s Central district.
We began the intensive ten-week design process with a workshop in LA with the leadership team from Swire Properties. Working with our familiar massing blocks on a large site model of Hong Kong’s harbor, the design team quickly established an overarching design concept.
Our central challenge was to create a new iconic image for the museum that would provide contrast to the tight verticality of the existing city, and stand its ground against Hong Kong’s exuberant skyline.
The 50,000 SM of exhibition space required by the client was to be split into four thematic zones organized into a succession of galleries that stepped-up from ground level. The circulatory elements were to be located along the exterior of the galleries and enclosed in glass to allow visitors panoramic views of the city’s magnificent harbor.
This differentiation of gallery from circulation space enabled the proposal to meet the programmatic requirements for creating flexible and neutral galleries for the display of art, while the glass enclosure was to be articulated sculpturally.
The museum’s gently sloping profile was also intended to mediate between the verticality and density of the skyscrapers in the Central district with the proposed pedestrian promenade along the city’s harbor front.
In addition to the building’s sky-galleries, the entire site was also to be developed to include landscaped terraces for sculptures, as well as four separate exhibition pavilions - the ‘treasure houses’ - dedicated to the display of a series of private collections. The positioning of these ‘treasure houses’ on the landscaped terraces as well as their architectural articulation was inspired by the 'scholar's rock' formations often seen in traditional Chinese gardens.
Visitors were to enter the new museum through an entrance plaza facing the harbor. From this plaza, visitors would then be able to access the café, museum shop, and other public amenities in several independent stone-clad structures – each supporting the sky-galleries above.
The museum’s back-of-house spaces, including its art loading dock and storage facilities, were to be housed inside a podium, accessible directly from street level. Additionally, the podium was to feature a 400 seat black-box theater and associated educational spaces each endowed with its own entrance enclosure in glass (center of top image).
A spacious atrium was to have been the museum’s main orientation space. From the atrium, visitors would be able to ride the escalators to each of the sky-galleries, educational and other public amenities, as well as to the “treasure houses” – all without leaving the interior. Additionally, the atrium could be used for large-scale sculptural installations and public receptions.
We imagined that each of the proposed glass enclosures would be built from a number of sculptural panels, supported by a network of light-weight steel members. The fluidity of these glass panels was to be anchored by the abstract geometry of the ‘treasure houses’ to create a sense of dynamic equilibrium.
We worked with the German environmental engineers Transolar to develop sustainable strategy for our proposal. The glass enclosures would incorporate a 50% white ceramic frit to reduce solar glare and heat-gain inside the museum. In addition, the atrium and additional public spaces were to incorporate extensive planters to encourage the creation of an internal micro-climate to assist in the modulation of temperature differences within the buildings thermal envelope.
Although the Swire proposals have not been realized, our project represents an important milestone in the continuing exploration of an architectural expression inspired by the artistic traditions of Asia that began with our project for Samsung in Seoul, South Korea; and paved the way for my final project at the office - the international design competition for the National Art Museum of China.
The projects in this section were designed and executed during my time at Gehry Partners LLP (the office). I am grateful to Mr. Gehry and the team at the office for their generosity and support over the years. All intellectual property rights of these projects continue to be owned by the office unless otherwise mentioned. The narrative texts on the projects are entirely personal, they do not represent the views or opinions of the office, its clients or any other third party or organization.