Growing Up Pavilion
GROWING UP PAVILION
New Office Works
ARCHITECTS
New Office Works
LEAD ARCHITECTS
Paul Tse, Evelyn Ting
CONSULTANTS
Front Inc, Evan Levelle
MAIN CONTRACTOR
Sun Fook Kong Construction Limited
STRUCTURAL CONSULTANT (TECHNICAL DESIGN)
Simon Pickard
STRUCTURAL CONSULTANT
Buro Happold, Victoria Janssens, Christoph Tritschler, Simon Pickard
STRUCTURAL CONSULTANT (COMPETITION STAGE 2)
BuroHappold Engineering (Victoria Janssens, Christoph Tritschler)
CLIENT
West Kowloon Cultural District Authority
CITY
West Kowloon Cultural District
PHOTOGRAPHS
Xu Liang Leon
YEAR
2019
COUNTRY
West Kowloon Cultural District,Hong Kong
Text description provided by architect.
Just as the process of growing trees requires good soil, so the process of growing culture requires a strong foundation of collective memories of the city.
Growing Up captures everyday elements fundamental to Hong Kong, embedding and cultivating them within the fabric of soon-to-be major arts and cultural center.
A large sloped roof is supported by a series of timber columns that, like the seedlings in the adjacent nursery park, grow from an intimate human scale to the harbor scale.
A stepped landscape below, reminiscent of the city’s hilly topography, provides both seating and stage for different activities.
“The design process was really an exercise in close observation of things around us, and how to lend significance to various elements that comprise the city - steps, walkways, the way different roofs shed rainwater, palm trees,” said Ms. Evelyn Ting, Co-founder of New Office Works.
Despite its simple volume, each angle of the pavilion reveals a different sense of porosity, materiality, and scale.
The north and south elevations are characterized by transparency, the surrounding trees a seamless backdrop between the pavilion’s slender columns.
However, as one move around and the columns overlap in perspective, the pavilion edge becomes more solid and frames the waterfront view.
The pavilion appears the densest from the east, the structure of the steps forming an intricate screen to accentuate the transition from park to the waterfront.
In contrast, an open gathering space and distinct profile emerge from the harbor.
