M+ Pavillion
M+ PAVILLION
VPANG Architects Limited in association with JET Architecture Inc and Lisa Cheung
ARCHITECTS
VPANG Architects Limited in association with JET Architecture Inc and Lisa Cheung
STATUS
Built
BUDGET
$100k - 500k
SIZE
5000 Sqft - 10,000 Sqft
YEAR
2016
LOCATION
Hong Kong
TYPE
Cultural › Museum Pavilion
The M+ Pavilion is the first completed permanent building in the West Kowloon Cultural District. It is a two-storey art exhibition venue. VPANG architects ltd + JET Architecture Inc + Lisa Cheung has won the first prize in its international design competition.
The Pavilion is elevated on a berm with mirrored external walls, carefully designed to intertwine with its surroundings in a human scale; while to enter the Pavilion and to arrive at an elevated outdoor terrace, an expansive scene of the Hong Kong skyline and Victoria Harbour come into view.
Viewing art in both exterior and interior, audience shall experience a zero distance between the architecture and its ambience, under natural light and away from noise. Spaces are created to serve for multi-disciplines - artists, designers and organizations to stage independent exhibitions and events.
The design of M+ Pavilion is represented as a Floating Art Platform, aims at offering a respite from hectic city life. It should be a simple, pure and clean space; a space situated away from city noise and pollution, a space that gives us a chance to open our hearts, relax our minds, and appreciate artwork amidst the backdrop of the cityscape.
Art could be displayed, promoted, shared and embraced. Blending itself into the surroundings, the camouflaging mirrored external walls not only reflect the surrounding context, but also reverberating and witnessing the transformation of the Park and city in time.
The elevated main exhibition space made it as if floating amongst trees and foliage, while the white walls filtered the environment noises.
It appears almost as a sacred space surrounded by natural light and nature. It belongs to the city, near and dear to the heart of Hong Kong.
Our design explored the notion of ecology with the same smart simplistic approach as our overall concept, where the building, topographic landscape, wide spreading tree canopies works together forming a continuous whole.
This extensive greenery addresses our emphasis on the incorporation of manmade and natural environment.
Despite of the architecture’s dynamic form, the technique utilized is a very common construction method in Hong Kong considering the cost-effectiveness. It is a good material choice against the humid climate to sustain a long-term usage especially at a site location near the harbour.
The main exhibition space has full length openable glazed doors to create connection between indoor and outdoor exhibition spaces with various lightings and open-air settings. This flexibility allows transformation, hence the architecture is not limited to a single purpose, but a platform for artists, designers and organizations to stage all kinds of exhibitions and events.
