2013 – HK Pavilion _ Hong Kong
Program Arts Pavilion Design
Floor area 890 m²
Place Hong-Kong, Chine
Context Arts Pavilion Design Competition
Team Eric Cassar, Shenglin Yang, Christophe Grange, Mourad Bencheikh and Nicolas Moulin architect
Engineering ARUP HK (Structural and building services engineer), WT Partnership HK (cost consultant)
Local architect Leigh & Orange
General principles 漂浮的紅 (HK Pavilion) is a moving pavilion floating over nature. It proposes different environments playing with natural events. Its envelope is a curved ground-wall-ceiling, cut by a multilayer glass wall opened to the bay. Similar to a cocoon, it invites visitors to discover exposed content while being immersed in the Hong-Kong bay sky. Thanks to new technologies, HK Pavilion integrates virtual connections with the cafe, the park, the district and the M+ museum.
Program
Main parts of the project :
THE BASE which includes plant rooms and a cafe. It is covered by vegetation.
THE ENTRANCE, similar to a tunnel, centralizes the facilities and prepares access to the exhibition.
THE PAVILION which is the convertible exhibition room.
The moving pavilion
HK Pavilon position changes 5 to 10 times a year in order to adapt the space depending on the exhibition presented. It reinvents itself, inviting visitors to rediscover its environment.
Movement happens in 2 directions :
- Principally through the north-south axis : the 15° movement permits to change the perception/configuration of the pavilion both from inside and outside.
- Secondly through the east-west axis, a small movement helps to regulate light and temperature depending on the seasons (sustainable purpose).
The icon
In the distance, Art pavilion seems to be floating on a red sheet of paper which dialogues with the wild green vegetation. Depending on its position, the building is pointing to the sky or to the ground. Its changing appearance in the landscape is extended thanks to light, informing people that a new event has started. HK Pavilion animates the waterfront and identifies Kowloon cultural district.
The cafe
On south, the red piece of fabric is folded from vertical to horizontal creating shadow for the cafe’s terrace underneath. This cafe encourages social links. Open to the bay, it aims to become a gathering place under the pavilion.
Inside environments
White space and atmosphere inside HK Pavilon are convertible. The ground is not horizontal, it is curved and oblique, it invites visitors to sit and lay down, to move, to experiment space. Depending on the exhibition layout, the curator can chose the configuration he wants.
Acting like a cap upside down, the red fabric fits the view. It opens it from below to the sky through the Hong-Kong skyline. Completely opened to the bay, the south facade can be blinded. It is made of 2 glasses with a stainless steel panels covered structure in-between. In addition to its sustainable purpose, this facade creates complex light and reflection games. Actually, the views are the result of the superposition of different layers of reality made by the reflection from the inside and the real view including the red reflections of the fabric and the fragmented view of the bay on the stainless steal panels. Vision changes depending on the visitor position. Exhibition can be presented in a closed volume or immersed in this fragmented bay view.
Relations
Thanks to new technologies, the pavilion integrates virtual connections with the cafe, the park, the district and the M+ museum.
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