WKCDA announces the results of the inaugural Hong Kong Young Architects and Designers Competition

The West Kowloon Cultural District Authority (WKCDA) today announced the winning design in the inaugural Hong Kong Young Architects and Designers Competition: Growing Up by New Office Works. This new competition provides a unique opportunity for emerging architects and designers to be inspired by the character of the West Kowloon Cultural District (West Kowloon) and showcase their creativity and potential by producing an iconic pavilion.

The pavilion will be built on a waterfront location in the Nursery Park at West Kowloon that offers stunning harbour and sunset views. The pavilion will become a spectacular location for small events and activities. Architects of the winning design team, Paul Tse Yi-pong and Evelyn Ting Huei-chung, will work as Design Advisors to realise their design with the support of the Authority. The pavilion is planned to open in autumn 2018 for enjoyment of the public for a period of approximately 6 months. 

The winning design is inspired by the growth of trees in the surrounding park environment and captures everyday elements fundamental to Hong Kong, embedding and cultivating them within the fabric of an emerging arts and cultural hub. Mr Aric Chen, one of the jurors and Lead Curator of Design and Architecture from M+, said, “Growing Up quietly and rhythmically engaging its site, the design shows what a few simple gestures – tilting planes, repetition, a thoughtful incorporation of materials and the elements – can accomplish. It elegantly takes the notion of a pavilion back to its fundamentals: shelter in dialogue with the landscape.”

Another juror, Mr Thomas Heatherwick, Founder of Heatherwick Studio (London), added, “Competitions like this are so important for supporting and encouraging the new design talent that will shape the cities and public spaces that surround us in our futures. Congratulations to this year’s winner. I look forward to seeing this competition grow and thrive in years to come.”

The competition asked local architects and designers in the early stages of their careers to think about designing a Temporary Pavilion that promotes sustainability and address economic and natural resources. The selected design is required to offer an inviting and dynamic public space that complements the surrounding landscape and waterfront and enhances visitor experience. In October 2017, a shortlist of three design – Growing Up by New Office Works, Infinity Platform by Zhang Ruizhao, and SkyCamp by EXP+ – were selected from 320 entries and took forward for further development with the support of the Authority before selection of an overall winning design.

“We were absolutely delighted by the overwhelming response of local young architects and designers to this competition. The quality of the teams on the longlist shows there is huge potential among our young talent. It is our pleasure to nurture them and help them realise their dreams on an international stage,” said Mr Duncan Pescod, Chief Executive Officer of WKCDA. The Authority aims to establish this as a biennial design competition that will act as a global platform for emerging Hong Kong talent.

The winning design was picked by a jury including 10 leading architects and professionals from Hong Kong and abroad: Mr Aric Chen, Lead Curator of Design and Architecture, M+; Mr Marvin Chen, President of the Hong Kong Institute of Architects; Prof Nelson Chen, Director of School of Architecture at the Chinese University of Hong Kong; Mr James Corner, Founder and Director of James Corner Field Operations (New York); Mr Sou Fujimoto of Sou Fujimoto Architects (Tokyo); Mr Thomas Heatherwick, Founder of Heatherwick Studio (London); Mr Victor Lo, M+ Board Chairman; Prof Nasrine Seraji, Head of Department of Architecture, the University of Hong Kong; Mr Chris van Duijn, Partner-in-charge of OMA Asia (Hong Kong) Ltd; and Ms Marisa Yiu, Co-founder and Executive Director of Design Trust in Hong Kong. 

For further information, please visit the website at: www.westkowloon.hk/hkyoungarchitects

Remarks

About West Kowloon Cultural District
Located on Hong Kong’s Victoria Harbour, West Kowloon Cultural District is one of the largest cultural projects in the world. The vision of West Kowloon Cultural District Authority is to create a vibrant new cultural quarter for Hong Kong. With a complex of theatres, performance spaces and M+, West Kowloon Cultural District will produce and host world-class exhibitions, performances and cultural events, as well as provide 23 hectares of public open space, including a two-kilometre waterfront promenade.

Annex

Winning design: Growing Up by New Office Works (Paul Tse Yi-pong and Evelyn Ting Huei-chung)

Design Statement: 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 a soon-to-be major arts and cultural centre. While nurseries cultivate plants to be transplanted elsewhere, Growing Up transplants fragments of the city to cultivate them within the cultural district.

Paul Tse Yi-pong
Paul Tse is Co-founder of New Office Works (NOW). Prior to NOW, he worked at Adjaye Associates in London as a project lead for various cultural and commercial projects and played a key role in establishing Adjaye’s office in Shanghai. He has also worked at Office for Metropolitan Architecture (OMA) and Skidmore, Owings & Merrill LLP (SOM) in New York, MAD in Beijing, and taught Advanced Design Studio at Columbia University in New York. 

Paul obtained a Master of Architecture degree from RMIT University in Melbourne and a Master degree in Advanced Architectural Design from Columbia University Graduate School of Architecture, Planning and Preservation, where he was awarded the Honour Award for Excellence in Design.

Evelyn Ting Huei-chung
Evelyn Ting is Co-founder of NOW. She has previously worked at Knox Bhavan Architects in London, Ensamble Studio in Madrid, and Approach Architecture Studio in Beijing. An avid writer, she has also worked in an editorial capacity on numerous architectural publications, and has been published in Log, Fulcrum, Hinge, and San Rocco. She was a teaching assistant for the Graduate Core Design Studio at Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), and was part of the curatorial team for the US pavilion at the 14th International Architecture Exhibition, Venice Biennale in 2014. 

Evelyn obtained a Master of Architecture degree from MIT where she was a recipient of two full-tuition merit scholarships, and a Bachelor of Arts degree from Columbia University in New York.