art gallery and foundation offices

dkstudio worked in collaboration with Shim-Sutcliffe Architects on the Art Gallery & Art Foundation Offices in Causeway Bay, Hong Kong.

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Hong Kong is a world city known for its expansive skyline and deep natural harbour. Hong Kong is also one of the most densely populated urban cities in the world. As one of the world’s leading international financial centers, the lack of space caused demand for denser constructions, which developed the city with a large concentration of vertical towers. Our interior project is situated in one of these existing vertical office towers in the heart of Causeway Bay – a vital mixed-use downtown neighbourhood. The existing office tower was built in the 1980’s and our client occupies the top three floors of this 30 storey building which has a small floor plate with only 20 feet width in the gallery area.

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This project provides a place to live with art and work with art. International artists such as Jim Lambie, Anish Kapoor, Damien Hirst and Chan Kuochiang are part of the dynamic relationship between the new architectural spaces and a range of contemporary artists. A new white oak stair physically links all three floors of gallery and offices and provides a venue for a site specific Jim Lambie art installation using metallic vinyl tape tracing the rise and run of the stair as well as the 30th floor gallery space ensuring a dynamic interface between art and architecture.

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Along one side of the 30th floor main gallery space is a long hanging wall running the length of the space evenly illuminated by a shaped custom designed lighting detail containing deflection grilles and linear LED lights to ensure well lit artwork. The visitor reads a slight inflection in an otherwise uninterrupted ceiling plane. Currently a shallow polished faceted dish by Anish Kapoor and a wall installation of fish by Damien Hirst mark these walls.

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On the other side of the 30th floor main gallery, repetitive white oak fins frame the natural light entering the space. Bronze clad walls in the stairwell and the end of the gallery space provide anchors at each end of the space. The numerous elevator lift lobbies and washrooms serving the gallery and offices are fitted out like well-appointed yacht cabins with shaped oak liners, custom cast bronze light fixtures providing a counterpoint to the open light filled gallery areas.