The challenge in this project was how to design a 17 storey commercial building which serves as the head office for the client, on a geotechnically difficult site, having only technically a single front façade that is visible to the public, with serious excessive insolation from the sun, and despite a reasonably wide frontage, a relatively shallow depth of the site.
The design of the building took into account how to maximize the cross ventilation, capturing the splendid open view in front, and with the use of a custom designed sun shading system and a double glazed insulated façade system, create a contemporary addition to the neighborhood, activating what could have been just another one dimensional façade, optimizing the perceived dimension of the building and forms a harmonious integration to the existing fabric.
During the course of design development, while the functional criteria were some of the aspects that require detail attention on, the more difficult part was in fact the psychological perception of a planar surface, the distinction between the “served” and the “serviced”.
It was determined at the start of the project that one of the key design focus was how to have the façade to be read as one, instead of seeing a lobby and an office separately, without the use of any form of unnecessary shielding. Hundreds of models were used to study the relationship and how to erase momentarily this relationship by lines, proportions, and materials.
The challenge in this project was how to design a 17 storey commercial building which serves as the head office for the client, on a geotechnically difficult site, having only technically a single front façade that is visible to the public, with serious excessive insolation from the sun, and despite a reasonably wide frontage, a relatively shallow depth of the site.
The design of the building took into account how to maximize the cross ventilation, capturing the splendid open view in front, and with the use of a custom designed sun shading system and a double glazed insulated façade system, create a contemporary addition to the neighborhood, activating what could have been just another one dimensional façade, optimizing the perceived dimension of the building and forms a harmonious integration to the existing fabric.
During the course of design development, while the functional criteria were some of the aspects that require detail attention on, the more difficult part was in fact the psychological perception of a planar surface, the distinction between the “served” and the “serviced”.
It was determined at the start of the project that one of the key design focus was how to have the façade to be read as one, instead of seeing a lobby and an office separately, without the use of any form of unnecessary shielding. Hundreds of models were used to study the relationship and how to erase momentarily this relationship by lines, proportions, and materials.
The challenge in this project was how to design a 17 storey commercial building which serves as the head office for the client, on a geotechnically difficult site, having only technically a single front façade that is visible to the public, with serious excessive insolation from the sun, and despite a reasonably wide frontage, a relatively shallow depth of the site.
The design of the building took into account how to maximize the cross ventilation, capturing the splendid open view in front, and with the use of a custom designed sun shading system and a double glazed insulated façade system, create a contemporary addition to the neighborhood, activating what could have been just another one dimensional façade, optimizing the perceived dimension of the building and forms a harmonious integration to the existing fabric.
During the course of design development, while the functional criteria were some of the aspects that require detail attention on, the more difficult part was in fact the psychological perception of a planar surface, the distinction between the “served” and the “serviced”.
It was determined at the start of the project that one of the key design focus was how to have the façade to be read as one, instead of seeing a lobby and an office separately, without the use of any form of unnecessary shielding. Hundreds of models were used to study the relationship and how to erase momentarily this relationship by lines, proportions, and materials.
Hong Kong SAR
Australia
Indonesia
Malaysia
New Zealand
Philippines
Singapore
