Hong Kong International Airport - Norman Foster

Hong Kong International Airport, designed by the Foster & Partners, or better known as perhaps Norman Foster, is still voted as the best airport in the world by a number of differnt media, magazines. definitely won't argue with that.

it's spacious volume, lack of any annoying direct lights, together with the well coordinated ventilation system, really prepare the traveller for whatever trip you are about to embark on. perhaps only occasionally marred by the oddly placed signages, promotional artefacts, or those hideous looking planter boxes.

such a huge space without the use of conspicous direct downlight, this is trully a job well done.

in contrast, however, the toilets really sucks...

Brands | Architecture: Dior, Tokyo, SANAA

so clean a facade

in a way, it looks like a cardboard model, the lines were so well defined, slabs, edges, and vertical lines.

the Dior Flagship store in Omotesando, Tokyo, is another collaboration work of Kazuyo Sejima and Ryue Nishzawa (SANAA, they have a website but doesn't reveal much) Standing there in stark contrast with those adjacent elaborately designed stores, this one catches one's attention by its sheer simplicity. Adding further to that effect, as a pedestrian on the street, other than the large "Dior" affixed to an entirely white background, you really can't see what's inside despite being an glazed building, thanks to a layer of white fabric (or is it PVC sheet?) behind all the glazing.
distinctively SANAA's works if you put it alongside their earlier works like Kanazawa museum of contemporary art, Glass Pavilion for Toledo Museum of Art, or the N-Museum at Wakayama.
and this is perhaps the only building in the area that really glows at night, like a beacon in the dark waters.

we want to search and see if the Dior Shops in other countires are using the same language, and if there is a brief regarding the style of the building when the architects were commissioned.

who leads? the Brand or the Architects?

what would happen if we swap the name with another brand, would it be recognized as a SANAA designed building more, or the Brand it is carrying?

Brands | Architecture: Tods by Toyo Ito

took this picture during our trip to Tokyo November last year. The place is Omotesando, basically it's a must go if you are into architecture, design, or just brandnames as the long, slightly slanted street, flanked on both sides with trees, is lined with one after another designer built of flagship stores of various brands. this is becoming a phenomenon, not only in Japan, but starting to take roots in other major cities around the world.

the shop, TODS, an italian fashion brand, has employed the service of Japanese Architect Toyo Ito. The use of expressive, almost organic concrete structure, made this a very unique building in the district, and definitely one the most memorable. one can not help but correlate this piece of work with his earlier work on the Serpentine Pavilion at Hyde Park, London. his works were actually some of the first japanese architecture that i came to notice decades ago when there was an exhibition held in the London Natural History Museum at South Kensington almost 20 years ago, and i believed he worked on some of the installations then. want to talk more on this particular architect, but will have to wait till another post.

is there a system behind these seemingly organic concrete "trunks" and "branches"?

if the purpose is to make this stand out, it has already achieved its purpose, so does it matter?

however, the next question is, does it make you want to go inside the shop? and does the design and architecture helps to arouse your desire to consume? what is the relationship between: Brands, noise, marketing, design, architecture, finance, exposure, consumption, consumer behaviour, psychology, competition and all that???

Kazuyo Sejima and Ryue Nishizawa's Christian Dior shop is just a few steps away, will talk about it in the next post.

Broadway Cinema, CyberPort

went to this cinema the other day at the Cyberport. To those who don't know what Cyberport is, well, basically it's a spin off from a large residential development, or was it meant to be the other way round? u see massive structure, huge space, but not much people except in the cinema. will talk abt the Cyberport in a different entry, we are focusing on the cinema here.

another Broadway Cinema, which its name is almost equivalent to "not the type of cinema you see each day", for normally the materials, the finishes are well considered, well, at least on the visual side. Some examples are the Broadway Cinematheque and the Palace IFC.

desinged by local architect firm, AGC design ltd., the wall and ceiling feautre circumscribing the staircase and escalator was quite stunning, and you just can't help but wonder where it leads to. naturally, you will climb the flight of steps and investigate...

...well, it leads to a shopping mall. the mall was not bad in a way but didn't really walk thru it as there was hardly any shops the night we were visiting, but were expecting a little bit more, we were thinking it actually led to a larger cinema, auditorium or something more in tune rather than a mall...

as said, visually it was quite stunning, but there was an interesting phenomenon the night, while waiting around buying snacks and drinks anticipating for a sign of some sort to signal it's time to enter, the managment actually use the PA system to announce, quite irritatingly, in the tone similar to those when you are waiting for your table for dim sum: "9:30, 9:30, House 2, House 2, for Narnia, pls allow patrons to leave first before entering..." and the hall was packed with sardines, oops, people, waiting to get in, and people waiting to get out, quite a scene.

is it the management, the space available, or the design that leads to this?

clague garden estate - part 01.

simply walked past Tsuen Wan today after a site meeting, and saw this building. what attracted me was the bridges linking the 2 towers. was expecting to see residents lingering at the deck though.
did a bit of reserach and apparently it was completed in 1989 and was designed by the P&T architects.
don't know what the interior is like, but it's outlook and settings definitely was arousing my interest in this, like a monstrous monument standing amidst the remnants of a holocaust.
i think i will just pay a visit the next time i am in the vicinity...

Brands | Architecture: Louis Vuitton HK - 02

"behold, worshippers, bow to me..."

no, this is not a religious institute but none other than another retail store for Louis Vuitton in Hong Kong. This one was actually opened a while ago, much earlier than the flagship store in Central.
Located at the Lee Garden in Causeway Bay, the facade features a double storey high of LED back lit wall through, apparently, a specially made holographic film. you just simply cannot miss it at night.

the lighting design is the result of collaborative effort of Rogier van der Heide and Steve Nield. the "wow" effect is definite, however, the interior became much of an anticlimax after seeing such powerful iconic skin.

reflection

the Peak, on Hong Kong island, attracts tons of tourist daily, and mostly focusing on the view of the Victoria Harbour, with the built up of commercial buildings as its backdrop, and seldom do people take note of the magnificient view on the other side facing Aberdeen.

Hong Kong Stadium

completed in 1994, engineered by ARUPS, the Hong Kong Stadium located a stone throw away from the busy Causeway Bay is regarded as a worldclass stadium and is host to events like the International Rugby Sevens, exhibition football matches with the likes of Real Madrid, AC Milan, Manchester United.
It was sometimes used as venues for concerts too, but such events were heavily crippled due to the control of the noise level. so maybe the location wasn't exactly right or the design then didn't take into account such factor.