Adrian Cheng reinvigorates HK’s waterfront with 100 creative powers and makes K11 MUSEA the Silicon Valley of Culture
(16 September 2019, Hong Kong) Hong Kong’s Silicon Valley of Culture, K11 MUSEA, the world’s new cultural-retail destination is now open in Hong Kong. A unique blend of cutting-edge design fused with a celebration of arts and culture, the destination introduces an immersive experience fit for today’s rapidly evolving dynamic customers. A collaborative design effort by 100 Creative Powers which features local artists, architects and designers alongside international names, K11 MUSEA spans approximately 1.2 million sq. ft. that is set to welcome millennials, Hong Kong shoppers and international visitors alike to a never-before-seen cultural-retail concept.
“Where K11 MUSEA stands today has historically played a vital role in the exchange of ideas, and as the confluence of cultures in Hong Kong. It is therefore my vision to reinvigorate this district with 100 creative powers and continue our mission in incubating local and global creative talent – including architects, artists, designers and environmentalists – to make K11 MUSEA the Silicon Valley of Culture that will reshape Hong Kong’s waterfront and become the new cultural-retail destination. K11 MUSEA is beyond a cultural-retail landmark, it is the centrepiece of Victoria Dockside that will inspire global millennials, and facilitate a broader discussion on the interconnectedness of creativity, culture and innovation,” says Adrian Cheng, Founder of K11 Group.
A MUSE BY THE SEA
K11 MUSEA is the final and most important piece of the 10-year regeneration of Victoria Dockside, and forms Hong Kong’s Silicon Valley of Culture. Conceived as A Muse by the Sea, K11 MUSEA gives the local community and new consumers a space to come together, be inspired by world-class offerings, and form a generation of change makers to enrich everyday life through the power of creativity, culture and innovation. It will be a home for imaginations to run free: a destination that allows visitors to find their muse at every turn.
K11 MUSEA’s exterior Green Wall, designed by Bangkok landscape and design studio PLandscape
100 CREATIVE POWERS: CULTIVATING A GLOBAL DESIGN COMMUNITY
K11 MUSEA follows the notion that the muse is limitless, and comes from any form of literature, music or art but can also be found in any corner of the universe. Shaped by 100 Creative Powers, each design element has been carefully curated and invites visitors to slow down, inspire and discover their inner muse.
Led by Forth Bagley from Kohn Pedersen Fox (KPF), James Corner Field Operations and Ronald Lu & Partners (RLP) architecture practices, the 10-storey complex is an architectural design marvel. In collaboration with over 100 local and international design talents, K11 MUSEA celebrates the confluence of a creative community with a timeless design that draws inspiration from nature and the surrounding cityscape. Pioneering names from the world of design, including Hong Kong design firm LAAB, OMA, led by famed Dutch architects Rem Koolhaas and David Gianotten and UK lighting design practice Speirs + Major add to the art and design feat that is K11 MUSEA.
K11 MUSEA’s Opera Theatre, featuring Gold Ball and Oculus
K11 MUSEA’s atrium, the Opera Theatre, presents hundreds of meticulously positioned lights that evoke curiosity and creativity, resembling a galaxy or a mysterious body of stars. Upon closer inspection, the seemingly random lighting forms a spiral highlighting the “galaxy of creativity” within K11 MUSEA. Key features inside the Opera Theatre are the organic and root-like sculpture Escalating Climbers, that weave skywards over two floors towards the heart of the muse – the Gold Ball, a multi-dimensional space for exhibitions and events. Wrapped in gleaming latticework around delicate triangular cuts of glass, the luminous Gold Ball appears to float under the ceiling sculpture, Oculus. The 35-metre high atrium casts a cathedral effect highlighted by feathery rays of filtered sunlight that falls onto the seemingly living structure beneath.
K11 MUSEA’s exterior Green Wall, designed by Bangkok landscape and design studio PLandscape
Other key design features to highlight:
- The exterior Green Wall, designed by Bangkok landscape and design studio PLandscape, offers a verdant contrast to the stone façade with a flowing botanical feature that echoes the fluid lines of the adjacent harbour
- KUBE by OMA, a cube-shaped kiosk around which communal dialogues and shared experiences can unfold. Visitors can take a seat at the cubical stone chairs while enjoying a view of the Hong Kong skyline on KUBE’s aluminium panels with an anodized finish that gives the vista a distinctive golden filter
- Sunken Plaza, an approximately 2,000 sq. ft. amphitheatre with lighting and water installations, which will provide the backdrop to KULTURE 11
Sustainability is central to the design; K11 MUSEA boasts extensive greenery, enclosed green cabinets of exotic plants to educate the public, rooftop urban farming, and over 50,000 sq. ft. of living walls (equivalent to the surface area of 18 tennis courts). A new benchmark for green design in Hong Kong has been set with the Nature Discovery Park, the city’s first in mall urban biodiversity museum and sustainability-themed education park and host to a variety of rare plants and naturally attracted butterflies alongside an outdoor aquarium.
Peacock Playground, designed by award-winning Danish playground design firm Monstrum, at the Bohemian Garden
A DESTINATION FOR ALL
K11 MUSEA is a destination for all ages, with a considered family offering that includes built-in playgrounds and two of the biggest sculptural slides in Hong Kong, custom-designed by Denmark’s award-winning playground designers Monstrum. Highlights include:
- Bohemian Garden, a breath taking oasis spread across the two-level rooftop that features an alfresco dining space, mesmerising water feature, and a stunning setting for events such as gala dinners or outdoor cinema screenings
- Peacock Playground, a lively and colourful attraction perched in the Bohemian Garden consisting of custom-designed play equipment including a reclining peahen, a group of peacocks and the majestic, nine-metre-tall Papa Peacock, who has a flowing tail to climb and a six-metre tubular slide to ride back down on
- Donut Playhouse, an oval-shaped structure designed by KPF that brings people and nature together in a seamless yet artful way and is home to Donut, a friendly, 10-metre-tall giant which is also Hong Kong’s largest indoor slide in a shopping complex, welcoming the young and young at heart to K11 MUSEA.
Facebook, Instagram and Weibo: @K11MUSEA
Wechat: @K11-MUSEA
Bohemian Arches, designed by Hong Kong-based architecture studio LAAB in collaboration with lighting designer Speirs + Majors
K11 MUSEA
18 Salisbury Road, Tsim Sha Tsui, Hong Kong
Website: www.k11musea.com #SiliconValleyofCulture