Benoy is pleased to announce the winners of the 2nd Annual Peter McCaffery Fellowship. The internal design competition which was established in memory of Benoy’s Global Director this year challenged Benoy’s global design team to adopt Singapore’s planning principles to create new green, high-rise buildings in Hong Kong.
The Fellowship submissions were judged by an international panel including Benoy’s Global Directorship Team, Swire Properties executives Gordon Ongley and Desmond Ng and Peter Rogers of Lipton Rogers Developments. The entries are being displayed at Benoy’s ‘Sky Spaces’ exhibition in Hong Kong this month. Two winners were selected as well as two runners-up.
Winning Entries
The first winning entry is from Jiang Wu, from Benoy’s Shanghai Studio. Her design entitled ‘Cloud Walk’ celebrates greenery, bringing it centre stage within the built environment. The landscape that she has developed is intertwined with the building’s façade, creating natural, highly sensory spaces at high levels. The concept behind these spaces or ‘Vertical Parks’ are a series of multifunctional spaces called ‘Share Boxes’ – adaptable platforms able to support a wide range of programmes from gyms to cafes, meeting rooms to event spaces and more. The concept creates an exciting new shared space, not only for tenants but also for the general public, allowing great views and high quality spaces to be enjoyed by everyone.
“This beautifully simple, almost understated but graphically powerful solution really attracted our attention. Turning the application of vertical green on its head, it shuns horizontal green platforms in favour of a sheer cliff wall of vegetation to inspire an upward journey. Emerging from an integrated groundscape which revitalises the existing linear park, the building façades allow landscape amenity at every single floor level, punctuated by an elegant tracery of walkways, ramps and terraces which link the supporting cast of use types,” commented Simon Bee, Benoy Managing Director – Global Design, who oversaw the judging process.
The second winning entry is from a duo – Jess Wilkinson and Clarissa Wenborn, both working in Benoy’s Newark Studio in the UK. Their collaborative design, entitled ‘Street in the Sky’ elevates the principles of a streetscape to higher levels in the form of a ‘Street Box’. The concept introduces an element of horizontal movement in an otherwise vertical format and helps encourage social interaction through a vibrant mix of public functions. The ‘Street Box’ includes a sky park, restaurants, bars and a conference centre, with each of these amenities benefitting from the views of the city, mountains and harbour.
“As judges, we were thrilled by the thoroughness of this study, the sheer beauty of the design and the competence of the drawings. Elegantly juxtaposed forms deliver a host of sky-place experiences, within a well thought through matrix of uses. The potential for the ‘Street Box’ concept to take us into a future world where sky neighbourhoods connect building with building is intriguing. The simple interaction of tower and street box elements, and the identification of great landscape opportunities with that conversation, makes this solution exceptional,” said Simon.
Runners-up
The runners-up entries were by two teams of two. Kin Chun Ma and Charlotte Law from the Hong Kong Studio designed ‘Green Torque’ of which the judges said “This is a unique and elegantly crafted scheme, the total success of which only becomes apparent on analysing some of the detailed studies in the submission.”
Javier de Santiago and Hieu Dao from Benoy’s Singapore Studio earned the other runners-up prize with their scheme titled ‘Amethyst HK’. The judges commented “The boldness of this proposal in sculpting dynamic space in the form of landscaped spines flanking an ‘Urban Valley’ is a joy to behold.”
Due to the strength of the submissions, a further six entries were recognised with honourable mentions:
- Ricky Lee, Hong Kong, ‘Green at Core’
- Guido Bigolin, Singapore, ‘Tower Bridge’
- Lancelot Ng & Marvis Yip, Hong Kong, ‘Vertical Urban Carpet’
- Michael Jia & David Baik, Shanghai, ‘SkyMill’
- Jason Clark & Andrew Everitt, Newark, ‘Yong Bao’
- Prudence Lai & Regina Ng, London, ‘Reach for the Sky
From Benoy’s network of studios across the world, there was a total of 42 submissions from 65 entrants, some in teams of two, to this year’s Fellowship. For the winners and runners-up, the competition presents the chance to visit the iconic high-rise cities of the world to investigate international best practice.
About the Peter McCaffery Fellowship
The Peter McCaffery Fellowship was established in memory of Benoy’s Global Director and aims to inspire Benoy’s designers to think outside the box and continue to push the boundaries of design. For the winners each year, the Fellowship offers the opportunity to travel to undertake research on a chosen design topic.
Peter was one of the first members to join the Hong Kong Team in 2002 when Benoy took the bold leap into foreign markets. His impact was fundamental in establishing and propelling Benoy’s presence in Hong Kong, China and indeed throughout Asia. As he transitioned into the role of Global Director and Head of the Hong Kong Studio, Peter oversaw and guided Benoy’s success not only in the Asia-Pacific region but around the world.
An incredibly respected designer and leader, the gift of Peter’s legacy continues to live on at Benoy through the annual Fellowship.
About the Benoy’s ‘Sky Spaces’ Exhibition click HERE.
