PLAYFUL GLASS TUBES

K11 Art and Cultural Center, designed by SO-IL joins the Hong Kong urban silhouette with its oversized glass tubes.

The K11 Art and Cultural Center is designed according to unique construction methods in Hong Kong where the city keeps growing vertically. The new building sits on top of the K11 Art Mall and a dozen floors of luxury waterfront residences below it. The center is composed of two wings and a sculpture terrace in between them. While the west wing consists of small exhibition rooms, restaurant, café, shops, and education space, the east wing offers large exhibition spaces overlooking the harbor.

The most prominent feature of the new center is its facade design, comprised of glass tubes. Each one of the 475 glass tubes is nine meters tall, one meter in diameter, and weigh two tons. From the street, the sculptural monumentality and visual distortion of the glass create an abstraction that distinguishes the building from its dense urban context. Up close, the glass makes the contents of the center clear to visitors and introduces playful arrays of reflection and light.

Photography: © Kevin Mak, Kris Provoost