#PUBLIC ARCHITECTURE PROJECTS
SO – IL plans contemporary art museum as part of hong kong's victoria dockside
SO – IL is currently working on the design of a brand new contemporary art museum in hong kong.
the project, called the ‘CTF museum’, forms part of victoria dockside — a major new mixed-use development designed by KPF. the project is positioned on the promenade of the metropolis’ tsim sha tsui waterfront, a short ferry ride across the harbor from wan chai, the main site of art basel hong kong.victoria dockside is being backed by new world development, a firm helmed by adrian cheng who also founded the K11 art foundation. the CTF museum will not only provide a public home for the cheng family’s impressive collection, it will also play host to shows from other international contemporary arts institutions. SO – IL’s museum, which was designed at the same time that KPF began construction on the overall building, rests atop a mall and below 12 floors of luxury waterfront residences.
the museum spans the top two floors of the building’s podium, with a rooftop sculpture terrace offering encompassing skyline views. the museum will be enveloped in a distinct façade made of glass tubes nine meters tall (30 ft) and one meter (3ft) in diameter, each weighing two tons. ‘from the street, the sculptural monumentality and visual distortion created by the tight curvature of glass creates an abstraction, separating the museum from its chaotic context,’ explains SO – IL. ‘yet up close, the glass still makes its contents clear to visitors.’
the museum is divided into two wings: the west wing consists of various museum amenities, including a restaurant, café, shops, and education space, along with 2,000 square meters (21,528 sqf) of intimately scaled galleries; while the east wing combines two floors into one, providing an additional 3,000 square meters (32,292 sqf) of generously proportioned exhibition space with harbor views.
a sculpture terrace in the middle is flanked by the glass tube façade on its two sides, linking the rest of tsim sha tsui with the harbor view. ‘the generosity of its architecture, the delirious synergy between cultural and commercial life and the CTF museum’s autonomous institutional status might just provide the right combination of ingredients to finally create a vibrant contemporary art museum in asia,’ says SO – IL co-founder jing liu.
