95 Greencroft Gardens, London NW6 3PG, UK
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The Hong Kong Design Institute (2006)
Hong Kong
The Hong Kong Design Institute sets out as an “Ideas City” to reconcile design as a commodity and the poetic notion of “dreaming” of new and innovative ideas. It comprises of two strategic elements: the “ideas-cloud” floating over the “city-mountain”. This is a metaphor celebrating the romantic visuals in Chinese paintings of wise men contemplating within the clouds on mountaintops. The “city-mountain” is the enabling part of the building. It contains all the facilities and services, the spaces are self-contained rooms and are distributed over four floors. Occasionally, this structure is sliced and cut to reveal windows and light into its spaces. The “ideas-cloud” with its four floors, has an open-plan spatial arrangement and can be partitioned into small spaces where required. This ethereal zone is the thinking spaces for creative discourse and conversations.