Mist Pavillion

An art pavillion in Hong Kong

KOWLOON WEST ARTS PAVILLION DESIGN COMPETITION

Like the mist hovering over Hong Kong’s Victoria bay on a crisp cool morning, blurring the skyline of the city only to expose for brief moments its majestic topography, The new West Kowloon Arts Pavilion – MIST is an ‘atmospheric’ structure denouncing static definitions, freely moving between the clear-cut modernistic tradition of the ‘white cube’ exhibitions, to a topographical morphology, where insides and outsides are plaited into one another and where programmatic change and adaptability are constantly taking new form.

Context –Between Park and Waterfront

Nestled between the Waterfront Promenade and the future West Kowloon Event Park, the pavilion is assuming the role of a public anchor within the future development. Whilst its entrance is visible from the park and is accessible from the road through a northern entrance square, an extension of the wooden waterfront deck invites visitors to take the slow rise towards the new pavilion. Using the horizontally undulating shades along the building façade and the shifting perspectives of its incoming visitors, moment of extreme transparency, where the art is ‘exposed’ by the public are in turn replaced by the sculptural silhouette of a public attractor, a topography, an enclosure shining towards its surrounding.

The pavilions’ horizontality not only defines the shifts from opaqueness to transparency and from solidness to fleeting lightness but also reflects the panoramic views of the city as seen by the pavilion visitors from the main gallery hall.

The concept:
an adaptable exhibition space

An emblem of its time, the Pavilion is an adaptable space where temporary exhibitions replace permanent ones and wide range of art mediums suggest an art gallery not as strict white (or dark) cube but as a fuzzy space which allows multiple lighting scenarios, flexible exhibition and hanging arrangements including various seating (viewing performance), and complex relationship with the outside space.

The pavilion main space overlooking the bay and directly connecting to the terrace is adjacent to two smaller exhibition rooms, which allow an intimate exhibition experience. The exhibition setup is highly flexible with a system of demountable lightweight walls and adjustable lighting fixtures along the ceilings rails. Shades (blackouts) along the facades as well as the main skylight louvers controlled by sensors define different levels of natural light penetration.

Passive/Active Environmental strategies

The Pavilion shields the sculpture terrace from prevailing north-eastern winds while allowing air to move into the pavilion through operable windows at the northern reception façade. Using stack effect, the air rises and exhausted through skylight. The horizontal shading skin protrudes towards the south and helps reducing the solar radiation and light penetration into the space. East and West facades are developed as partly enclosed spaces with deep horizontal light shelves towards SE./SW. The northern façade relating to the entrance and reception areas is fully glazed and kept very transparent and inviting. The building roof includes not only a large skylight but also a rain harvesting system. Storm water from the roof is guided into a retention underground tank. The water is then reused for the landscape watering on site