Art is a pillar sector in the economy of Hong Kong. Currently, the city of Hong Kong have a high-density problem and lacks a public space and green area in the city. This brings up the questions of what the public building response can be to this problematic situation. In an effort of promoting art in the economy, “a visual art center” was proposed that would ensure that the needs of local, upcoming and national artists are promoted to a national and international level. The proposed virtual art center will provide room for display and exhibition where major events take place such as art gallery auctions. The Visual Art Center located in Fo Tan, Hong Kong occupies a site area of 70,000 square meters. West Kowloon Cultural District Authority proposed the project to cater for the upcoming community of artists.
The main purpose for the design of the building was to be used as a media exhibition area. There are media exhibition areas, a painting gallery, a dark space, hub, informal display area and lobby. All these areas have a gross floor area of 13,000 meters. During its era of design, the building utilized the maximum floor with a width measuring 44 meters squared by 100 meters in length. The design precipitates to a rectangular shape of the building. With a height of 12 square meters, the visualization of the building becomes vivid. The need to promote artistic careers in the region prompted the design for the building. There are more than 250 specialists and 110 studios in Fo Tan mechanical building area, they isolate into 19 structures. Notwithstanding, there has no formal and casual display space and execution territory for the craftsmen and observer. There is likewise absences of social affair space for the specialists in Fo Tan. For the general population, there is likewise absences of open space, green regions, spaces for correspondence and relaxation in the mechanical building territory of Fo Tan. For the most part, absences of open space are one of the primary issues of the urban and construction modeling outline in Hong Kong.
The design concept is to create awareness and bring art to the public, therefore, creating more public space. Compared to a majority of buildings in Hong Kong, the visual art center does not utilize the upper space horizon as it is relatively short building in structure. A large basement was designed, and most of the main programs of the building were located underground. Thus, it can provide more spaces on the ground of the site. Also, sloping roofs are designed; it provide continuous and walkable roofs from the ground levels to the top of the roof. The architecture becomes a part of the landscape. The design provides a new walkable landscape on the top of the building; it totally recovers the public space that is occupied by the building. The site is surrounded by a ton of skyscraper processing plant structures. This gives it a wide perspective of the Sha Tin and the Shing Mun River. An open air silver screen, a vast outside show or another huge outside exercises can be hung on the principle slanting rooftop, which is deficient in Hong Kong. It can likewise draw in more individuals to visit the Visual Art Centre. Other two minor inclining rooftops are giving a second-way route to the fundamental rooftop from the opposite direction, which can be used to unite distinctive pieces of the mechanical structures territory. There are three doorways to join the fundamental pathway and the north part and the west piece of the industrial building region.
There exist different kinds of visual arts in the industrial buildings in Fo Tan. In this regard, there are painting, printmaking, photographic, video making, mix media, ceramics, and sculpture and installation art. The design plan can be distributed into three major parts that are the roof and landscape, the interior of the ground floor and lastly the basement. Each of these parts is suited for different activities. The roof and landscape are suitable for outdoor activities such as cinema, concerts, music among other outdoor activities. If certain items need to be displayed, the landscape serves as a display area for a variety of arts. The interior of the ground floor serves as a visual central hub that provides numerous facilities such as the library, lounge, the coffee shop, computer pools and other indoor acquisition platforms. It offers a major gathering platform where artists and visitors engage in Fo Tan as they discuss the various genres of art present in the visual art center. Besides the hub, there is a multi-faceted function space that has a high ceiling that can be used for holding numerous activities such as parties and exhibition shows.
The basement holds most of the high-end and exquisite programs and formal exhibitions. In the center of the basement, there is a semi-open workshop that captures the attention of the visitors in the room as it is surrounded by numerous media exhibition area, the dark space, the painting gallery and the XL gallery. In between the workshop and the exhibition, areas is the informal display area that is not enclosed by walls. The materials used in the design of the building have variations in the texture to provide a match with the standards of the industrial buildings in Hong Kong. The implementation of the architectural building led the industrial building district to become an art village in Fo Tan. The project will be the largest outdoor public space in Fo Tan. It will further be the first permanent architecture for outdoor cinema and outdoor music concert in Hong Kong. The structural review of the building shows that it has much to offer to the users, the public and the customers.
From this diagram, one realizes that there is a proper and authentic arrangement of the program relative to the context of the sight. The diagram further offers a strong plan and strategy for the scheme. Planning is a key phase in the development of a construction project and this context diagram provides evidence of a well though plan of execution in the development of the project. However, it is not a final approach to the project design. The design is dynamic and changes are expected to be implemented in the approach. Using this approach of a contextual diagramming is effective as it offers room for any changes to be made in the design prior to providing the final design to be implemented.
The implementation of the design provides a perspective outlook as provided below. According to the outlook, the project provides a large green space that surrounds the concrete jungle. This account for outdoor events and can hold guest who do not get into the building. Also, the design provides a public open space in the high-density area that is surrounded by tall factory buildings. The scheme has a strong diagram and follows a design that is vivid and essential for an exceptional development. From an architectural perspective, proper design results into proper development of the project. This is an element of architecture that the design has fully captured and utilized. It can thus be termed as a critical development area that the project has utilized. In addition, the project makes proper utilization of public space as it is proposed to be developed in an area that is surrounded by tall factory buildings. Location is a critical parameter in the design of a project. Construction of a project in the wrong vicinity makes it out of place and may even shift its market making it lose customers and tenants. Due to the proper capture and utilization of space, there is ample and good utilization of the atmospheric space and design concepts.
Space is essential as it is the primary focus of a construction project. Maximum use of space, the ground floor space and the open air space is essential in providing a high quality and authentic structure that captures the needs of the clients and the users. The application of the design will result in the provision of public amenities that are currently not present in the public domain in the proposed development district. The availability of this facilities and amenities will encourage the public to interact more effectively and utilize the public space maximally. In terms of challenges and weaknesses, there are no rigid designs to reference from seeing that the architecture of the design in the region is still in its infancy. There is also a poor capture and contextualization of the characteristics and qualities of the city of Hong Kong that are included in the design. The history and culture of Hong Kong is also sidelined in the design and this makes it a poor fit within the region. The background information in terms of politics, culture and philosophy is also limited. This is the lobby of the building and one realizes that it offers good atmospheric space design. In order to capture the attention of the visitors, the lobby is built by different kind of concrete’s texture finishing. It is a proper representation of proper use of art and it provides a potential for the needed of different kind of art. There is a tall ceiling that makes it possible for displaying big sculptures or works of art. In case there are informal displays to be held, the visitors are led to the basement level. The large pieces of glazing façade allow sunlight to come in the building, it enrich the qualities of spaces giving it a resemblance and elegance of artistic design. On the other hand, the glazing wall of the hub provides more connection with the exterior environment.
A synthesis of the building is achieved in totality. A direct connection is realized by an observer as there is more interaction between the interior and exterior in this space and the natural environmental surrounding. Here, different kind of artwork can be displayed. The smooth finishing concrete flooring provide a comfortable interior space making walking in this area seem like a moonlight walk. Lastly, the exterior of the building from the side offers an explicable view. The perspective of the building outlook is as below. From the view, one of the small sloping roof, people can walk on the top of roof. Different scales and quality of landscape provide opportunities for different kind of art, especially public art and installation art. Compared to the surrounding buildings, the scale of the building is small in appearance and actuality. There is a big contrast between the landscape and the scale of the building. Compared to the Norwegian National Opera and Ballet by Snøhetta, there are identifiable differences with the proposed design.
The Opera design is exquisite and captures the surrounding. Being in a snowy region, the outer mirrors of the Opera rhyme with the natural water surrounding. The size of the building in width and height is a replica of the visual center. There are strong flawless themes that tie the building with the place and culture while at the same time providing uniqueness and innovation in the design. Complexity is reduced to simple plan integrating an intuitive sculptural modelling of the exterior form. There is a link between the city and the monument through the presence of a low slung. The virtual center, like the Opera will provide a walkable sloping roof. This will provide accessibility to the roof and broad. The lobby will be open to the public and this will make the building a social monument other than just a sculptural monument. Since the essence of the visual center is to provide an enhanced urban center, it will serve as a conglomerate to unite the urban dwellers and upcoming artists. Through this, the Visual Art Center will play the role of an Oasis in the concrete jungle that is Hong Kong City and this will be a breath of life through art.
