New Office Works wins inaugural Hong Kong Young Architects and Designers Competition

The competition entry "Growing Up" by emerging Hong Kong/New York-based studio New Office Works (NOW) is the winning proposal for the inaugural Hong Kong Young Architects and Designers Competition for a temporary pavilion in West Kowloon, the city's ambitious new cultural district.

The pavilion will be built on a waterfront location in the Nursery Park (impressive harbor views included) and will host a plethora of events and activities after it opens to the public for approximately six months later this fall.

New Office Works (NOW) was established in 2014 with offices in Hong Kong and New York and works across a variety of scales, from architectural projects and art installations to writing and exhibition design.

The architects of the winning proposal are NOW co-founders Paul Tse Yi-pong (Master of Architecture degree from RMIT University in Melbourne and a Master degree in Advanced Architectural Design from Columbia GSAPP, has worked for Adjaye Associates in London, OMA and SOM in New York, MAD in Beijing and taught at Columbia University in New York) and Evelyn Ting Huei-chung (Master of Architecture degree from MIT and Bachelor of Arts degree from Columbia University, has worked at Knox Bhavan Architects in London, Ensamble Studio in Madrid, Approach Architecture Studio in Beijing, taught at MIT and was part of the curatorial team for the US pavilion at the 14th International Architecture Exhibition, Venice Biennale in 2014). 

Growing Up was selected from a shortlist of three designs — including Infinity Platform by Zhang Ruizhao and SkyCamp by EXP+ — and a field of 320 stage 1 entries.

Design statement from the architects: "Just as the process of growing trees requires good soil, so the process of growing culture requires a strong foundation of collective memories of the city. Growing Up captures everyday elements fundamental to Hong Kong, embedding and cultivating them within the fabric of a soon-to-be major arts and cultural centre. While nurseries cultivate plants to be transplanted elsewhere, Growing Up transplants fragments of the city to cultivate them within the cultural district."

Thomas Heatherwick of Heatherwick Studio was among the jurors and said: "Competitions like this are so important for supporting and encouraging the new design talent that will shape the cities and public spaces that surround us in our futures. Congratulations to this year’s winner. I look forward to seeing this competition grow and thrive in years to come."

Another jury member, Aric Chen, Lead Curator of Design and Architecture from M+, remarked on the winning entry: "Growing Up quietly and rhythmically engaging its site, the design shows what a few simple gestures – tilting planes, repetition, a thoughtful incorporation of materials and the elements – can accomplish. It elegantly takes the notion of a pavilion back to its fundamentals: shelter in dialogue with the landscape."

Besides Thomas Heatherwick and Aric Chen, the jury also included eight other prominent figures in architecture and design from Hong Kong and abroad: Marvin Chen, President of the Hong Kong Institute of Architects; Prof Nelson Chen, Director of School of Architecture at the Chinese University of Hong Kong; James Corner, Founder and Director of James Corner Field Operations (New York); Sou Fujimoto of Sou Fujimoto Architects (Tokyo); Victor Lo, M+ Board Chairman; Prof Nasrine Seraji, Head of Department of Architecture, the University of Hong Kong; Chris van Duijn, Partner-in-charge of OMA Asia (Hong Kong); and Marisa Yiu, Co-founder and Executive Director of Design Trust in Hong Kong.