K11 MUSEA

K11 MUSEA is the final milestone in a decade long, 28-hectare urban regeneration masterplan designed by KPF and completed in phases over the past decade. It comprises a 65-story tower (Rosewood Hong Kong and K11 Atelier offices), a 21-story serviced-residential tower K11 ARTUS, harbor front promenade’s "Avenue of Stars" (modeled after the famous street in Los Angeles and celebrates distinguished actors in the Hong Kong film industry), Salisbury Garden, and 10-story cultural-retail space K11 MUSEA.

Conceived as a Silicon Valley of Culture, the design team was assembled by K11’s founder Adrian Cheng and forms part of the "100 creative powers" involved in shaping the dialogue in the district and sets to defy traditional concepts of retail design. K11 MUSEA is the result of an international cultural exchange, where cross-discipline and cross-border practices in art, craft, culture, architecture, interior design, technology gastronomy and sustainability worked in tandem.

Victoria Dockside was originally founded as Holt’s Wharf in 1910, comprising godowns and serving as a busy port in the growing, industrial-era Hong Kong. In 1978, New World Development Company became the custodians of the site and Holt’s Wharf was transformed into New World Centre, a retail-leisure-commercial complex. The site’s redevelopment began in 2009 in response to the growing demand for a culturally enriching district that can serve an increasingly global community with high quality public realm and a destination that can attract next-generation consumers.

K11 MUSEA fuses design details and inspirations from around the world: from the rare Portuguese limestone facades, green living walls, to the Silk Road-inspired louvers at the entrance – each element is inspired by the vision of a contemporary manor house. The stepped façade maximizes natural light at ground level; a series of visual corridors and recesses enabling vistas of the harbor from inland, connecting Tsim Sha Tsui to K11 MUSEA. Uniquely shaped floor plates are stacked on top of one another to create indents for terraces, sky gardens and educational pocket parks with seasonal plants to provide much needed public spaces and site-specific children’s playgrounds – Donut Playhouse and Peacock Playground – to the community.

Inside K11 MUSEA, visitors can experience otherworldliness at the dramatic 8-story atrium and gaze into an infinite galaxy of lights design by Speirs+Major. The interior is cladded in handcrafted palettes of rich bronze and rustic paintwork by local abstract artist William Lam of HK L&L. The winding pathways flanked by shops lead to focal points where museum quality artworks are displayed. Cheng envisaged the concept as a breakaway from the traditional cultural building typologies and changes the rule of engagement between the viewer and the artwork. Rather than art and design being perceived as unapproachable and privileged; the art and design at K11 MUSEA represents an informal affair and is imagined as an immersive forum that facilitates creative dialogues for its users.

K11 MUSEA is now fully opened to the public and visitors can register for a guided architecture tour. Completed to a highly sustainable benchmark, K11 MUSEA recently received LEED Gold Standard and Hong Kong BEAM Plus Gold Standard certification. Visitors can directly access K11 MUSEA, the James Corner-redesigned Avenue of Stars and Salisbury Garden and all the amenities on Victoria Dockside via Tsim Sha Tsui and East Tsim Sha Tsui MTR train station.