The project features a glazed box raised seven storeys above the ground on four lattice-steel towers that rest on a sloping, grass-covered podium. The institute, which opened in November 2010, has an urban park on top while the podium conceals four auditoriums, a cafe, a sports hall, a gallery and a flexible event space.

Yona Fredman in action. Three weeks ago was launched the video about Hong Kong Design Institute, a project by French architects Coldefy & Associés, Architectes Urbanistes, CAAU.
 

How can a place on the one hand fulfill an ambition for synergy, aiming to harmonise the channels linked to design and on the other hand express the identity of each specialty? How can it open itself up to the outside world whilst still retaining the exclusivity and intellectual protection required to produce the best design? How can we construct a building for a trend-setting institution, without at the same time linking it to a category?
 

To do so, the institute must offer an “infrastructure” capable of producing design and of connecting it to the outside world. “The white sheet, the starting point of everything…” symbolises the new Hong Kong Design Institute. The raising of the Institute enabled the base to be transformed into a large public space for interaction and the exchange of ideas, an urban space of which the key role is to encourage meetings and relaxation and to provide a natural green space.

Therefore connectivity to the city appears virtually natural. The “pillars of education” are incorporated in the complex. They accommodate the classrooms and support the institute. They join together to merge into the “aerial city” that provides services and quieter places. In this way, the Design Institute includes the operational components between the sky and the ground, a complex that is typical of Hong Kong. 

 

CREDITS

Architects.- CAAU. Thomas Coldefy and Isabel Van Haute.
Team.- P & T Group. Structural Engineering.- ARUP Hong Kong. Mep Engineering.- PBA Hong Kong. Landscape Architects.- ACLA Hong Kong. Acoustics.- SHEN, Milsom & Wilke Hong Kong
Budget.- 78,212,112 €
Client.- Vocational Training Council Hong Kong

Location.- Hong Kong, China.
Program.- Design University.
Area.- 42,000 m²
Completed 2010

 

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Coldefy is an architecture studio founded by Thomas Coldefy and Isabel Van Haute in 2006, with offices in Lille, Paris, Shanghai and Hong Kong. The studio has an international team with completed and ongoing projects, public and private at all scales, around the world.

Thomas and Isabel met at SCAU in Paris after working for, among others, Kohn Pedersen Fox and Richard Meier and Partners on large-scale complex projects. When designing, they pay special attention to the place, the urban culture related to density and diversity, as well as a conceptualization process where the various factors of the project come together continuously.

After founding the studio, they won the competition for the Hong Kong Institute of Design in 2006 against 162 teams. The project completed since 2009 has been the subject of numerous international publications, was nominated for the AFEX Grand Prize in 2012 and exhibited at the Venice Architecture Biennale.

In France, Coldefy continues to develop a series of projects, especially in the heart of the Lille metropolitan area, where they have already completed multiple operations: multi-family housing and offices at the Porte de Valenciennes Arboretum in Euralille, the Lucie Aubrac Secondary School. The school in Tourcoing, the first low-energy school in the region, or Rigot Stalars, a historic mixed-use rehabilitation and extension, creating a new neighborhood in Dunkirk.

In 2016, the office carried out two major construction projects in the Lille metropolitan area: the Aquatic Center in Douai and the Lycée Hôtelier de Lille. Having completed the first phase of the new OVH campus, the team worked on the project for a complex bringing together leisure, cultural and retail spaces in Orgeval, as well as the transformation of an eclectic historic neighborhood in Fuzhou, China. In addition, there are multiple commissions and competitions, including a graphic arts school in Montpellier, the planning of a new development area in the Paris region, the second phase of Rigot Stalars, a restaurant and high-end residential units in the historic Vieux Lille, the modernization of a Villa in Shanghai, etc.

Awards
5 finalists for the Louvre Lens international competition, together with Steven Holl.
International conference center in Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso in 2009.
40 Under 40 Award in 2010, which recognizes the most talented young architects in the world.
WAF World Architecture Forum (nomination), 2011.
Pyramides d`Or, 2011.
IDA Award in 2012.
Awarded the silver prize for the IDA 2012 awards.
Public Service Hall in Kobuleti, Georgia in 2012.
Perspective “40 under 4”, 2014.
Asia «40 under 4», 2014.
Europe «40 under 4», 2014.
IDA-International Design Awards, 2016.
European Architecture Prize, 2021.
International Architecture Prize, 2021.
Order of Arts and Letters, Thomas Coldefy, 2022.
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