Hong Kong’s iconic skyline is a testament to the city’s growth and innovative design. As one of the most densely populated urban areas in the world, Hong Kong has embraced skyscrapers as a solution to its spatial constraints, resulting in a skyline dominated by towering structures that serve as both residential and commercial hubs.
Exploring this idea further, we’re delving into the world of skyscraper design in Hong Kong, exploring the unique architectural features and design strategies employed in some of the city’s most iconic buildings. Through a series of section drawings, you can discover these skyscrapers and how they are organized, uncovering the intricate details that make them not only architectural marvels but also functional and sustainable structures that define Hong Kong’s urban landscape. Join us as we take a closer look at the skyscrapers that touch the sky in this dynamic city.
Jockey Club Innovation Tower
By Zaha Hadid Architects, Hong Kong
The design of the JCIT breaks away from typical tower/podium typology, creating a fluid composition. Interior and exterior courtyards provide informal meeting spaces that complement the large forums, studios, theatre and recreational facilities. The tower fosters a multidisciplinary environment, connecting various programs within the School of Design. It promotes a collective research culture where innovations can flourish. Interior glazing and voids enhance transparency and connectivity, while circulation routes and communal spaces encourage interaction between learning clusters and design disciplines.
International Commerce Centre
By Kohn Pedersen Fox Associates, Hong Kong
As Hong Kong’s tallest building, the ICC exemplifies green urban design principles. Designed with subtly tapered re-entrant corners and gently sloped curves at its base, the tower also optimizes structural performance. These features root the tower in its surroundings, creating sheltering canopies on three sides and a dramatic atrium on the north side, which serves as a public connection space.
The Beacon
By Aedas, Hong Kong
To further integrate with the surroundings, the building is set back from the street, allowing for more planting opportunities and creating a breathing space in the dense neighborhood. This transformation of the outdoor landscape also serves as an urban backdrop for the building’s public areas, including an entrance lobby on the ground level and a transit lift lobby on the second floor.
Victoria Dockside
By Kohn Pedersen Fox Associates, Hong Kong
The Rosewood Tower, a focal point along the waterfront, combines short-stay hotel amenities, serviced residences and boutique office space. Its stepped, irregular massing reflects its diverse functions while maintaining a cohesive exterior. Panoramic glass insets provide stunning views of Victoria Harbor, and stone piers accentuate the tower’s verticality, offering a dynamic skyline experience from different perspectives in Hong Kong. Adjacent to the tower, a renovated mid-rise structure features undulating, horizontal ribbons along its facade, creating texture and balcony spaces.
Hysan Place
By Kohn Pedersen Fox Associates, Hong Kong
The scheme’s composition features shifting forms designed to optimize internal planning and generate vertical gardens over the building’s height. These gardens provide rooftop oases and openings for breezes, enhancing pedestrian comfort at ground level and the surrounding environment of Causeway Bay. The retail podium offers a mix of planning models with public gathering spaces, unifying the shopping experience and providing unique activity areas. Five semi-retail floors between retail and office spaces are designed with internal planning flexibility for long-term reuse.
HongKong Shanghai Bank HQ
By Foster + Partners, Hong Kong
This innovative approach created a stepped profile with three towers of varying heights, offering garden terraces and floors of different widths and depths. The mast structure also enabled the placement of service cores on the perimeter, surrounding a ten-story atrium illuminated by a mirrored ‘sunscoop’. The building’s design includes ‘bridges’ between the masts, defining double-height reception areas that break down the building’s scale.
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