K11 ATELIER King’s Road: Bringing Green Space into a Dense Urban Site
Recognised at Platinum level across three major environmental and wellness standards, K11 ATELIER King’s Road holds LEED Platinum certification, WELL Platinum Precertification and BEAM Plus Provisional Platinum. The 125-metre commercial tower demonstrates how sustainability, workplace wellbeing and public space can be integrated within a compact urban site.
Located in North Point, Hong Kong, the development combines Grade A offices with an exhibition hall, retail and dining spaces. Completed in 2019, its design responds to the density of its surroundings by opening the building at street level and distributing landscaped spaces throughout the tower.
Rather than creating a conventional solid podium, the exhibition hall is raised approximately 9.4 metres above the ground. The building is also set back from its three adjoining streets, reducing ground-level site coverage to 52% and creating more space for pedestrians, planting and views through the site.
The underside of the elevated exhibition hall is covered by CEILINGREEN®, a planted installation that gives the podium the appearance of a suspended green box. It brings greenery directly into the streetscape while allowing the exhibition space above to accommodate cultural events and public programmes.
The office tower is divided into a series of projecting and recessed volumes to reduce its apparent scale. These shifts in the façade create terraces and spaces for vertical planting, particularly across the lower floors where views are more restricted by neighbouring buildings. Upper offices are orientated towards open harbour views.
Low-emissivity glazing, horizontal shading and variations in the façade depth reduce solar heat gain and reflected radiation while maintaining daylight within the offices.
Landscaping continues from the entrance and exhibition terrace to the office floors and rooftop. The development incorporates approximately 6,700 square metres of greenery, equivalent to 220% of the site area. Around 90% of the main roof is landscaped as a shared garden containing a jogging path, leisure spaces and an urban farm.
A specially designed windscreen improves comfort within the exposed rooftop garden, while photovoltaic thermal panels generate electricity and hot water. Other environmental measures include rainwater collection, food-waste processing, demand-controlled ventilation, regenerative lifts and energy-efficient lighting and cooling systems.
By raising the podium, breaking down the tower mass and introducing greenery at multiple levels, K11 ATELIER King’s Road creates a more open commercial development within a constrained urban site. Its public spaces and landscaping extend vertically through the building, connecting the street, workplace and rooftop garden.
Project details
Project: K11 ATELIER King’s Road
Location: North Point, Hong Kong SAR
Completion: 2019
Site area: Approximately 3,019 sqm
Gross floor area: Approximately 45,290 sqm
Building height: Approximately 125 metres
Environmental ratings: LEED Platinum, WELL Platinum Precertification and BEAM Plus Provisional Platinum
Architect: P&T Group
Building services, façade and sustainability consultant: Arup
Structural engineer: C.M. Wong & Associates Limited
Landscape architect: PLandscape Co., Ltd.
Interior designer: ESKYIU
Main contractor: New World Construction Company Limited