BEAU Architects

Last batch of pictures for the X show. Pictures by details and materials, openings, relation with Shanghai city and the oasis room.

Second batch of pictures for the X show. Pictures by . The ambiguity between real and fake, movie sets and props, the endless iteration of the Hong Xia theater rendition…

When designing a gallery, the question of visibility whether as an “object” or as a glimpse of the space is fundamental. For the new gallery, one of the key elements in terms of identity and singularity is obviously the facade. We see it as both an introduction and a summary about the project as it voluntarily maintains its original morphology while revealing and assuming the adaptation main gestures. The ambiguity between its contemporaneity and its accumulation of visible “scars” basically gives away all the keys to understand our attitude towards the whole project that is an expressive result generated by a process more than an abstract, conceptual approach. pictures by

When designing a gallery, the question of visibility whether as an “object” or as a glimpse of the space is fundamental. For the new gallery, one of the key elements in When designing a gallery, the question of visibility whether as an “object” or as a glimpse of the space is fundamental. For the new gallery, one of the key elements in terms of identity and singularity is obviously the facade. We see it as both an introduction and a summary about the project as it voluntarily maintains its original morphology while revealing and assuming the adaptation main gestures. The ambiguity between its contemporaneity and its accumulation of visible “scars” basically gives away all the keys to understand our attitude towards the whole project that is an expressive result generated by a process more than an abstract, conceptual approach. terms of identity and singularity is obviously the facade. We see it as both an introduction and a summary about the project as it voluntarily maintains its original morphology while revealing and assuming the adaptation main gestures. The ambiguity between its contemporaneity and its accumulation of visible “scars” basically gives away all the keys to understand our attitude towards the whole project that is an expressive result generated by a process more than an abstract, conceptual approach. picture by

The new gallery is located in a pedestrian, calm stepped street, escaping from the busy commercial front of the city while quietly connecting to its residential background. This “domestic” scale, typical of the Hong Kong urban context of the 60’s, proved itself essential to the design process. As adaptive reuse, the project voluntarily maintains the original building morphology and its elements so as to blend in while revealing and assuming the main gestures via the facade treatment. From the very start it gives all the keys to understand the project and states something as “we respect what is given but we’re not afraid to exist on our own”.

A modular furniture system we’ve been working on for quite a while with .id and is now entering its prototype stage. Made out of a raw aluminium frame, it comes in multiple sizes and is complemented by a series of accessories defining its function.

///variations as shelves, low cabinet, working desk (secretary) and wardrobe

A modular furniture system we’ve been working on for quite a while with .id and is now entering its prototype stage. Made out of a raw aluminium frame, it comes in multiple sizes and is complemented by a series of accessories defining its function.

///zoom of the main corner/connection detail

A modular furniture system we’ve been working on for quite a while with .id and is now entering its prototype stage. Made out of a raw aluminium frame, it comes in multiple sizes and is complemented by a series of accessories defining its function.

///exploded axonometric of the main frame and its connection system

Tai Kwun’s Oasis Phase 2: Located near one of the site main entrances and one of the most impressive heritage infrastructure one can experience, the Lower E Hall paradoxically suffered from public desertion. The intervention used more than 200 plants in pots to generate human-centric “pocket spaces” echoing the pre-existing columns grid. These pockets were then furbished with tables and chairs allowing free appropriation by the public. The very dense “green house” it created offers a stark contrast, balancing the openness and mineral nature of the Prison Yard’s intervention. A project in collaboration with Bureau Bas Smets. Artist consultant Nadim Abbas. Photographs by Leon Xu Liang.

 

Tai Kwun’s Oasis Phase 2: Located near one of the site main entrances and one of the most impressive heritage infrastructure one can experience, the Lower E Hall paradoxically suffered from public desertion. The intervention used more than 200 plants in pots to generate human-centric “pocket spaces” echoing the pre-existing columns grid. These pockets were then furbished with tables and chairs allowing free appropriation by the public. The very dense “green house” it created offers a stark contrast, balancing the openness and mineral nature of the Prison Yard’s intervention. A project in collaboration with Bureau Bas Smets. Artist consultant Nadim Abbas. Photographs by Leon Xu Liang.

 

Tai Kwun’s Oasis Phase 2: Located near one of the site main entrances and one of the most impressive heritage infrastructure one can experience, the Lower E Hall paradoxically suffered from public desertion. The intervention used more than 200 plants in pots to generate human-centric “pocket spaces” echoing the pre-existing columns grid. These pockets were then furbished with tables and chairs allowing free appropriation by the public. The very dense “green house” it created offers a stark contrast, balancing the openness and mineral nature of the Prison Yard’s intervention. A project in collaboration with Bureau Bas Smets. Artist consultant Nadim Abbas. Photographs by Leon Xu Liang.

 

Tai Kwun’s Oasis Phase 2: Located near one of the site main entrances and one of the most impressive heritage infrastructure one can experience, the Lower E Hall paradoxically suffered from public desertion. The intervention used more than 200 plants in pots to generate human-centric “pocket spaces” echoing the pre-existing columns grid. These pockets were then furbished with tables and chairs allowing free appropriation by the public. The very dense “green house” it created offers a stark contrast, balancing the openness and mineral nature of the Prison Yard’s intervention. A project in collaboration with Bureau Bas Smets. Artist consultant Nadim Abbas. Photographs by Leon Xu Liang.

  XU Liang Leon] Tai Kwun’s Oasis Phase 2: Located near one of the site main entrances and one of the most impressive heritage infrastructure one can experience, the Lower E Hall paradoxically suffered from public desertion. The intervention used more than 200 plants in pots to generate human-centric “pocket spaces” echoing the pre-existing columns grid. These pockets were then furbished with tables and chairs allowing free appropriation by the public. The very dense “green house” it created offers a stark contrast, balancing the openness and mineral nature of the Prison Yard’s intervention. A project in collaboration with Bureau Bas Smets. Artist consultant Nadim Abbas. Photographs by Leon Xu Liang.

  XU Liang Leon]

Tai Kwun’s Oasis Phase 2: Located near one of the site main entrances and one of the most impressive heritage infrastructure one can experience, the Lower E Hall paradoxically suffered from public desertion. The intervention used more than 200 plants in pots to generate human-centric “pocket spaces” echoing the pre-existing columns grid. These pockets were then furbished with tables and chairs allowing free appropriation by the public. The very dense “green house” it created offers a stark contrast, balancing the openness and mineral nature of the Prison Yard’s intervention. A project in collaboration with Bureau Bas Smets. Artist consultant Nadim Abbas. Photographs by Leon Xu Liang.

 

The new Kiang Malingue art gallery addresses how to transform a typical industrial space with absolute minimal means and gestures: correct the acoustic, control lighting and climate, formalise a threshold/reception and implement a small pantry.

The main central space distinct features are carefully retained — from the glossy canary floor coating, the numerous permeable windows, to the overarching, spatially compressing concrete ceiling — leaving it mostly untouched and widely open, aiming at accommodating artistic projects that are playful and experimental in essence.

Elaborating upon the notion of “expressive austerity”, all material are plain and obvious, yet implemented in a controlled and precise way. Combined with a legible construction process, it results in a mechanical, almost neo-constructivist architectural language, where everything is what it needs to be where it needs to be.

This project is the 8th project we’re doing together with the Kiang Malingue gallery in 8 years and is envisioned as a complementary counterpart to their future “vertical” art-space located at the heart of Hong Kong.

Picture 12/12: the exhibition space by