M+’s futuristic design and giant LED screen are noteworthy additions to the Hong Kong skyline. From tomorrow on visitors can check out the building’s interior design which is no less fascinating than the design and architecture pieces in M+’s collection. Rebecca Lo reports.

A spiral staircase connects the second floor of the M+ building, where most of the galleries are located, to its rooftop garden. (PHOTO PROVIDED TO CHINA DAILY)

In a dim part of Hong Kong: Here and Beyond — one of the six opening exhibitions at the new M+ museum of visual culture — a hand-drawn, partially-torn sketch, yellow with age,  depicts a narrow rectangle full of circles. 

The story behind the image dates back to 1970, when Jardine House was still a drawing on the board of P&T Architects & Engineers’ James Kinoshita. “Lana interrupted me one evening and remarked that my elevations looked so dull,” Kinoshita writes in his autobiography, From Slocan to Hong Kong: An Architect’s Journey, recalling his interior designer wife’s suggestion that would eventually inspire an architectural design breakthrough.

LED lights are elegantly integrated into bespoke facade materials. At night the screen suddenly transforms and is quite magical

Ikko Yokoyama, lead curator, Design & Architecture, M+

Henry Keswick, then chairman of Jardine Matheson, approved the innovative circular window design suggested by Lana. Hong Kong’s first skyscraper got an unconventional facade as a result. Half a century later, Kinoshita’s offbeat design for Jardine House gets a nod from M+’s curators who have included the drawing in the opening exhibitions. 

Chronicle of city development 

Hong Kong’s 20th-century architecture is enjoying a renaissance at the moment. Exhibitions such as Goethe-Institut’s 100 Years of Bauhaus in 2019 and Brutal! organized by Bob Pang with photography by Kevin Mak last summer whetted the public’s appetite for more. The opening of M+ on Friday in the West Kowloon Cultural District finally lets the public discover what their tax dollars funded. 

Doubtless, the collection amassed by M+’s architecture and design curatorial team led by Ikko Yokoyama is one of the world’s finest. Significant donations over the years include P&T’s archives and bequests from the estates of other noteworthy architects. These along with key acquisitions yield an Asia-focused repository of gems alongside a chronicle of Hong Kong’s modern built environment since the early 20th century.

“Highlights in the Design and Architecture collection is how we juxtapose works and objects to expand the understanding of the story,” Yokoyama explains. “Mei Foo Sun Chuen, a Hong Kong 1960s housing estate, is characterized by efficient large-scale designs for dense urban settings. Informal user-constructed environments such as Kowloon Walled City show typical Hong Kong characteristics. Together they show how contrasts can co-exist.” 

I Ching-inspired calligraphy by Tong Yang-tze adorns pillars leading to the Main Hall.  (CALVIN NG / CHINA DAILY)

A major challenge of showcasing D&A is in being able to interpret it efficaciously for the viewing public. Unlike visual or performing art, D&A’s raison d’etre is function. Aesthetics, while important, comes second, especially when the project adheres to modernism’s “form follows function” rules. Viewers of D&A exhibited at M+ are rarely the client. As any project’s site, context, client, user, materials, budget and a myriad of other factors inform the eventual solution, one expects a note explaining such contextual specificities to accompany the visuals, although these might get bypassed in favor of attractions that are more Instagrammable.

An effective example of M+ addressing viewer expectations is the one-to-one scaled replica of Gary Chang’s “transformer” apartment in Hong Kong. “Another highlight is Kuramata Shiro’s Kiyotomo sushi bar in Tokyo,” Yokoyama notes. “M+ installed the actual interior and façade of the bar — a thoroughly unique and ambitious preservation project.” 

The design of M+ building by Herzog & de Meuron is a homage  to Hong Kong’s generic tower and podium high-rises. (PHOTO PROVIDED TO CHINA DAILY)

Kuramata is possibly one of the 20th century’s most influential designers, yet most of his interior projects were demolished to suit new tenants’ requirements. “He designed more than 350 spaces but only three remain in their original state,” Yokoyama laments. “By preserving an interior space, M+ aims to affirm the importance of design and highlight its ability to shape everyday experiences.”

Digital installations, multimedia works and technological breakthroughs make M+’s collection immediately relevant to younger audiences. “We show the evolution of emoji, as it has become a universal digital language,” Yokoyama states. “Through emoji, we question how digital technologies have transformed communication and how we experience the world — yet despite the instant connection, emotional barriers persist. We may be lonelier than ever.” 

Li Naihan’s wooden wardrobe sculpture is a take-off on the CCTV Headquarters in Beijing, designed by Dutch architecture firm OMA. (PHOTO PROVIDED TO CHINA DAILY)

Tower and podium

As the chest to house these treasures, M+’s architecture arguably encourages more controversy than its D&A collection. The team of design architect Herzog & de Meuron and executive architect Farrells won an international competition to claim the task of designing the building. Their scheme was a wafer tower oriented toward Victoria Harbour and stacked above a podium. 

“M+ is the most talked about thing at West Kowloon since Norman Foster’s masterplan,” states architect and Chinese University of Hong Kong Adjunct Professor Sebastian Law, a former principal director with Leigh & Orange Architects. “It is HdM’s biggest, most important job to date.” 

The success of any purpose-built public museum can be gauged on whether it attracts the public, the quality of its exhibits, and whether it remains relevant over time. In other words, whether people will go, stay and return. 

If M+ aspires to truly rival Manhattan’s Museum of Modern Art or Paris’s Centre Pompidou, it needs to build an outstanding collection with impeccable provenance. Its numerous pop-up initiatives since the late 2000s allowed the public to glimpse M+’s growing collection of art and artifacts while building anticipation. More importantly, the way the works are organized tells a singular story about the development of Asian design at a juncture when designs from the region dominate the world stage. 

Farrells, led by Gavin Erasmus, was Herzog & de Meuron’s partner in building M+. He says the museum will contribute hugely to Hong Kong’s appeal as a world city. (PHOTO PROVIDED TO CHINA DAILY)

The first public impression of the M+ building is via a supersized TV screen against the night sky, counting down to opening day. HdM designed two brutalist concrete structures to store the museum’s archives and house West Kowloon’s offices to stand next to M+. Concrete, HdM’s favored material, dominates M+’s interiors. The façade’s final iteration is clad with dark green terracotta tiles to resemble bamboo, adhered vertically on the podium and horizontally on the tower. 

From afar, the building resembles a black monolith floating above a green lawn, similar in ethos to the alien spaceship in Denis Villeneuve’s 2016 film Arrival — an enormous, enigmatic structure whose intentions one can’t be absolutely sure of. 

“M+ is basically a box with a slab on top — an inverted ‘T’,” Law remarks. “Everything is packed into that simple box and activated with dynamic spaces. With the entire harborside part one floor lower than the main entry, its openings are porous and welcome people inside.” 

The main entry greets the public with oversized pendant lamps that reference the city’s wet market stalls. The cavernous lobby overwhelms with its sweeping monochromatic austerity. “Its scale, particularly on level one’s lobby area, makes people feel small and insignificant,” Law comments. I Ching-inspired calligraphy by Tong Yang-tze on the pillars is the only art in evidence here, giving viewers relief from what Law calls the space’s “airport terminal” vibe. 

Architect and Chinese University of Hong Kong academic Sebastian Law says at M+ “Everything is packed into a simple box and activated with dynamic spaces.” (PHOTO PROVIDED TO CHINA DAILY)

Serendipitous finds

Farrells, as the Hong Kong partner to Basel-based HdM, and engineer Arup were responsible for making the design work. The tasks of accomplishing the technical work, coordination, statutory compliance, documentation approval and client liaison fell squarely on Farrells’ shoulders. 

“It is like running a marathon,” admits Gavin Erasmus, director with Farrells, speaking on the decade-long project duration. “You have highs and lows, and require great stamina and all-in commitment. Success and satisfaction is however eventually reached with the added bonus that people can visit the building and experience the product of our efforts.”

One of the major issues the team faced was the Airport Express line running underneath M+ which itself stands on reclaimed land. “Why position the building on top of a rail line — all the technical issues could have been avoided and the budget reduced,” Law laments. “M+ ended up being heavy on engineering, with two massive steel girders to carry the weight of the podium above.”

Ikko Yokoyama, lead curator, Design & Architecture, M+, says, the juxtaposition of contrasting building designs and living environments in Hong Kong is a highlight of the opening exhibitions. (PHOTO PROVIDED TO CHINA DAILY)

HdM, however, views the issue positively, as stated in its M+ Building Completion statement released in September: “Initially an obstacle that complicated planning, this distinctive feature has become the raison d’etre for our project consisting of a rough, large-scale exhibition universe that quite literally anchors the entire building in the ground. By uncovering the tunnel, a spectacular space is created. The excavations reveal a found space of unprecedented potential.”

Above this found space, sit 33 galleries that allow creative juxtaposition of exhibitions that embrace two and three-dimensional works. “The best part is that 31 of these galleries are gathered on one level, offering a great viewing experience,” Yokoyama says. “It is unusual to have such a large series of spaces in a city known for high-rise towers and efficiently compact floors. Flat walks can only be found in shopping malls. But at M+ visitors can enjoy a continuous stroll in gallery after gallery.”

The occasional bench under a skylight or next to a window oriented towards Victoria Harbour gives viewers pause from the visual overload. “It is almost like walking through a landscape carefully designed by HdM and then filled with curators’ program and artworks,” Yokoyama notes.

James Kinoshita’s unconventional design sketch for Jardine House, with mulitiple circular windows on the facade, is on show as part of the Hong Kong: Here and Beyond show at M+. (PHOTO PROVIDED TO CHINA DAILY)

Ancillary spaces including the Learning Hub, Cinema, Mediatheque, M+ Shop and The Other Shop, restaurants and outdoor areas were designed to further engage the public. “The indoor and outdoor spaces are well connected,” Law says. “The Grand Stair is good for rest and discussions. Against the background of Victoria Harbour, these public areas have everything going for them.”

“I think it is an incredibly beautiful structure,” Yokoyama reveals. “LED lights are elegantly integrated into bespoke façade materials. During the day people will not notice the screen. At night it suddenly transforms and is quite magical.”

“I am sure M+ will be a strong contributor to enhancing Hong Kong as a world city and how culture really becomes ingrained into our daily lives,” Erasmus says.

“M+ is packaged well in spite of the financial issues that plagued the project from its outset,” Law states. “It will inspire the public. Hong Kong will love it.”