Leisure Depot@ Hong Kong Baptist University

Leisure Depot@ Hong Kong Baptist University

 

The Institutional Phenomenon in the last century

With the economical development and the uprising of status in Hong Kong as a World Class City and International Financial Centre in the past 3 decades and more, the British Hong Kong Government understood the imminence of establishing tertiary education and facilities...thus various large scale universities and tertiary vocational training institutes were set up...most of these newly developments of that time were fitted with the basic needs with fast construction pace and standardization, many of them were achieved even based on synthetic modular plans.

 

However, what was lacking of, were the uncertainties on mentality and characters of the flexible spaces with varieties for students and end users. Whilst university students nowadays, after more than 3 decades, their needs and senses of place + space are drastically changed by the intensive engagements of IT equipment, unlimited social media, and online learning + research......

 

The Institutional Phenomenon as of today

With the drastic changes of learning environments in relation to intensive engagements of IT equipment, social media and online learning + research......students and stakeholders are encouraged to “Think out of the Box”, and to “Stay away from the Box” without any limitations and any boundaries...the students in the old days seemed to spend much more time on campus inside classrooms + libraries, as for now, it seems no one tends to stay inside the classroom without any sense of belongings but with lots of rules to learn. As Google Campus’ Theory to stay in OPENNESS, PUBLIC and to SHARE ideas with others in public spaces, the dogma of “Boundaryless” is an orthodox manifestation of designing the Institutional Architecture as a holistic approach to meet the new needs.....

 

In view of the ever-changing needs of students + teachers + stakeholders nowadays, monotoned, boring + static settings will never be a solution; whilst most of the Institutions designed in the last century did not intend for any characters for spaces with varieties but with standardized colour tones, and boring unity of spaces, therefore a dynamic, contrasting in vivid colours, characterized with elements close to commercial brands + flexible configurations are the key + critical elements for students and end users to stay long to be recognized as a “Space + Place” for leisure + learning in a “Non-Didactic” environment…

 

The Folding Ribbons

The design concept is an attempt to create an Anchor for end users like Students, Teachers, Visitors and Stakeholders for leisure, food + drinks and sharing of ideas + studies, the concept of “Tying Up the Space” begins with a Ribbon orderly folding + floating into the space to unify the visual identities from the courtyard space outside, it is a manifestation of providing a genuine Chic + Hip Space for users to recognize as a Hub within a monotoned campus with connections of “Leisure out of the Box”!