PLA\group

KAI TAK EYE

Location: Hong Kong, China
Client: Energizing Kowloon East Office (EKEO), Development Bureau, HKSAR Government
Size: 40 Ha site, 229,000m2 Tourism Hub, 83,000m2 Creative Office space
Type: Master Plan
Scope: Competition
Status: Completed 2014

With the unique pressures of land use given Hong Kong’s geographical constraints, high population density and the harbour’s logistical demands, the experience and enjoyment of the waterfront are often a contested ground for diverging interests. What if infrastructure were not focused solely on efficiency and speed, but instead supported other values such as amusement, recreation, slowing down? How could Hong Kong people reconnect to Victoria Harbour, the life and heritage of the city, in a new way? Our proposal realizes the urban and economic issues of connectivity, land-water interface, placemaking and ecological sensitivity in an iconic recreational platform floating in the middle of Kwun Tong Typhoon Shelter. It’s form can symbolize many things: the iconic Star Ferry life ring, the ubiquitous traffic roundabout, the eye of a typhoon, a place of calm in the middle of a kinetic and vibrant harbour….