LCSD's museums win several awards (with photos)
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Several cultural facilities received awards in relation to their architectural design. Firstly, the outstanding designs made by the Architectural Services Department (ArchSD) for the Phase II Development of Oil Street Art Space (Oi!) won the Grand Award of DFA Design for Asia Awards this year. The award was launched by the Hong Kong Design Centre in 2003 to commend a wide range of designs which embody Asian aesthetics and culture, with influence in Asia and for Asia. In order to provide more space to inspire greater imagination, Oi! further expanded in 2019, in which an adjacent outdoor space of over 3 000 square metres was integrated with the original premises. The new space provided additionally a two-storey building for exhibition and multipurpose uses and was opened to the public in May last year.
Meanwhile, three museums won the awards by the Hong Kong Institute of Architects (HKIA). First, the Phase II Development of Oil Street Art Space was one of two finalists for the President's Special Prize of the HKIA Annual Awards 2022/23. The HKIA Annual Awards organised by the institute is one of the major architectural awards in Hong Kong. Apart from Oi!, the Hong Kong Intangible Cultural Heritage Centre won this year's Special Award (Interior Design). Sam Tung Uk is an over 200-year-old Hakka walled village that was declared a monument in 1981. It was converted into a museum and opened to the public after restoration in 1987. The museum underwent a large-scale exhibition revamp in late 2020 by adding more artistic and up-to-date elements to reinterpret local traditional culture in an innovative and creative way.
The museum project in Kowloon Park is designed by the ArchSD. It won the HKIA Merit Award in the future project section. Kowloon Park is situated at the former Whitfield Barracks site and Block 58 will be revitalised as a new cultural facility in this project to form a heritage cluster with the Hong Kong Heritage Discovery Centre and the Health Education Exhibition and Resource Centre.
On commissioned art projects, various projects commissioned by the LCSD also demonstrated distinguished achievements. The "Joyful Trees (Arbores Laetae)" commissioned by Oi!, which is a kinetic art installation on the theme of trees at the location, received the Merit Award (Spatial Design) of DFA Design for Asia Awards. The installation is created by renowned American architectural group Diller Scofidio + Renfro. The installation consists of 16 Chinese junipers planted at the Oi! garden, with three of them planted at a 10-degree bias in rotating turntables. Dappled light, shade and patterns overlap when the trees rotate, while visitors are invited to immerse themselves in the "unnatural nature".
The Hong Kong Museum of Art (HKMoA) also had brilliant performance. It has been honoured with the Travellers' Choice 2023 award by international travel review website Tripadvisor recently. This award is given to favourite destinations, hotels and restaurants that consistently earn great reviews from travellers and are ranked within the top 10 per cent on that travel review website. The HKMoA has been popular among the local public and tourists. The number of visitors has consistently reached new highs since its reopening after a major renovation in 2019, and as of December 3, the HKMoA had welcomed nearly 2.5 million visitors.
The "Portrait Play" interactive exhibition of the HKMoA won the Bronze Award in the DFA Design for Asia Awards 2023 and the Silver Award in the Hong Kong ICT Awards 2023: Digital Entertainment (Interactive Design) Award steered by the Office of the Government Chief Information Officer. The exhibition was created by Hong Kong new media artist Henry Chu. Visitors can create their unique self-portraits using images of eyes, noses and mouths derived from the museum collection or even recreate their own faces.
The Art Promotion Office's commissioned artwork, "The Ornithopter", was also a finalist for the Special Award - Architectural Installation, Curation & Exhibition Design of the HKIA Annual Awards. This outdoor art installation was featured in "The Hong Kong Jockey Club Series: Science in Art" exhibition jointly organised by the Art Promotion Office and the Science Promotion Unit under the LCSD last year. It was created by HIR Studio, and is inspired by the mechanics of flying machines. The public interacted with the installation, which let them experience the journey of restless hard work in realising one's dream.
Ends/Tuesday, December 5, 2023
Issued at HKT 17:25
Issued at HKT 17:25
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