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Barrie Ho Architecture leads design for new urban art park
City Art Square is the beautification of a dumbbell shaped public space into an international public art park of approximately 190,000sq ft located in the middle of a cluster of public facilities, a shopping mall complex, residential developments and the adjacent Olympic Village. The existing site has been the major circulation since the inception of the new town for nearly 30 years, and had undergone few changes before the project.
Riding on the special occasion of Olympic Equestrian Games being held in Shatin, the pedestrian walkway was aimed to be transformed into a pioneering international public art park open 24/7 to enliven the public space and nurture the appreciation of arts and culture in Hong Kong.
The project started with redesigning most of the soft and hard landscape, with new decking and plantations highlighting the different zones. The Eastern Strip where the bus stops are, were repaved with jumbo decking patterns resembling a rolled out carpet in origami that leads to the central axis of the park, in an attempt to create a sense of welcome and arrival. At various points, the deck folds up into benches of differing forms and lengths, providing leisure seating in the Square. Linking to the Wedding Garden marked by a raised lawn platform, a horticultural portal and Engagement sculpture, the central axis has on one side a leisurely boardwalk offering unchallenged views from the restaurants in the shopping mall, and on the other the introduction of lush shrubs and water features.
19 pieces of international and local, site specific and functional artworks were well designed into the area on a permanent and public basis. Various types of artwork include sculpture, street furniture, environmental painting, installation art, artwork paving, and so on could be found in the site, distinguishing City Art Square from sculpture parks.
Participating artists, architects and designers include: Zaha Hadid Architects (UK), Xu Bing(China), Mimmo Paladino (Italy), Dennis Oppenheim (USA), Vivienne Tam (USA), Barrie Ho (HK), Nina Jobs (Sweden), Joaquin Palencia (The Philippines), WOKmedia (UK), Freeman Lau (HK), Danny Lee (HK), James Law (HK), Mathias Bengtsson (Denmark), Zhang Yu (China), Tom Thiel (Germany), Mok Yat-san and Man Fung-yi (HK), Sara Tse (HK), Michael Yen (HK).
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