The Shaw Auditorium opened on Nov. 17 on the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology (HKUST) campus.
The Henning Larsen-designed building combines a highly flexible, acoustically sophisticated auditorium with bright social spaces. Together, these spaces provide a “living room” for the campus community and a new world-class venue for Hong Kong.
The Shaw Auditorium stands on the hillside in the south of HKUST’s Clear Water Bay campus. It acts as the gateway to the campus between the academic faculties and neighboring community. Visitors are shaded and sheltered from the rain by the building’s deep cantilevers, which draw on the vernacular colonnades and canopies of Hong Kong’s traditional architecture.
Surrounded by orthogonal buildings, the auditorium’s curved form stands out and is meant to signal the artistic and cultural activities within. The circular building appears as three concentric white rings, interspersed with glazing to reveal panoramic views of Sai Kung Bay. The building is welcoming on all sides with no formal front or back.
A series of comfortable lobbies, a cafe, classrooms, and circulation spaces are conceived as an informal social focus for the campus where students can meet, study, and relax. As such, the auditorium is more than a destination for major events and becomes part of the everyday life of the campus community.
The venue can be adapted to accommodate a wide range of events from a live orchestra to amplified concerts, talks, gala dinners, and exhibitions. A proscenium can be lowered to frame the stage for theater and ballet while the rectilinear plan brings the audience close to the performers and creates an intimate atmosphere. The raked seating can be configured to fit 840 or 1,300 seats, or stored to provide an open surface for conferences, open days, and exhibitions. The curved wall can also function as a 360-degree projection screen.
The project was designed with a BEAM Platinum environmental strategy that includes a district cooling system, photovoltaic panels over more than half the roof, a highly efficient façade, lighting control, and brushless DC motors fan coil units. A smart ventilation Aircuity System monitors the indoor air quality to ensure sufficient fresh air, using precision sensors to save energy. Acoustic separation, anti-vibration and noise control measures are in place for all building services equipment. The outer wall of the auditorium is clad in bamboo from a renewable supply, mineral paint has been specified for the white façade, and Norwegian wool is used in the acoustic panels.
Henning Larsen designed the project in collaboration with Wong Tung and Partners, WSP Hong Kong, Theatreplan, Marshall Day Acoustics, URBIS, Inhabit, CTA, and RLB.
Related Stories
| Nov 12, 2014
Chesapeake Bay Foundation completes uber-green Brock Environmental Center, targets Living Building certification
More than a decade after opening its groundbreaking Philip Merrill Environmental Center, the group is back at it with a structure designed to be net-zero water, net-zero energy, and net-zero waste.
| Nov 12, 2014
Designs by three finalists for new Beethoven concert hall unveiled
David Chipperfield and Valentiny are among the finalists for a new concert hall being built to commemorate Beethoven’s 250th birthday in his hometown of Bonn, Germany.
| Nov 7, 2014
NORD Architects releases renderings for Marine Education Center in Sweden
The education center will be set in a landscape that includes small ponds and plantings intended to mimic an assortment of marine ecologies and create “an engaging learning landscape” for visitors to experience nature hands-on.
| Oct 20, 2014
UK's best new building: Everyman Theatre wins RIBA Stirling Prize 2014
The new Everyman Theatre in Liverpool by Haworth Tompkins has won the coveted RIBA Stirling Prize 2014 for the best building of the year. Now in its 19th year, the RIBA Stirling Prize is the UK’s most prestigious architecture prize.
Sponsored | | Oct 19, 2014
The Exploration Tower in Port Canaveral dazzles visitors
With a mission to provide the experience of a lifetime, the Exploration Tower at Port Canaveral, Fla., is designed to inspire, as visitors learn about the history and nature of the port and beyond. SPONSORED CONTENT
| Oct 19, 2014
White House Visitor Center reopens in Washington, D.C.
Designed by SmithGroupJJR and Gallagher & Associates, renovated center shows public its unique role as office, stage, museum, park, and home.
| Oct 17, 2014
OMA, OLIN design unanimously chosen for D.C. elevated park
In the design, the ends of the bridge are pulled upward to form an "X" shape. It allows ample room for add-ons such as a cafe and performance space, in addition to open space for plazas, lawns, and urban agriculture plots.
| Oct 16, 2014
Perkins+Will white paper examines alternatives to flame retardant building materials
The white paper includes a list of 193 flame retardants, including 29 discovered in building and household products, 50 found in the indoor environment, and 33 in human blood, milk, and tissues.
| Oct 16, 2014
Rocky Mountain Institute breaks ground on net-zero Innovation Center
Encompassing the Rocky Mountain Institute’s 32 years of innovation, the new 15,610 square-foot facility will exhibit the principles of integrative design and energy and resource efficiency.
| Oct 15, 2014
Harvard launches ‘design-centric’ center for green buildings and cities
The impetus behind Harvard's Center for Green Buildings and Cities is what the design school’s dean, Mohsen Mostafavi, describes as a “rapidly urbanizing global economy,” in which cities are building new structures “on a massive scale.”
