Project Details
Project Description
FROM THE ARCHITECT:
Designed by LAAB Architects for the Avenue of Stars, Harbour Kiosk is a unique robotic architecture that integrates a food kiosk and a mechanical room.
Located at the Tsim Sha Tsui harbourfront that also marks the entrance to the Avenue of Stars, Harbour Kiosk pays tribute to the many generations of Hong Kong movie industry while subtly expressing its own Hong Kongness through its locally-inspired, transformable architecture.
Inspired by the Hong Kong’s market stalls, which expand and shrink in size by reorganizing their timber fins, Harbour Kiosk automatically transforms its “gate” into “awning” during the day and returns to its compact shape at night. The robotic movement of Harbour Kiosk also resonates with the movement of harbour waves and pays tribute to the moving images of cinema. There are 49 robotic arms behind the profiled timber fins. Their movements magically perform for the cinematic transformation.
LAAB humbly borrowed and melded the architectural language of several surrounding architecture and crafted an organic form that sits harmoniously amongst its contexts. Harbour Kiosk resembles a seashell, a planter box, and a sculpture, which blends in the seawater, garden, and galleries nearby.
When LAAB was approached to design a small 10-square-meter food kiosk, the team took the opportunity to merge the food kiosk with a large M&E machine room nearby and greatly gained a 17-meter long wall space to accommodate more public functions, including a counter table, a vending machine, drinking fountains, info panels, and planters. The facade features three strata of profiled timber slats that do not only conceal the machine room doors but also accommodate different types of public functions inside the wavy surfaces. Behind the slats are 49 robotic arms that do the magic for the cinematic transformation.
