Amid the myriad of skyscrapers and luxurious retail spaces that populate Hong Kong’s waterfront, the KUBE at K11 MUSEA is an installation designed by OMA to create a distinctive and intimate place for encounters and happenings—an invitation to shoppers and passers-by from the local community and abroad to stop by, and be fully present to experience the city.
“The KUBE is a multi-functional installation to connect people visiting K11 MUSEA and passers-by, who share a moment to be fully present to experience the city, and possibilities of encounters,” says David Gianotten, OMA Managing Partner – Architect.
Located in front of a main entrance of K11 MUSEA—a ten-storey retail space designed to blend cultural experiences and commerce—the KUBE is a compact, multi-functional installation: at once a kiosk, an outdoor seating area and an event space. Part of the KUBE is a golden colour cube, which is home to a local artisan coffee brewer. Its anodized aluminum finish changes color as light of different qualities reflects from the material, offering visitors unique scenes at dawn and dusk, day and night.
Seating is an integral part of the installation. Adjacent to the kiosk is a set of stone cubes that functions as outdoor chairs and tables—configured in a way to enhance connections between visitors. People stopping by the stone cubes for coffee breaks, or simply to enjoy the harbor view, readily end up in serendipitous conversations. The stone cubes also create possibilities for different events—such as outdoor performances with a harbor view—to inject cultural programs into the shopping area.
For special events, a giant red balloon, visible from across Hong Kong’s iconic Victoria Harbour, is installed as a “city canopy” to gather all participants under the same roof, and as an “urban pin” to mark the KUBE as a place in the city for inspiring encounters. Small in scale, yet distinguished by its simple geometry and engaging happenings around it, KUBE is an urban landmark of experience, rather than spectacle.
“In creating K11 MUSEA, we have worked with 100 creative talents to propagate culture and inject inspiring content into the new consumer’s daily life. What David Gianotten and Rem Koolhaas’ KUBE adds to K11 MUSEA is therefore more than an iconic OMA feature, but a symbolic space that explores Hong Kong’s waterfront culture, coffee culture and a new way to become part of a larger community,” says Adrian Cheng, K11 Group Founder.