H Queens

H Queens is a recently completed 24-storey purpose-built stacked gallery building, located just three blocks away from the city’s largest historic preservation project, Tai Kwun, in Central, Hong Kong.

Custom designed as a new vibrant art and lifestyle destination with non-traditional exhibition spaces, H Queens is set to host its art shows in the first quarter of 2018. Its major art business tenants include the likes of David Zwirner Gallery, Pace Gallery, Pearl Lam Galleries, Seoul Auction, Tang Contemporary Art Gallery and Whitestone Gallery.

H Queens shares the same vertical typology as the nearby H Code, a lifestyle high-rise F&B building by the same architect and developer. It is clad in laminated low-emissivity insulating glass unit curtain wall with ceramic fittings. A glass shuttle lift in the building allows visitors to observe the vibrant ongoing art activities and showcases the full exhibition of the stacked art galleries through the ground to 10th floors.

Its 5-metre-high main entrance is grand and welcoming, while each typical floor has a 4.65-metre-high ceiling and multifunctional layouts. The 3,800-square-foot net area per floor, with a loading rate of 5 to 10 kilopascal, is ideal for an art gallery, which until now, has not been available in Hong Kong.

Due to the intimate complexities of the urban density, an integrated building maintenance unit featuring a gondola system is installed to facilitate the delivery of artworks. Works up to 1.25 tons can be lifted up from the street through an operable façade (measuring approximately 3.5 by 4 metres) on each gallery floor.

The fire service system is also tailor-designed for gallery use. The pre-action sprinkler system operates only when both sprinkler head and heat detector are activated, to avoid immediate water damage to art pieces.

LIFESTYLE CENTRE
With dual entrances at Stanley Street and Queen’s Road Central, the building meets the busy Pottinger Street with gradually enlarged floor plates on the bottom few floors to create a cascade of outdoor green terraces. Other distinctive architectural features include the operable windows and green features. These are complemented by the large exterior terraces for al fresco dining on restaurant floors, as well as a dramatic rooftop bar with views across the Victoria Harbour.

“I believe architecture has the potential to go beyond its physical boundaries, to reach out into the urban context and catalyses or propels the neighbourhood to share its positive energy,” says William Lim, founder of architecture firm CL3. This is in the case of H Queens and H Code, which do not set out to displace the old neighbourhood but, instead, seek to stimulate it to create a more vibrant urban fabric.

PROJECT DATA
Project Name: H Queens
Location: 80 Queen’s Road Central, Central, Hong Kong
Completion Date: November 2017
Gross Internal Area: 10,000 square metres
Building Height: 24 storeys
Client/Developer: Henderson Land Ltd
Architecture Firm: CL3 Architects
Main Contractor: Wecon Ltd
Civil & Structural Engineer: Stephen Cheng Consulting Engineers Ltd
Mechanical & Electrical Engineer: P & T Architects And Engineers Ltd
Quantity Surveyor: WT Partnership (HK) Ltd
Images: CL3 Architects