Jockey Club Innovation Tower

22°18′20″N 114°10′45″E / 22.30556°N 114.17917°E / 22.30556; 114.17917Construction started2007Completed2014DimensionsOther dimensionsHeight 76 metres (249 ft)^[1]Technical detailsFloor area15,000 square metres (160,000 sq ft)^[1]Design and constructionArchitect(s)Zaha Hadid

Jockey Club Innovation Tower is a building of the Hong Kong Polytechnic University located on Chatham Road South in Hung Hom district, Kowloon. It was designed by Pritzker-prize-winning architect Zaha Hadid. This building is her first permanent work in Hong Kong. Originally expected to be completed by the end of 2011,^[2] it was not finished until 2014.^[3]

Aesthetics

Zaha Hadid's firm won the competition to design the building in 2007. The competition brief called for "a beacon structure symbolising and driving the development of Hong Kong as a design hub in Asia." She and her team took as their guiding principle the "collateral flexibility" between the departments to be housed in the building. Their solution was to "dissolve ... the classic typography of tower and podium to create a seamlessly fluid new structure ... creat[ing] a building which is inherently organised and understood to visitors from the point of entry."^[1]

Athletic fields surrounding the building were razed to create a new surrounding landscape. The main pedestrian entrance was placed at podium level, as with the other buildings on campus. A long pathway from nearby Suen Chi Sun Memorial Square to an open foyer creates a focal point, where the building space opens to shops, a cafeteria, museum, and exhibition area.^[1]

Location and size

The tower is located at the northwestern tip of the university campus. Upon completion, the tower provided some 12,000 square metres (130,000 sq ft) of net operational floor area and is able to accommodate about 1,800 staff and students.^[2]

Academic uses

The tower houses the School of Design (SD) and supports the development of its specialisations, namely Environmental Design, Industrial and Product Design, Visual Communication, Advertising as well as Digital Design.^[2]

Entrance Atrium
Exhibition Gallery on Podium Floor
Stairs inside the tower
Common area
Outdoor Podium

Funding

In July 2011, the Hong Kong Jockey Club approved funding of HK$249 million for the Innovation Tower.^[4] The tower was therefore renamed Jockey Club Innovation Tower.

References

^ ^a ^b ^c ^d "Jockey Club Innovation Tower, Hong Kong". Zaha Hadid Architects. Retrieved January 9, 2014.
^ ^a ^b ^c PolyU appoints Ms Zaha Hadid as Architect of "Innovation Tower". Polytechnic University, Hong Kong. 12 December 2007.
^ Jockey Club Innovation Tower at Hong Kong Polytechnic University: Topping-out. Zaha Hadid Architects. 4 October 2012.
^ Jockey Club Charities Trust helps needy with record HK$1.62 billion donations Archived 2015-01-30 at the Wayback Machine Hong Kong Jockey Club. Press Release. 15 July 2011.