Client: Sino Land/ The University of Hong Kong

Location: Olympian City Mall, Hong Kong

Completion date: 2017

Artwork budget: $40,000

Project Team

Artist

Christian Lange

University of Hong Kong

Artist

Donn Holohan

University of Hong Kong

Overview

Departing from traditional brick bonds, the 3.8m tall project articulates a load-bearing composite structure with timber – where each of the nearly 2000 3d printed terracotta bricks is unique and different, enabling varying degrees of transparency, morphological shifts, and new experiences.
The project was on show from June 19th to July 6th 2017 in the North Atrium of Olympian City, West Kowloon.

Goals

For this temporary installation into the main atrium of a high foot traffic shopping mall in Hong Kong, we devised an eye-catching and inconic structure that changes in appearance when moving closer and offers lively textures and irregularities in contrast to to the sleek context around it.

Process

The Pavilion was built by researchers and students utilizing robotic technology, is the first outcome of a new collaboration between The Faculty of Architecture at HKU and Sino Group. The research initiative that supports arts, cultures, and technology is intended to foster cultural awareness of new technologies for the built environment.

Additional Information

Around 700 kg of raw terracotta clay was printed over a period of 3 weeks into individual bricks that were then fired at 1025 degrees Celsius. With 2-3 minutes average printing time for each brick, the pavilion is one of the first of its kind in the world that incorporates this specific material system.