West Entrance

“West Entrance” is a redesign of the entrance to an underground connection of “K11 Guangzhou”, a high-end museum retail tower project located along the axis of Guangzhou’s major new development Zhujiang Xincheng (Pearl River New Town) which includes important monuments such as the Guangzhou Opera House and Guangdong Museum. From the tower, an underground connection is made directly into the neihgbouring central park area, facilitating pedestrian access to the complex by bypassing the busy road surrounding the park. In its current state, however, this entrance is not clearly visible from the surrounding areas. Also does it not match K11’s architectural design vision in terms of materiality, quality, and craftsmanship.
“West Entrance” covers the conversion/renovation of this underground connection entrance and its translation into a suitably attractive entrance in the park. Its main design feature is a highly innovative and expressive canopy sculpture, placed over the opening in the ground. Using latest digital design and fabrication craftsmanship and technologies, a deconstructed open shell structure is made from a three-dimensional network of thin, computer numerically controlled (CNC) bent metal pipes – all unique in geometry, curvature, and length. Together, these pipes make up the art piece, shimmering in the sunlight during the day and glowing under the spotlights underneath it at night.

Rising from the parapet, the canopy structure covers the entire opening and includes the existing renovated staircases and escalators. It announces their upper access points by opening and lifting its edge in a dramatic cantilever. With this cantilever as a beacon, flows of people are guided toward the underground connection access.

As one approaches the structure on ground level or from the underground connection, the design reveals its dramatic structural display. It’s dematerialised lightness challenges conceptions of materiality, strength, and scale. Energetic, dynamic, elegant and light, it creates a mesmerising unique spectacle, tailor made for Guangzhou K11

LOCATION | K11 West Entrance, Guangzhou, China
LEAD DESIGN TEAM | Kristof Crolla, Julien Klisz, Kenneth Cheung
CLIENT | K11