M-HKA
An exterior street facade precedent for civic architecture featuring a deep colonnaded arcade and a ribbed upper mass that balances public accessibility with monolithic enclosure.
- What we like about this project
- The upper ribbed volume cantilevers or hovers above a completely transparent, double-height glazed ground floor.
Materials
- concrete
- glass
- steel
- cobblestone
Visual identifiers
- colonnade
- ribbed-facade
- arcade
- double-height-lobby
Style tags
- contemporary
- rationalist
- civic
Visual tags
- civic
- porosity
- urban-integration
- daylight-control
- contemporary
- Geometry
- Rectilinear multi-story mass with a recessed ground-floor colonnade supporting an upper volume articulated by deep vertical ribs or fins.
- Facade system
- Precast concrete structural arcade at ground level with floor-to-ceiling glazing and a unitized ribbed panel system above.
- Structural guess
- Concrete frame structure with cast-in-place columns and suspended slab floors.
- Spatial scale
- Large civic scale; the double-height ground floor colonnade accommodates multiple levels of interior mezzanines and human figures.
- Lighting
- Diffused daylight under an overcast sky casting soft shadows through the colonnade and framing figures in silhouette.
- Atmosphere
- Open, civic, and inviting yet substantial through heavy concrete framing and rhythmic vertical rhythm.
- Environmental context
- Urban street edge with cobblestone paving, neighboring historic fabric, and mature street trees framing the view.
- Spatial experience
- The deep ground-floor arcade creates a porous, shaded threshold between the public plaza and the interior exhibition or lobby spaces.
- Composition rhythm
- Strict vertical rhythm established by ground-floor piers and upper-level ribbed fins, counterbalanced by horizontal floor plates.
- Style reading
- Contemporary civic monumentalism with rationalist detailing
- Program
- Museum or cultural arts center (M-HKA)
- Perspective
- Exterior Facade
- Discipline
- architecture
- Materials
- concrete, glass, steel, cobblestone
- Visual identifiers
- colonnade, ribbed-facade, arcade, double-height-lobby
- Style tags
- contemporary, rationalist, civic
- Visual tags
- civic, porosity, urban-integration, daylight-control, contemporary
- Geometry
- Rectilinear multi-story mass with a recessed ground-floor colonnade supporting an upper volume articulated by deep vertical ribs or fins.
- Facade system
- Precast concrete structural arcade at ground level with floor-to-ceiling glazing and a unitized ribbed panel system above.
- Structural guess
- Concrete frame structure with cast-in-place columns and suspended slab floors.
- Spatial scale
- Large civic scale; the double-height ground floor colonnade accommodates multiple levels of interior mezzanines and human figures.
- Lighting
- Diffused daylight under an overcast sky casting soft shadows through the colonnade and framing figures in silhouette.
- Atmosphere
- Open, civic, and inviting yet substantial through heavy concrete framing and rhythmic vertical rhythm.
- Environmental context
- Urban street edge with cobblestone paving, neighboring historic fabric, and mature street trees framing the view.
- Spatial experience
- The deep ground-floor arcade creates a porous, shaded threshold between the public plaza and the interior exhibition or lobby spaces.
- Composition rhythm
- Strict vertical rhythm established by ground-floor piers and upper-level ribbed fins, counterbalanced by horizontal floor plates.
- Style reading
- Contemporary civic monumentalism with rationalist detailing
- Program
- Museum or cultural arts center (M-HKA)
- Perspective
- Exterior Facade
- Discipline
- architecture