Zaha Hadid Architects – Innovation Tower Ceremony at Hong Kong Polytechnic University

The Hong Kong Polytechnic University held the topping-out ceremony for the Jockey Club Innovation Tower on 24 September. On completion, Innovation Tower will be home to PolyU School of Design (SD) and the newly established Jockey Club Design Institute for Social Innovation. Hong Kong Jockey Club (HKJC) Chairman Mr T Brian Stevenson; PolyU Council Chairman Ms Marjorie Yang Mun-tak; former Council Chairman Mr Victor Lo; PolyU President Professor Timothy W. Tong and Dean of SD Professor Cees de Bont officiated at the ceremony.

Courtesy of  Zaha Hadid Architects

Mr T Brian Stevenson, Chairman of The Hong Kong Jockey Club, told the guests that an environment where people come together to generate and realize new ideas was needed for the city to thrive in innovation. “This is where the Design Institute for Social Innovation can make such a great contribution to Hong Kong’s development and sustain Hong Kong’s position as a leading design and creative hub in the region. With this magnificent new Innovation Tower, PolyU can look forward to becoming a renowned center for creative design and innovation.”

Courtesy of  Zaha Hadid Architects

Architect Zaha Hadid Architects warmly congratulated the University. “We would like to thank all of those who have supported this project, particularly Victor Lo, HKJC sponsors Brian Stevenson and Douglas So and from the Polytechnic University Marjorie Yang, Timothy Tong and Philip Chan,” said Hadid via a video message. “It is a very important project for us, particularly because it’s in Hong Kong, the city where my career started. I have always had tremendous affection for it,” explained Hadid. More about the tower design comes from Zaha’s website.

“Our designs dissolved the classic typography of tower and podium to create a seamlessly fluid new structure – establishing a vision for future achievements and referencing the university’s rich tradition. Conceptually, the university’s many different programs provided a guiding principle – ‘collateral flexibility’ – governing the tower’s internal logic.

Courtesy of  Zaha Hadid Architects

In 2007 we were appointed following a competition to design a new ‘Innovation Tower’ for Hong Kong Polytechnic University – a beacon structure symbolizing and driving the development of Hong Kong as a design hub in Asia; a fitting setting for the institution’s many different design education and design research programs.

Courtesy of  Zaha Hadid Architects

We welcome the chance to re-examine the characteristics of, and demands placed upon, a ‘creative multidisciplinary environment’ – envisaging a solution that dissolved the classic typography of tower and podium to create a seamlessly fluid new structure. A tower that establishes a vision for future achievements and references the University’s rich tradition.”