City Art Square is the beautification of a dumbbell shaped
public space into an international public art park of approximately
190,000sq ft located in the middle of a cluster of public
facilities, a shopping mall complex, residential developments and
the adjacent Olympic Village. The existing site has been the major
circulation since the inception of the new town for nearly 30
years, and had undergone few changes before the project.
Riding on the special occasion of Olympic Equestrian Games being
held in Shatin, the pedestrian walkway was aimed to be transformed
into a pioneering international public art park open 24/7 to
enliven the public space and nurture the appreciation of arts and
culture in Hong Kong.
The project started with redesigning most of the soft and hard
landscape, with new decking and plantations highlighting the
different zones. The Eastern Strip where the bus stops are, were
repaved with jumbo decking patterns resembling a rolled out carpet
in origami that leads to the central axis of the park, in an
attempt to create a sense of welcome and arrival. At various
points, the deck folds up into benches of differing forms and
lengths, providing leisure seating in the Square. Linking to the
Wedding Garden marked by a raised lawn platform, a horticultural
portal and Engagement sculpture, the central axis has on one side a
leisurely boardwalk offering unchallenged views from the
restaurants in the shopping mall, and on the other the introduction
of lush shrubs and water features.
19 pieces of international and local, site specific and
functional artworks were well designed into the area on a permanent
and public basis. Various types of artwork include sculpture,
street furniture, environmental painting, installation art, artwork
paving, and so on could be found in the site, distinguishing City
Art Square from sculpture parks.
Participating artists, architects and designers include: Zaha
Hadid Architects (UK), Xu Bing(China), Mimmo Paladino (Italy),
Dennis Oppenheim (USA), Vivienne Tam (USA), Barrie Ho (HK), Nina
Jobs (Sweden), Joaquin Palencia (The Philippines), WOKmedia (UK),
Freeman Lau (HK), Danny Lee (HK), James Law (HK), Mathias Bengtsson
(Denmark), Zhang Yu (China), Tom Thiel (Germany), Mok Yat-san and
Man Fung-yi (HK), Sara Tse (HK), Michael Yen (HK).