Potato Head Hong Kong represents Tokyo-based architect Sou Fujimoto’s first project in the city. The 8,000 square foot space is a collaboration between Fujimoto and PTT Family’s in-house creative team, blending Fujimoto’s signature style with the group’s drive to champion Indonesian craftsmanship in a modern context.
Potato Head Hong Kong’s design showcases a deft mix of contemporary and traditional influences through lightweight metal fixtures with heavy crafted teak wood. The mixed-used space evokes a residential feel with distinct areas that organically flow into each other.
Fujimoto is best known for being invited to design the 2013 Serpentine Gallery Pavilion. Aside from becoming the youngest architect to earn one of his industry’s highest honours, he joined an illustrious list of past pavilion architects that includes Frank Gehry and the late Oscar Niemeyer.
Potato Head Hong Kong presented an opportunity for Fujimoto to explore the concept of inside and outside spaces in one of the most densely populated cities in the world. Starting with Potato Head’s façade, he takes deceptively simple exterior glass panels and applies a pattern that echoes traditional Hong Kong window frames, and uses these to cover the entire structure. Traditionally made with steel, the frames are designed to enhance security. The effect is a transparent homogenous façade that doesn’t impose itself on the neighborhood, but quietly – yet impressively – stands out. From a distance, the venue appears as a strong, white glowing object. Only upon approach, does it reveal its intricate pattern.