Winner: Arquitectonica
Award: Merit Award for Architecture
Landmark East is a Grade-A high-rise, two-tower office development that rises from a dense urban site in the Kwun Tong district of Hong Kong. Kwun Tong, historically an industrial and light manufacturing district supporting the old Kai Tak airport, is in the process of urban regeneration and Landmark East is the flagship project leading the process.
The slender rectilinear slabs that form the tower volumes are derived from the long narrow plot. The towers respond to the site, rising above the adjacent buildings in a slender, elegantly moving motion reminiscent of bamboo swaying gently in the wind. The idea was to differentiate the buildings from the static neighbourhood in creating a dynamic form that clearly defines the towers from their surroundings.
The rectangular floor plates of both towers provide efficiency and allow side cores to the north. This in turn orientates the office floors to the south, taking advantage of the privileged views of Victoria Harbour and Hong Kong Island beyond. The orthogonal tower forms have been segmented in section creating a series of interlocking parallelogram slabs. This arrangement emphasizes the sensation of movement and conveys lightness to the towers, forming a strong, dramatic, unified identity for the development.