Winner: Leo A. Daly
Award: Honor Award for Architecture & Sustainable Design
Savannah College of Art and Design’s (SCAD) facility transforms the historic 6,500 sq.m. North Kowloon Magistracy and Jail for its new Hong Kong arts campus.
Design Resolution: Interior redesign, through a three-tiered guideline of design prioritization, achieves a balanced program facility resolution.
Exterior: A detailed heritage assessment guided demolition and building improvements, while infrastructure upgrades achieved sustainability initiatives. Original steel windows, bronze doors, ironmongery and stonework were restored to “best original condition” criteria.
Interior: The Antiquities and Monuments Office (AMO) and the design team collaborated to review and modernize historically significant elements, code issues and outdated mechanical services. Glass safety guards minimize the visual impact of ornamental railing compliance upgrades, while historically sensitive wall, floor and ceiling finishes were preserved using specialized cleansers and finishes. Select rooms were conserved for interpretative purposes, embracing their creative adaptive reuse and in-situ preservation. Efficient LED lighting merged aesthetics and energy conservation, while new cooling systems, low-flow plumbing fixtures, and solar-blocking shades contribute to sustainability strategies.
Program: Varied college program needs were adapted to fit within the heritage structure. Classrooms and studios, conference rooms, offices, exhibit galleries, libraries, lounge areas, and materials and data storage rooms, which conform to SCAD arts program needs, are organized on six levels of the building structure.
Social Advancement: Construction tours permitted agencies and professional organizations to view the renovation process of SCAD Hong Kong, which is the first facility restored under AMO preservation guidelines.