Client

The Incorporated Owners of Ruby Court

Location

Repulse Bay, Hong Kong

Type

Façade and building renovation

Description

The design for the Ruby Court exterior wall renovation integrates the design of the property from the curb to the unit. Using the two tower cores as the anchoring points, the new canopies subtly emerge from the building. Cantilevering nearly 6meters over the entry, clad with sandstone, these dome-like formations with integral lighting extend the small lobbies out onto the pedestrian walkway providing a sense of arrival and grandeur. When approaching the building and moving underneath the canopies there is an uncanny sense of weight and texture. The design virtually opens the building vertically giving it an implied depth combined with a new palette of diverse materials ranging from ceramics, to stone to metal. Between the canopies a light weight steel and glass canopy bends to follow the slope of the driveway and provide shelter for pedestrians and visitors moving between towers. Clad with the same metal as the windows above and entry gate, the wall connecting the two towers camouflages a number of back of house elements. A similar strategy is applied to the Northern side of the building along the podium where signage and lighting are now integrated into new metal cladding and soffits. Installed in a vertical orientation to enhance the height and vertical lines of the building and the cores, the tile is algorthimically choreographed to shift colors. The upper regions of the building comprised of a predominately deep dusk-like red and the lower portions of a beach-like beige, the design pushes the technical limits of tile and gives the building a distinctive yet elusive quality within the Repulse Bay skyline. Metal cladding wraps all of the windows breaking down the scale of the tower, virtually enlarges the window areas and enhances the horizontal rhythm of the building. Along the entry, retaining wall and driveway are similarly choreographed in a mirrored gradient of colors. Each are designed to incorporate a number metal and stone landscape elements like the entry gate, planters and lighting that pull the design from the curb into the depths of the property giving Ruby Court a new identity.