New World Development, one of Asia’s most celebrated developers, announced the naming of the most ambitious project to date from its ground-breaking K11 Group: K11 MUSEA, a new museum-retail complex situated in the heart of Hong Kong’s US$2.6 billion Victoria Dockside development.
The new landmark K11 MUSEA — a name inspired by A Muse by the Sea for its retail concepts — will anchor the 3 million-square-foot, art and design district at Victoria Dockside in Tsim Sha Tsui, described by US media as “Hong Kong’s Hudson Yards” and “Hong Kong’s most anticipated opening”, while also doubling as a new ultra high-end experiential retail, art, cultural and dining destination. It is set to reinvigorate the Tsim Sha Tsui harbour front, one of the most notable pieces of real estate in Greater China, when it debuts in 2019.
K11 MUSEA (pronounced: meu-see-ah) is the brainchild of Adrian Cheng, Executive Vice Chairman of New World Development and Founder of K11 Group, which has developed a number of innovative museum-retail malls across Greater China and invests in tech, retail, fashion, property, entertainment, media and design globally.
Helming the architecture of K11 MUSEA is James Corner (James Corner Field Operations) and Forth Bagley (Kohn Pederson Fox). The 10-storey K11 MUSEA will house an extensive selection of international brands — many of which will be flagships — and is the crown jewel of K11’s museum-retail concept, curated to offer visitors the best-in-class immersive retail experience. In fact, the journey will begin from its exterior. Designed with content-driven global millennials in mind, K11 MUSEA will greet visitors with its rotating world-class art collection. Its facade will feature one of the world’s largest living walls, boasting a total surface area of over 50,000 square feet of greenery inclusive of the interior and exterior. Meanwhile, a one-of-a-kind outdoor amphitheatre space and a large 25-foot-tall LED screen will also be in place for a slew of cultural happenings.
“K11 MUSEA, anchoring the newly designed Victoria Dockside, marks a significant milestone in retail development. As K11 approaches its 10th anniversary this year, I’m delighted to announce the naming of K11 MUSEA, K11’s proudest project since the brand’s inception in 2008,” said Cheng, who is reinventing New World Development as a “cultural enterprise”. “Its location, scale and concept are unique – the project involves leading architects as well as over 100 local and international designers and artists. K11 MUSEA will also bring great cultural content back to Hong Kong’s Tsim Sha Tsui waterfront, which has lost its legendary charm since the late 90s. K11 MUSEA will be Hong Kong and Asia’s new cultural destination, where global millennials can come together and discover their muse.”
K11 MUSEA takes inspiration from research that highlights Asian millennials as “Super Consumers”, a prominent driver of global consumption with spending power set to reach US$6 trillion by 2020 as they grow to account for 45% of Asia Pacific’s millennial population. Travel will continue to be a key lifestyle feature of Asian millennials, who are expected to see a 6% growth in outbound tourists this year. Chinese millennials, in particular, see travel and luxury as part of an indulgent lifestyle reflective of social status. K11 MUSEA caters to their sophistication and preference for exclusivity and bespoke products while positioning itself as an aspirational global destination merging art, culture and commerce.
New Spatial Design and Curation by Hong Kong’s Iconic Harbourfront
A world-class public art collection will be curated and displayed throughout K11 MUSEA’s premises, establishing it as the next cultural destination, while among K11 MUSEA’s architectural highlights is the 2,000-square-foot Sunken Plaza. The space features a facade with conical-shaped glass panels. Programmed water patterns and a misting system will also be installed. Together with an LED screen, Sunken Plaza will become an immersive venue for a slew of cultural events such as film festivals and live music events.
Sustainable Design Garnered International Certifications
Sustainability is at the core of K11 MUSEA’s offerings. The Project has achieved new green building pre-certifications including the U.S. LEED (Gold) and the Hong Kong BEAM Plus (Gold) standards. Boasting extensive greenery and over 50,000 square feet of living walls, equivalent to the surface area of 18 tennis courts, K11 MUSEA sets a new benchmark for green design in Hong Kong. Its interior features natural materials such as limestone and wood. Other highlight features include rainwater harvesting which provides 100% of irrigation water and a seawater-cooled, oil-free HVAC chiller system, which reduces annual energy consumption by over 12% compared to the baseline of the stringent U.S. ASHRAE 90.1 standard.
About K11 Group
K11 Group was founded in 2008 by entrepreneur Adrian Cheng. It is a multi-faceted company rooted in culture and interconnected by three core values: art, nature and people. Its ecosystem of art and retail, property, fashion, tech, entertainment and media is a manifestation of the founder’s constant search for ways to disrupt stagnant industries, and foster cross-cultural dialogues. It spans a wide array of touchpoints: the world’s first museum-retail concept K11 Art Malls; a network of K11-branded office buildings for the next-generation workforce, K11 Ateliers; its open education platform, K11 Kulture Academy; the curated K11 Design Stores; the Terrarium-inspired transformative retail space K11 Natural; and K11 Art Foundation, China’s first not-for-profit to incubate Chinese artists and curators.
K11 MUSEA — the latest and most prestigious addition to K11’s burgeoning museum-retail portfolio — is located at the heart of the Victoria Dockside, a broader development by New World Development, that includes cultural, commercial, residential, hotel and family spaces, and art and design programmes. Victoria Dockside is a rejuvenation by New World Development of a once-celebrated district of Hong Kong, previously popular with tourists and locals alike. The project is described by US media outlets as “Hong Kong’s Hudson Yards”, in a reference to the Manhattan mega-project, and “Hong Kong’s most anticipated opening”.
About New World Development
Founded in 1970, New World Development Company Limited (“the Group”, Hong Kong stock code: 0017) was publicly listed in Hong Kong in 1972 and is a constituent stock of the Hong Kong Hang Seng Index. A premium brand infused with a unique personality defined by The Artisanal Movement, New World Group’s core business areas include property development, property investment, infrastructure and services, department stores and hotels. As at 31 December 2017, the total asset value of the Group amounted to HK$468.1 billion.