NEZU Asia

8 Queen's Road Central, Hong Kong, 2006

The client is a hedge fund originating in Japan, the owner of which gave an excellent design brief based on the company’s cultural underpinnings and aspirations. The space is the entire floor of a Hong Kong Central District office tower enjoying a combination of city and park views wrapping around three sides of its 2,500 square foot floor plate.

The client’s unique demand for both a highly functional trading floor with meeting rooms, and a showcase for the owner’s Asian ceramics collection fuelled the design team’s imagination. The result a singular, predominating free-standing, museum-quality display wall rendered in polished and matt black stainless steel and glass.

A compact but striking Reception area admits visitors through one of two glass doors directly into the main room. One entrance emphasises the expanse of the ceramics display feature, leading to the Boardroom and Meeting Room. The other, more private entrance, allows staff direct access to the Trading Floor.

Commissioned artwork sculpted from a tree root is housed as a floating icon in a glowing void, surrounded by softly recessive black. Strikingly visible from the hallway and Reception area, the void and its mysterious inhabitant frame a periscope view into the office space, creating an enigmatic tableau of art, work and corporate pride of place.