Too cool for school
Buildings by international starchitects dot Hong Kong's educational institutions. Rebecca Lo wonders whether an awesome-looking place to study at is necessarily worth the cost.
In 2006, Manhattan's Guggenheim Museum mounted a retrospective exhibition showcasing 30 years of Zaha Hadid's work. Most of the projects were fantastical renderings and models rather than photos of buildings. Although Hadid won the 2004 Pritzker Architecture Prize, known as the Oscars of the built environment, she was primarily a paper architect at the time. A few of her buildings were beginning to grab headlines, but these were insufficient to fill six floors of the Guggenheim's walls.
After Hong Kong got its first building designed by Zaha Hadid Architects (ZHA), the city buzzed with excitement. Jockey Club Innovation Tower graces the northeast quadrant of Hong Kong Polytechnic University and is home to its School of Design (SD). Though local developers worked with many international architects on landmark buildings, a female Pritzker Prize winner with Hadid's stardust was special. SD promised inspiration for young minds preparing for careers in creative industries.
