Richard Wood, the Managing Director Asia at Snøhetta.
There’s no standard approach to designing a space where people live, work and play. Yet, there are always elements that are considered such as environmental impact and how a space can improve and promote quality of life and wellbeing.
Enter Richard Wood, the Managing Director Asia at Snøhetta. Wood has lived and worked in Asia since 2012. He is now leading Snøhetta in the region, the design studio renowned for its forward-thinking approach in coordinating public and institutional building projects such as Hong Kong’s mixed-used AIRSIDE Complex. Here he talks about the idea of interpretation and iteration that goes beyond the design stage and his recent collaboration with FIND Design Fair Asia.
What are some of the design elements to consider when designing large public and institutional buildings?
Any public building needs to inspire and reflect the people that will use it, even for those that only pass by it one morning. We need to ensure that space is accessible to all individuals. Any good public building needs to be a platform for civic life.
Of course, we must also think about sustainable development. We know that the building industry has one of the largest impacts through the emissions of CO2. Of course, we are very focused on environmental sustainability. We are tackling this on a global level with task forces and research methodologies towards all our projects. Our Powerhouse initiative in Europe has turned the dial with real-world-built research on this topic. Social sustainability is also critical and in many ways the facilitator of the former. It permits us to have the capacity to tackle the problems with the environment and we must resolve the two together. In a way, this interconnectedness is something that has always inspired our work.
I believe it’s OK to say that any good building really needs to be loved, and maybe also, loved in. On a macro scale it needs to be accepted by its community, but to do this, on a micro-scale, it must also create spaces to fall in love, to meet, to talk, to be. All the serendipitous moments of life.
I’d suggest such ‘considerations’ don’t end at the design stage. I’m interested in the idea of interpretation and iteration. We talk about Snøhetta as being in a constant state of reinvention. In Asia, we work in a very diverse region, and the idea that the designer is in control of a pristine object that will be finished and remain ‘as designed’ is impossible, and an idea of architecture that belongs in the past.
The major considerations and interpretations and excitement only begin when the project starts to be inhabited, and we must design buildings and systems that allow for this in a variety of ways.
What are the challenges of designing mixed-use buildings such as the AIRSIDE Complex?
We discussed ideas of interconnectedness – this is certainly relevant in mixed-use developments. There is of course a complexity that comes from adjoining multiple programmes, however, there is also great opportunity. Mixed-use buildings usually become small communities with the different programmes feeding and blending into one another. The challenge here is to create a building or place that is greater than the sum of its parts, and in this – larger than itself, connecting out to the community.
AIRSIDE Hong Kong (Photo by Kevin Mak)
If you visit AIRSIDE, you can feel that the building is truly fulfilling its role as a centre in the local community, a new heart for the area. The boundaries between the different programmes are intentionally blurred. The process of community ownership will take time, but you can already see that many families visit the building and mix together with the office workers above, visiting the roof gardens, vegetable allotments, atrium spaces.
Our client Nan Fung Group was very much involved in the building becoming a centre in the new masterplan. This was our collective vision, we worked with them closely to tell their story through various design aspects, evoking their history in textiles and tailoring as qualities of fabrics through design moves like weaves, folds, tears, and cuts. These characters are used to link up the various parts of the building and in turn help to spur the imagination of the local community.
Designing for green and wellbeing with innovative solutions is another challenge but we managed to achieve many accreditations and awards at Airside through a lot of teamwork, collaborating with various consultants and experts. AIRSIDE is a LEED Platinum and WELL Platinum-certified mixed-use landmark that has become a beacon for its achievements. Many of these drivers will be present in our upcoming project in Bangkok – Cloud 11 for MQDC.
What makes a space feel like home?
This is an interesting and timely question as I have just moved home. So, I’ve quite genuinely been considering just this in the last weeks while travelling. Our new home has all our belongings, it has my loved ones, but essentially the missing factor right now is shared experience and memory. There is a time factor here, and I think this is relevant for many buildings.
Buildings need to mature into their role as ‘homes’. Both private and public. Certainly, for those that are to become centres of a community, this is complex. Last year, some of our founding partners and colleagues revisited the Bibliotheca Alexandrina we designed in Alexandria, Egypt. The feeling of ‘home’ and collective ownership in that building is palpable in the interviews of those that use it daily; there are very emotional connections. We are currently working on a project in Malaysia that we hope will achieve just this, a new part of the city that becomes a home to those that will live within it.
How do events like FIND Design Fair Asia help bring new voices to the design scene together?
It is always encouraging to visit design fairs, especially in Asia. It must be one of the fastest-growing and developing design communities globally. If we are to progress the relevancy ‘design’ has in the world, the design community must be aligned. New voices and fresh perspectives on new ideals are key.
Thinking collectively about very complex issues is after all, an extraordinary driving process. Sometimes, the small ideas spawn the answers to the largest problems and design fairs can be a place for interactions that inspire such developments. I would say the design scene and development of the urban fabric in Singapore especially is extremely encouraging. Our values are incredibly aligned with those of the community here.
