Hong Kong Design Centre

The Leisure and Cultural Services Department (LCSD) championed the Park Deco scheme, with Hong Kong Design Centre (HKDC) as its design collaborator to outline the whole concept of renovating the Cornwall Street Park from a curatorial perspective.. 

The project was aimed at introducing a new approach to furniture and signage in parks and cultivating design process experience for LCSD’s consideration in their future park projects, in the hope of setting up a good practice for the local government. 

Design Concept 

HKDC is committed to promoting the wider and strategic use of deign to create value and bring social benefits to members of the public. Prior to the renovation, user surveys were carried out to gauge the comments, needs, and expectations of park-goers. The findings suggested that the public wished the park design could be more vibrant and modern-looking; the bench areas could be comfortable as well as sheltered from sun and rain; the overall impression and the design could be more stylish and spacious, and so on.

Project curator Billy Tam considered various views and came up with a design concept called “Inspirational Flow” in collaboration with 5 local designers. The “Inspirational Flow” represented a refreshing virtual stream flow of stone pavement that links the existing water source at “upstream” of the park to three sets of creative furniture, namely Dream Falls, Urbanmat and Living Inside-out, as well as a new set of signage system called Urban Oasis.

Dream Falls by William Lim
Black and white ceramic mosaics were used as the major material to create a dramatic pattern to represent water flowing down from a cascade of steps.

Urbanmat by Joshua Lau
Beyond the form, the “Urbanmat” allows all possible sitting postures one can imagine and encourages visitors to experience the interactive relationship between green space and the cityscape.

Living Inside-out by Brian Lee and Denise Chan
The original idea of the design attempted to explore new quality of public space through carrying home furniture into a park.

The three sets of furniture boasted environmentally friendly features.They were equipped with an LED lighting system powered by solar panels,and 70 percent of the material used came from old tires, in combination with the disposed floor tiles and pebbles during the park renovation.

Urban Oasls by Christopher Lau
To align with the park furniture, the signage system was redesigned to take the form of leaves to accentuate the spatial decoration and their function. The wordings used for the signage took a softer approach in tone to present a more relaxing and caring atmosphere for park-goers to enjoy the surroundings.

The innovative park furniture and signage system have injected a breeze of creativity and artistry into the urban oasis in Kowloon Tong to align with its newly furnished facilities. The new Cornwall Street Park re-opened on 4 September 2012. 

Read More:

Experience from Park Déco - General Design Principles and Parameters

Designing for Public Services

Park Déco at Cornwall Street Park introduction vido