HKUST Shaw Auditorium wins three prestigious accolades
The Shaw Auditorium at the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology (HKUST) has been presented with three awards: AIA Hong Kong Honor Award for Architecture (International Open) Category, Best Alternative Project, Gold Recognition, MIPIM Asia 2023 Awards, and Merit Award, Green Building Awards 2023. These recognitions celebrate the design's inventive response to a diverse mix of uses, an open elevated site, and the subtropical Hong Kong climate.
Standing on the hillside in the south of HKUST’s Clear Water Bay campus, the Shaw Auditorium's bold curved form stands out to signal the artistic and cultural activities within. Open and welcoming on all sides, the building has no front or back, designed as three concentric white rings, interspersed with glazing to reveal panoramic views of Sai Kung Bay.
Designed to be full of life during the day and at night, its comfortable lobbies, café, classrooms and circulation spaces are conceived as an informal social focus for the campus, where students can meet, study and relax. In this way, the Shaw Auditorium is more than a special destination for major events – it is part of the everyday life of the campus community.
“The challenges of the project were functional and symbolic. The auditorium had to accommodate all these different activities, from seated concerts to gala dinners, and the acoustics had to be pitch-perfect each time. In that sense, it’s a really flexible ‘white box’ space. The architecture also had to express its role as the heart of the cultural and artistic life of the campus. Finally, there’s the climatic response – the deep overhangs, which shelter pedestrians, the use of bamboo. We’re proud to see all of these elements come together to serve the community.” said Claude Godefroy, Partner and Design Director at Henning Larsen.
The auditorium combines a highly flexible, acoustically sophisticated auditorium with bright, generous social spaces – together, these provide a ‘living room’ for the HKUST community and a world-class venue for Hong Kong.
