Des Voeux Chambers Offices – Hong Kong
Plot Architecture designed the offices of law firm Des Voeux Chambers, located in Hong Kong, China.
A five-by-eleven peripteros, of which the placement of columns characterized by strict proportions is akin to the control in law and order, is established to intersect the layout of this barristers’ chambers. The positions of the columns lay the foundation and key axes for organizing the space.
Facing the entrance doors, the chambers’ logo is partially exposed among the stone walls like a brass artifact being excavated at an archaeological site. Next to it sits the stone reception desk resembling a remnant of the historical ground. The find continues in the five remaining columns, where one will see the chambers’ collection of rare books that dates as far back as 1782. Altogether, the pieces symbolize the chambers’ history.
Between the remaining columns, there is a portal that leads to the chambers’ library of law book collection. Along the library, accesses to the private rooms are hidden between the bookcases.
The Barrister’s Chamber is located within the Chambers’ offices as a whole. Looking out at its twin tower, this corner room frames the view of the façade grid of the buildings, and extends it graphically into a hierarchy of modular grids that guide the layout in the chamber.
The matrix begins with a layer that divides the chamber equally into three rectangular parts: a working area, a meeting area and a resting area. It is then overlaid with a layer of flooring to form a base grid. Vertical planes intersect the grid as shelving and display walls.
The pure white background accentuates the timber resting area as a major focal point of the room. Together with the varying modules in the shelves and walls, they create reverberating rhythms to articulate a series of blank canvases for displaying the user’s collection of furniture, books, paintings and the like.
Design: Plot Architecture
Photography: Gordon Ngan and Samson Tang
