Maryknoll Convent School, a prestigious Catholic all-girls school in Hong Kong, was founded one hundred years ago by the Maryknoll Sisters. Located in Kowloon Tong, it includes both primary and secondary sections. The school is recognised for its European-style architecture, featuring a brown brick façade, protruding staircases, outdoor tennis courts, pointed eaves, and a distinctive tower visible from afar.
The 1925 building also boasts stained glass windows, marble wainscots, and arched beams. These architectural elements are protected by the building’s heritage status, so they couldn’t be altered. However, the design company Adrian Chan Design and Research Office was able to make minimal interventions to refresh and modernise the space.
Teachers Lounge for Heritage and Dialogue
Both reverent and contemporary, these interventions to a teachers lounge turned the long overlooked atrium into a vibrant, boldly coloured venue for conversations, breaks and collaboration. The bold furniture design and colour are organised along a central axis, honouring the symmetry of the building’s classical architecture. Establishing harmony between the classic school design and new, contemporary trends turned this project into an important gesture that strengthens the dialogue between the past and the present.
The place for work and get-togethers
A red sculpture sofa is the centrepiece of the space. Executed in the form of the letter S, the sofa created a place for meetings, individual work or encounters with fellow teachers, amid the multitude of movement taking place in the area. The design is enriched with a geometric rug featuring an array of blue, green, yellow, white, brown, black and red tones, which counter the monochromatic stained glass window. Colourful rug in the shape of a cross celebrates the building’s Catholic heritage. Apart from emphasising the teacher’s comfort, Chang’s design showcases how historic heritage can be adapted to contemporary needs of a workplace through adaptive reuse.
Adrian Chan Design and Research Office
The Adrian Chan Design & Research Office (ADRO) is an award-winning studio known for bringing ingenuity to the realm of interior design. The studio uses evidence-based process and experimentation to create minimalist designs that overcome physical, societal, and economic restrictions. The team works across the US, Hong Kong, and Japan on residential, public, and commercial projects, such as the Ming Dynasty-inspired Body Wisdom Studio for Tai Chi, which was crowned the winner of the Architecture MasterPrize 2022 and a bronze medalist at the IDA International Design Awards 2022.
