More to the Mall
Issue 37 - Dec/Jan 08

Seven years in the making, Asia's latest super-mall takes retail design to the next level.

Elements is the newest giant mall to take its place on Hong Kong's already crowded retail scene. In many ways it seems to tick all the boxes for a standard Asian shopping centre development, with plush corridors leading shoppers around 80,000 sqm of chain stores, high-end fashion, food and beverage (F&B), and entertainment venues. However, there is a level of detail achieved in the realisation of this mall that surpasses competitors across the region.

retail island
The market position that Elements has aimed for is very much linked to the physical situation of the mall. Located dead centre of the Union Square mixed-use development in Kowloon West, Elements is flanked by a number of the city's most high profile residential towers such as The Arch and Sorrento. The mall will also live in the shadow of Hong Kong's soon to be tallest building, ICC, the 484m skyscraper which will tower above the harbour upon its completion in 2009.

This situation, explains Simon Blore, Managing Director, Benoy, is one of the factors that makes Elements unique. "It's very much a destination site because effectively it's a mini-city. One of the first things we did was look at the potential onsite population," he says. In fact, calculating for full occupancy of the residential towers, commercial buildings and hotels, the figure rises as high as 35,000 to 40,000 in what is virtually an island community.

However, Blore continues, while that population was significant, it wasn't enough to feed the 80,000 sqm of retail space that Elements offered. This meant that the realisation of the mall would have to be done in a way that would draw people to the site, and maximise the good transportation links that come with being directly adjacent to the MTR and Airport Express. "We looked at the attractions of the location," explains Blore, "and we thought that park on the top of the property was a very important asset." In fact, this rooftop garden was to become one of the defining features of the finished mall.

horizontally challenged
One of the first tasks for the architects was to deal with the problem of the large horizontal floorplate. Unlike the traditional Hong Kong malls that tend offer the option of central cores to design around, Elements interior has only two levels. According to Chris Lohan, Senior Associate Director, Benoy, the developer of Elements (MTR Properties), was well aware of this challenge.

"They wanted us to strongly consider how a person could identify landmarks within the space. Initially we developed an idea stemming from the way in which retailers traditionally group themselves within districts i.e. fish street, bird street. Then we saw a terrific opportunity to exploit the ancient and cultural significance of feng shui with its five distinct elements, fire, wood, water, earth and metal," he reveals.

This solution to the challenge posed by the unorthodox floorplate was eventually to dominate the branding and design of the mall. Beyond merely designating tranches of space as zones, each "element" has been given its own unique feel thanks to the interior architecture and detailing. From the wooden paneling in the wood zone or the water sculpture at the water zone, to the red and orange colours splashed throughout the fire zone, each area has its own very distinct visual impact.

The concept was also carried beyond the physicality of the space into the leasing strategy. Betty Leong, Chief Retail Development Manager, MTR, explains that, in terms of tenant acquisition: "it wasn't a case of design coming before leasing. It was a very productive re-iterative process, the concepts developed almost simultaneously".

Thus for example, the fire zone has been designated as an entertainment area, and boasts a cinema and ice rink alongside lifestyle retail stores, as well as major events space for concerts and performances. The metal zone contains luxury brands and high-end dining concepts and will extend to link to the ICC tower upon completion of Phase Two of the mall. Leong also describes how the two levels have also been split, with contemporary midmarket brands accounting for 95 percent of level one and luxury brands on level two.

sky-lighting
The use of zones alone was not going to be enough to orientate people in the cavernous space. Taking advantage of access to the roof above, large expanses of glass were: "placed to create the feeling that one is never far away from nature and the external elements," says Lohan. In total, over 40,000 sqf of skylights was created, creating a visual link to the park above and also enabling people walking around the complex to orientate themselves by the large towers encircling the mall.

As creation of the skylights began to impact the topography of the park above, the opportunity arose to increase the connectivity between the mall and the roof. The designers of the mall were given the landscaping role, enabling them to also move some GFA (ground floor area) and put some F&B onto the roof. "We thought it was important that shoppers engage with the roof plaza and the public park," says Blore, adding that when the concept was first discussed in 2001 people said that nobody in Hong Kong wanted al fresco dining but by completion this year the concept had already become commonplace in the city.

interior lighting
The extensive use of natural light, while it has its undoubted benefits for shoppers, caused a headache for the lighting designer. Lawrence Law, Director, Lightsource International, explains: "the biggest trick with skylights is that the Sun is one very powerful light, so approaching corridors can often feel like tunnels." This conundrum requires the lighting levels to be set to optimise the contrast between the artificial and natural light, both during the day and at night when over-lighting would turn the skylights in "black holes", says Law.

A relative new concept in retail lighting was also used. Although widespread in North America, dark light technology has not yet seen many applications in Asian malls. "We wanted to use dark light technology where the reflector cone is designed so it disappears," Law says. "The concept is that the focus is on the architecture, so when you look at the ceiling you don't see the light fitting.

" When walking through the mall, the mix of natural and artificial blends extremely well, highlighting the different detailing and materials used in the interior architecture. Law points out that, that the 350-400 lux level requested by MTR Properties was relatively high (you would expect to see 200 lux in a similar mall in North America). To achieve this while still meeting the aesthetic requirements of the architect, high colour rendition metal halide downlights are used in place of the compact florescent downlights favoured by most malls in Hong Kong. The lamps selected "are a more efficient lamp and offer a lot more sparkle," says Law.

master plan?
"The greatest challenge in the design of the mall," says Keith Griffiths, Chairman - Asia, AEDAS, "was the reconciling of all the other uses of the podium to the mall." Beneath Elements there is a large railway terminus, coach stations, car parks and roadways while 10 mil sqf of residential, hotel and office towers are adjacent to the space. All of these, Griffiths continues, are under different ownership with complex access, fire-zoning and escape requirements Fitting together this complex three dimensional jigsaw puzzle was a painstaking process for a large joint Benoy and Aedas team.

The position of the mall in the centre of all the other developments meant that, in effect, they took over the master planning of the site. For Griffiths, the greatest lesson learnt is that a master plan for a huge mixed commercial development like Union Square should always have provision for services and services transfers built into it early, and coordinated to the structural requirements.

Leong believes the seven year process and realisation of Elements has allowed MTR to do the job right. She says that "when we started we didn't have an exact date for completion. It was always the goal to tie-in the project with the residential and commercial building, to integrate with the macro-development on the site." Two key lessons from the development, she continues, are the advantage of using skylights to enhance the natural light in the mall and the benefit of giving tenants the freedom to design their own shopfronts. Besides making the mall more vibrant and exciting, it serves to make sure that Hong Kong's dedicated shoppers find themselves right in their element. RFP

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