Kristof Crolla

Portfolio

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  Seoul Creative Play

  In the fall of 2017, the Seoul Metropolitan Government organised an International Design Competition for the development of a new Creative Play Support Facility, located on a sloped site in Dongsomun-dong, Seongbuk-gu. Daehak-ro is the centre of culture and arts in Seoul. However, due to recent commercialisation, theatres and theatre companies for performing art are in decline. In order continue making Seoul a city of culture and arts, the government therefore plans to develop Daehak-ro as the centre of performances and introduce new functions by supporting various creative activities on the site. Located at the entrance of Seongbuk-gu’s culture and arts district, the project is to become a hub for protecting and revitalizing creative play.

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  WKCD Pavilion

  In the spring of 2017, the West Kowloon Cultural District Authority (WKCDA) organised a competition to develop a Temporary Pavilion, located within the Nursery Park at the West Kowloon Cultural District. The goal of the competition was to provide an innovative architectural space to be enjoyed by the public and to raise tje profile and visibility of WKCD is a project for Hong Kong people. Located near the waterfront, the site provides views across the harbour and is a natural congregation point for the public. The pavilion was to act as an informal space where the public can sit and relax, and was to be capable of being utilised as a venue for talks, workshops or small events and potentially hosting small performances.

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  Dragon Skin Pavilion

  The Dragon Skin Pavilion is an architectural installation designed and built for the 2011-12 Hong Kong & Shenzhen Bi-City Biennale of Urbanism\Architecture. The structure challenges and explores the spatial, tactile, and material possibilities that architecture can offer by revolutions in digital fabrication and manufacturing technology. It inspires passers-by to reimagine the space we live in today if tomorrow’s technologies are combined with industries present in this region – “made in Hong Kong”, and later “made in China”. The installation is a highly experimental temporary structure designed from 163 unique pieces of post-formable plywood, a brand new and environmentally friendly material. The pavilion is the product of a collaboration between LEAD and EDGE Laboratory for Architectural and Urban Research (Tampere University of Technology, Finland) and builds up on expertise from a first prototype constructed during our workshop “IWS 17 – Material Design & Digital Fabrication”.

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  UMBRA

  ‘UMBRA’ is a dynamic art installation designed and built for the new Starbucks Reserve store in Pacific Place, Hong Kong. The kinetic structure is a stretched canopy, triangulated and clad with naturally coloured metal panels, suspended above the coffee bar and seating area.
  
  ‘UMBRA’ moves. Slowly. Quietly. Almost imperceivably, the animated structure comes to life as it steadfastly twists and turns, stretching its length across the narrow space. Visible above the shops portico, the artpiece operates as a beakon towards Wanchai’s busy Admiralty district, inviting pedestrians to enter. Its powerful character becomes apparent as raw facets and folds reflect the constantly changing light conditions, capturing the bustling activity from dense urban surroundings.

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  Golden Moon

  The Golden Moon is a temporary architectural structure that explores how Hong Kong’s unique building traditions and craftsmanship can be combined with contemporary design techniques in the creation of a highly expressive and captivating public event space. It was built for the 2012 Mid-Autumn Festival Lantern Wonderland and was on display for 6 days in Hong Kong’s Victoria Park. The Golden Moon revisits the concept of a Chinese lantern and makes a direct link to the Mid-Autumn Festival legend of Moon Goddess Chang’e who can only meet her husband Houyi on the night of the Mid-Autumn Festival, when the moon is at its fullest and most beautiful. To symbolise the passionate love burning between them, the 6-storey-high, spherical moon lantern is clad with abstracted flames in fiery colours and patterns. The Golden Moon was built in only 11 days and shows how, through a combination of state-of-the-art digital design technology and traditional hand craftsmanship, complex geometry can be built at high speed and low cost with the simplest of means. It rethinks the premise of digital design by anchoring the paradigm in a strong materiality. With nearly 500,000 visitors during its 6-day lifespan, the pavilion used its dynamic space, structure, colour, texture and light to trigger a sensuous response from its visitors.

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  House For an Artist

  Martine Platteau is a contemporary artist who in her sculptures combines graphic art with corten steel. Her peculiar lifestyle and unconventional needs resulted in a custom-made atelier house that confronts and encourages both visitors and artist to fully engage with the work. The ground floor is conceived as an open atelier, separated from the upper private quarters and easily transformable into an exhibition space. The upper floor houses a large open living area connected with the ground floor and garden through a void that bathes in natural daylight. The facades combine varying types of glass with perforated corroded steel, projecting suggestions of the activities that happen behind. The bedrooms are more enclosed with daylight gently penetrating through perforated facade panels – this in stark contrasting with the bright living room or bathroom which has fully glazed ceiling.

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  Architecture&Photo Museums

  This project is LEAD’s 3rd place winning entry for the open international Liget Budapest architectural design competition for the Hungarian Museum of Architecture & FotoMuseum Budapest, for which 110 entries were received globally in Phase 1, and 5 teams shortlisted to move on to the next round. Budapest’s beautifully renovated City Park, with its upcoming series of brand new and cutting edge Museum Buildings, will transforms Hungary’s Capital into one of Europe’s new cultural tourism destinations. LEAD’s proposal consists of two museums, the Hungarian Museum of Architecture and the FotoMuseum Budapest, that simultaneosly function as architectural emblems and as a gate to the Cultural Park. The organically undulating, colourful roofs lift up their edges, inviting people to explore and discover the unique and precious collections carefully housed inside. Both sister buildings, similar in form and appearance but distinctive in content and personality, communicate with each other and their surroundings using the Ötvenhatosok Square as a focal point for dialogue between City and Park

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  Shine Fashion Store

  Shine is one of Hong Kong’s most renowned high-end multi-brand fashion stores, known for bringing pioneering foreign brands to Hong Kong clientele. The Shine Flagship Fashion Store in Causeway Bay showcases how an architectural reinterpretation of contemporary textile patterns & accessories can be seamlessly integrated into fashion retail, creating a fascinating yet highly functional contemporary store.
  
  Located in the Fashion Walk, the Shine Corner Store optimises its relation to the street through an open façade, visually doubling the space through a fully mirrored back wall. In the main room, pieces from various designers are presented against a monochromatic background into a flexible open shelving system. The shelves’ design is based on a folding luggage rack and its leather surface with integrated lighting has leather belts strapped around it to reveal the names of the designer brands below. The cashier area in the back of the store conceals the fitting rooms and storage entrance behind a continuously folded black steel wall that resembles long folded dressing partitions and forms the most intimate and private area within the overall shop. The most distinct feature of the store is its ceiling. Over 900 shimmering white cords are woven into undulating overlapping planes that create Moiré patterns against the dark ceiling backdrop. The design questions and explores the dematerialisation of surfaces through the weaving of thread – an element commonly found in contemporary textile patterns and fabrics – and alludes to principles of Op Art by directly referring to graphical experimentation in the grisaille paintings of artists like Victor Vasarely and others. The ceiling plays on the shopper’s perception as walking underneath it suggest the illusion of movement as hidden images appear to be flashing and vibrating in the ceiling and swelling, warping patterns emerge. The Shine Fashion Store shows how unique large-scale effects that emerge from the creative use of material and detailing can effectively be combined with programmatic functionality and spatial efficiency.