The project involves transforming a typical 1960s Hong Kong housing unit known as a 'Tong Lau' into a 'vertical' art gallery.

The original domestic character is preserved, maintaining a 'human scale' in the exhibition spaces and achieving a balance between the characteristics of a home and the requirements of an art gallery.

As an adaptive reuse project, the design intentionally preserves the original building morphology and its elements.

The facade treatment reveals and accentuates the main gestures of the structure, providing insights into the architects' approach to the project—aiming for an expressive outcome rooted in a practical methodology rather than abstract concepts.

The gallery embodies a distinctly 'material' approach':original concrete walls are polished or left with intentional scratches, while new concrete tiles are matched with existing aggregates.

Throughout these interventions, the traces of the construction process are visible and integrated into the overall expression of the space.

The construction techniques blend local craftsmanship, skills, and available materials with repurposed 'off-the-shelf' components, such as wall hanging tracks—a standard construction channel integrated into the Shanghai plaster finish of the walls.

The key idea was giving the exhibition spaces a human scale and striking a balance between 'home' characteristics and the expression and requirements of an art gallery.

Programmatically, this approach results in the alternating layers of experiences designed to continuously engage visitors, culminating in a 'vertical journey'.

 It begins with typical public gallery spaces and progressively leads to more private and singular areas such as dining rooms, libraries, or outdoor terraces.

The second floor introduces the project's most complex spatial feature: the removal of floors to create double-height volumes.

The removal strategy is repeated on the fourth floor, which ultimately reconnects with the street and the city of Hong Kong through large openings.

Here a second exhibition 'cube' serves as a conclusion to the ground floor's material treatment and marks the culmination of the visitors’ experience.