Turning a hermetic 80s office tower into a 'lifestyle retail building' was the goal of this project. Two strategies were adopted to achieve it: wrapping the existing building with a new podium, and making a city-scaled lightbox. The classic western urbanism of the plaza was replaced with 'an Asian complexity of laneways, courtyards, water gardens and colonnades', defined by random, wrapping surfaces of black and olive-green granite and large expanses of glass. The 12-storey lightbox conceals the large blank party wall that previously dominated the plaza. Reflecting the city by day, it is a riot of fluorescent colour by night.

Source: Aga Khan Trust for Culture