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  4. Victoria Dockside, Hong Kong

Designed by renowned architectural firms including Kohn Pedersen Fox and Ronald Lu & Partners, the museum-retail complex reinvigorates the old waterfront and becomes an appealing destination merging art, culture and retail for the global millennials.

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Location

  • Hong Kong

Architect

Project value

  • US$2.6 billion

Project status

  • Completed in 2019

The project consists of a 66-storey, 280m-tall tower, housing the five-star luxury Rosewood Hotel, Rosewood Residence and K11 Atelier Grade-A offices. The adjacent K11 Musea is a 10-storey high-end retail complex. Perched above is the K11 Artus, a luxury serviced residence giving guests an artisanal home experience. The complex also features 4,800m² of green walls, equivalent to 18 standard tennis courts, as well as a sheer glass corridor looking out to the harbor from the mall’s eighth floor and a sunken amphitheater to exhibit artworks. It was fully opened in 2019.

WSP served as the MEP engineering and fire engineering consultant. The construction involved a high-rise building, a deep basement and a high atrium, creating challenges in the design and construction phases for our engineers.
 

Harnessing seawater for cooling

Victoria Dockside’s prime location at the waterfront is ideal for using seawater-cooled chillers, which have the capacity of 13,500RT and housed on a basement floor. There are two pipes to draw seawater from at least 2m below sea level at low tide and 4m below at high tide, while vacuum pumps are used to create siphonic actions. In this way, drawing in seawater does not require any seawater pumps being submerged into the sea or drilling any holes on the sea wall, greatly reducing construction difficulties, while minimizing future maintenance.

Configuring reliable utility facilities

Keeping all businesses and facilities running at the same time requires uninterrupted operation of water and power supplies. Water flow in a 66-storey high-rise building has to be controlled carefully to save cost and increase the availability of stable water supply. This is achieved by having pressure breaks for the chilled and hot water systems on 23/F, while the hot water system has boiler supply as the backup on 42/F.

To maintain the reliability of power supply and save on land use, a 132kV substation is put on B3.  While the main 11kV transformer rooms are located in the basement levels, there are transformer rooms provided on 27/F to serve the office and on 30/F and 37/F to serve the hotel and residence.

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Maintaining fire safety for high atrium

The high atrium at K11 Musea defines the airy space from bottom to top to create a breathtaking interior for visitors to pause and enjoy. Yet the 33m-tall atrium is a challenge to fire safety.

Our fire experts analyzed the fire and life safety of the high atrium using engineering approach such that the level of safety will not be compromised while achieving the special atrium design connecting multiple floors including basement levels.  Enhancement measures include the adoption of long-throw sprinklers to protect the high-ceiling atrium and enable the flexibility for hanging combustible displays and decorations. To contain any fire more effectively, we engineered the design of the smoke extraction system serving for the atrium and the related arcades on various floors. Other enhancement measures have also been put in place including installing smoke barriers, smoke curtains and aspirating smoke detectors, within the atrium void.

We also tailored fire engineering approach for the five floors below the ground for commercial use and parking. There are various sets of smoke extraction systems at the basement of K11 Musea and the hotel tower. FM-200 fire suppression system, fixed type sprayer units and multi-sensor detector are used in fire service installations plant rooms, electrical plant rooms and lift lobbies.

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A sustainable landmark

As a new iconic landmark, the complex integrates sustainability using energy efficient features and achieved LEED and BEAM Plus Platinum ratings, which include low-e glass for the building envelope, seawater chillers, variable air volume (VAV) system, variable speed drive (VSD) for fan control, LED lightings, building-integrated photovoltaics (BIPV) at rooftop, modular gas heaters and so on.

On water-saving font, the complex has reduced 56% in annual freshwater usage by implementing water saving faucets and other applications, while using rainwater recycling for irrigation and seawater for flushing. As for indoor air quality, it has been maintained well in all occupied space and exceeds 30% of the minimum requirement in ASHRAE 62.1.2007.

A vibrant landmark realized by engineering excellence, the project was named winner of Award Excellence in MEP Engineering and Urban Habitat – Single Site Scale at the 2020 CTBUH Awards. It was also recognized at Green Building Award 2019 and MIPIM Asia Awards 2019.

Other challenges that we have overcome