<p>The&nbsp;creative mind&nbsp;behind H Queens and the new M+ museum membership lounge on the city’s defining landmarks</p>

William Smith

Architect William Lim’s Hong Kong

<p>An artful approach to living is at the heart of William Lim’s practice as an architect, collector, and artist. The CL3 principal has made a career creating art-filled spaces that range from the gallery-packed H Queens tower in Central, Hong Kong to hotels, restaurants, office spaces, and residences throughout Greater China. William spoke from his studio in Wong Chuk Hang about the relationship between art and architecture, his vision as a collector, and the unique qualities of Hong Kong’s urban fabric.</p><p><strong>What makes a good space for art?</strong></p><p>The best display of art is in a living environment where the artwork blends with the space. I don’t want to make art unreachable by cordoning it off or putting it high on a pedestal. I want to invite people to live with it.&nbsp;</p><p><strong>How does your experience as an artist and collector inform your work as an architect? </strong></p><p><strong></strong></p><p>They’re actually very different roles that use different parts of my brain; I think it’s a left/right distinction. But clients of my architecture practice want to work with me because of my knowledge of art. I’m bringing my understanding of exhibitions and curating to a project we’re doing right now – a hotel in Shanghai’s West Bund district, near all the art museums. We want to make the hotel accessible to the art community by designing a flexible space for pop-up events. Architecture and interiors can’t be stagnant. Architecture wants content. It wants immersive experiences.&nbsp;</p>

<p><strong style="background-color: initial;">Which buildings epitomize Hong Kong’s unique characteristics for you?</strong></p><p>Hong Kong is really about the urban environment rather than a single building. The city is layered because of the hills and the raised footbridges. The Central to Mid-Levels escalator made the city into a three-dimensional composition within that layered terrain; it’s like a labyrinth. </p><p>The city’s housing estates, like the Choi Hung Estate in Ngau Chi Wan, embody Hong Kong’s way of handling massive density: chaotic but organized. You also see that in Chun Yeung Street in North Point, which is a narrow, wet market street on a tram route. Whenever the tram comes through, people have to scramble away from the track, but then after the tram passes everyone gathers back on the street.</p><p>The Centre for Heritage, Arts, and Textile (CHAT) in Tsuen Wan reflects a recent push to rejuvenate historic buildings. CHAT is a textile-focused art and design center located in a renovated factory that belongs to Hong Kong’s history as an industrial textile manufacturing hub. Very near there is a park in Yi Pei Square that was done by Design Trust, that I think is amazing. A visit there really conveys how people in the neighborhood live.</p>

<p>Very near there is a park in Yi Pei Square that was done by Design Trust, that I think is amazing. A visit there really conveys how people in the neighborhood live.</p><p>Tai Kwun is also an exciting place that captures the essence of the art and lifestyle scene in Hong Kong. It is a complex of historically interesting buildings that’s now full of galleries and eating places. It has the old police headquarters plus the jail: an interesting dichotomy of two extremes. They have preserved the spaces quite nicely.</p><p>The Jockey Club Creative Arts Centre complex in Shek Kip Mei, a repurposed manufacturing estate, is another great place to visit because it’s where a lot of artists are renting spaces and some galleries are starting up. Hong Kong’s public architecture, the buildings people really live with, best capture the city’s essence.&nbsp;</p>

<p><strong style="background-color: initial;">What was your original design concept for the M+ Lounge for museum members?</strong></p><p>It’s a very dramatic space housed in the thin, vertical slab of the M+ building, which was designed by Herzog &amp; de Meuron. The tower has sweeping views of the Hong Kong skyline. </p><p>The Lounge was inspired by my studio in Wong Chuk Hang. We wanted to recreate that environment; it’s almost like a time capsule, reflecting the design of the studio and featuring all the artworks that were housed in it. As a member’s lounge, of course, we had the functional requirement of people having to dine there. That gave us an opportunity to invite other Hong Kong designers including Freeman Lau and Stanley Wong to supply additional tables, chairs, and other furniture.&nbsp;</p>

<p><strong style="background-color: initial;">The most distinctive feature of the M+ Lounge is the presence of artwork from a collection you donated. People dine, drink, and hang out alongside pieces by Hong Kong artists such as&nbsp;</strong><a href="https://www.artbasel.com/catalog/artist/8953/Lee-Kit">Lee Kit</a><strong style="background-color: initial;">, Nadim Abbas, and Yeung Ton Long.</strong></p><p>The idea of the M+ Lounge originated when my wife, Lavina, and I made our donation to M+. I was hoping that the artwork would be appreciated in a more living environment, where people could engage directly with it. This is why we called our collection the ‘Living Collection’. I don’t want the artwork to be shown in a white cube. That’s not where Hong Kong art is supposed to be seen either. A lot of these are made with grassroots material like plywood, and many are really in dialogue with the city. The skyline visible from the Lounge directly relates to a lot of the art pieces.&nbsp;</p>

<p><strong style="background-color: initial;">What was your vision for the Living Collection?</strong></p><p>Lavina and I started to collect Hong Kong artists’ work in the mid-2000s, just as the city’s art scene was becoming more international. We produced a publication on our collection around 2011. Within that time, we collected about 200 works. We believe that art can record the condition of a place and reflect the culture and the living environment of a place. We focused on Hong Kong artists because, at the time, there was little attention given to them.</p><p><strong>Do you view your own paintings as part of that process of recording the experience of a time and place? </strong></p><p>I started painting during Covid. I had always liked to paint, but I never really had the time before then. I started doing paintings about my home; it started to become almost like a diary of how I lived, how we lived through Covid. It gradually became about how we started to open up, to travel again. You don’t expect painting to do its magic immediately, but let’s say in 30 years’ time, when you look back, I think paintings can start to inform ideas about an era and a place – the kind of life you would live at the time. This is what I hope art would do for me.</p>

<p>Published on March 10, 2023.</p><p>All images by Simon&nbsp;Schilling&nbsp;for Art Basel.<br /></p><p>See also William Lin in <a href="https://eur02.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.youtube.com%2Fwatch%3Fv%3DsDqTFlPhqtg&amp;data=05%7C01%7CArianna.Guidi%40artbasel.com%7Cba1ce52959aa42ba6f0a08db256ece4b%7C4deb802ffdf24ebeae9b8df74fb06435%7C0%7C0%7C638144930047147256%7CUnknown%7CTWFpbGZsb3d8eyJWIjoiMC4wLjAwMDAiLCJQIjoiV2luMzIiLCJBTiI6Ik1haWwiLCJXVCI6Mn0%3D%7C3000%7C%7C%7C&amp;sdata=QKaLDvvCetwb7kpAUHl3KXuPSZLFvhbmcL4DkRZ%2FQ%2Fc%3D&amp;reserved=0">'Supporting the Arts: When Patronage Becomes Form'</a> and <a href="https://eur02.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.youtube.com%2Fwatch%3Fv%3Dl_PO0XhKrVc%26t%3D2s&amp;data=05%7C01%7CArianna.Guidi%40artbasel.com%7Cba1ce52959aa42ba6f0a08db256ece4b%7C4deb802ffdf24ebeae9b8df74fb06435%7C0%7C0%7C638144930047303490%7CUnknown%7CTWFpbGZsb3d8eyJWIjoiMC4wLjAwMDAiLCJQIjoiV2luMzIiLCJBTiI6Ik1haWwiLCJXVCI6Mn0%3D%7C3000%7C%7C%7C&amp;sdata=A6zHfo1Ocm4R02NOFhKYKgyHdjx889t4V0V%2FWHI0Hy4%3D&amp;reserved=0">'Making Space for Culture | Districts, Complexes, and Clusters'</a> as part of the Conversations program at Art Basel Hong Kong 2017; ' <a href="https://eur02.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.youtube.com%2Fwatch%3Fv%3DPYIa0uPOGTg&amp;data=05%7C01%7CArianna.Guidi%40artbasel.com%7Cba1ce52959aa42ba6f0a08db256ece4b%7C4deb802ffdf24ebeae9b8df74fb06435%7C0%7C0%7C638144930047303490%7CUnknown%7CTWFpbGZsb3d8eyJWIjoiMC4wLjAwMDAiLCJQIjoiV2luMzIiLCJBTiI6Ik1haWwiLCJXVCI6Mn0%3D%7C3000%7C%7C%7C&amp;sdata=pOCOj%2FKoZqSeJGREMbkL9x4M5q9SQwBAabHUeVfheq8%3D&amp;reserved=0">Trans-Pacific Collecting'</a>, at Art Basel Hong Kong 2015; and <a href="https://eur02.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.youtube.com%2Fwatch%3Fv%3DT5BH_bxwf8c&amp;data=05%7C01%7CArianna.Guidi%40artbasel.com%7Cba1ce52959aa42ba6f0a08db256ece4b%7C4deb802ffdf24ebeae9b8df74fb06435%7C0%7C0%7C638144930047303490%7CUnknown%7CTWFpbGZsb3d8eyJWIjoiMC4wLjAwMDAiLCJQIjoiV2luMzIiLCJBTiI6Ik1haWwiLCJXVCI6Mn0%3D%7C3000%7C%7C%7C&amp;sdata=VI4jLs1HSNJPSXMDzi10qRxMajAOVtmYDLsSOxYfbII%3D&amp;reserved=0">'Made in Hong Kong: On Collecting Milk Pudding and Table Cloths'</a>, at Art Basel Hong Kong 2014.<br /></p>

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The creative mind behind H Queens and the new M+ museum membership lounge on the city’s defining landmarks

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