The Lo Kwee Seong Pavilion of the Art Museum of CUHK was awarded the Medal of the Year of Hong Kong of the Hong Kong Institute of Architects Awards 2025 (HKIA Awards) with its people-oriented and art-inspired designs.  

The Pavilion, opened in March 2025 as a new landmark at CUHK, is a cantilevered building that perches on a slope, part of the University’s mountainous terrain. Designed by internationally-renowned architect Dr Rocco Yim (centre, above), it comprises the Harold and Christina Lee Gallery for special exhibitions, the Lee Hysan Atrium with a café and a bookshop, an artist studio and workshops.

Members of the international jury of the HKIA Annual Awards were hugely impressed by the architectural design. The jury describes the new museum pavilion as an “artful assembly of dramatic, well-crafted spaces that successfully operates on many levels”, connecting the University Mall and the access road lower down. It was also a respectful addition to the existing museum and a compact expression of interrelated programmes and functions articulated in the iconic cantilevered form.

The jury also notes that there is a strong human scale within the museum, enabling intimate experiences focused on the art displays as well as lively communal activity at the café, bookstore, and function hall. A grand staircase reinforces the sense of procession through the building, while carefully configured glazings provide a thrilling vista of the surrounding natural landscape. The jury concludes that light, view, and movement are masterfully considered for all spaces and contribute to a poetic, memorable resource for the University.