All Glass Office Debuts in Hong Kong

MVRDV, a Dutch design firm, recently unveiled its latest all-glass project: 133 Wai Yip Street in Hong Kong. The firm converted a former East Kowloon factory into office space. A repurposing of space isn’t all that special, but the former factory was stripped to the bare essentials and refitted with an all-glass interior -as in, glass walls, glass floors, glass furniture.

Glass office is designed for transparent businesses

The firm says the space is designed for the business that has nothing to hide. The 13-story building is a mixture of retail and office space, with the first three floors being devoted to shops. The firm added large glass windows to flood it with natural light.

The actual floors are painted white. Each story is outfitted with a floating glass floor supported by steel – much like what you’d find in a data center. The building is outfitted with glass elevators and glass elevator shafts. The offices are furnished with glass work tables. The fire escape, which was held over from the building’s former design, is also encased in glass. Although individual offices are also made of glass, they also have window coverings to provide privacy when necessary.

The building features a roof deck for office employees, and the designers used low-e glass to help reduce solar heat gain. According to MVRDV, the building uses about 17% less energy than neighboring buildings do. It also uses about 15% less electricity. The energy savings may not be entirely attributable to the glass, however. The firm also installed a new, energy-efficient HVAC system during the building remodel, which may account for part of the cost savings. Even so, it’s notable that the building uses less energy, given the increase in window size.

MDRDV has been experimenting with glass designs for quite awhile. The firm boasts several successful projects, and as many – if not more –proposed designs that make heavy use of glass. If you’d like some inspiration for decorating with glass, please visit the rest of our site. If you’d like to purchase Glassprimer™ glass paint, please visit our online store .

Photo Credit: MVRDV