The eye-catching radome has already become a Hong Kong landmark, sitting 50 metres high on top of the new cruise terminal building at Kai Tak. A radome provides a weatherproof casing “transparent to radar” and is usually a golf ball. This one is an interesting egg shape and has led its design team, headed by BMT Asia Pacific’s Richard Colwill and Henry Ward of Henry Ward Design, to think outside of the, er, egg box.
A house in two halves
Being made of tough glass reinforced plastic makes the egg strong and weatherproof. This gave the designers an original left field idea – futuristic houseboats - “Sea Suites” - made from the two prefabricated half shells of their egg. The radome comes down to earth as a funky eco-friendly sustainable house, either on water or on land.
A floating lodge takes the form of the mould’s original shape: 18m long, by 12m wide by 8m high, to make a two-bedroom home. Expansive but shaded windows flood the 6m high sitting area, with light from either side, while decking creates easy access to the water. It sounds delightful.
Colwill notes, “In the same way that an egg provides a flexible base for many recipes, we see countless opportunities in the development of this design for private or commercial use. The familiar, yet innovate form could be readily deployed along river and coastal sites, and a beach house variant has even been developed. We look forward to working with individuals and companies on our firsts units.”