That new orange metal lattice along the Centrium's stairwell in Wyndham Street isn't just fancy public seating, it's a work of art. It's called the Cascade and it's the brainchild of Edge Design Institute's Gary Chang Chee-keung and the Hong Kong Arts Centre as part of their aim to create public art that is functional and practical. The work was unveiled on Thursday, when Chang explained the idea of seats was to encourage people in busy, hectic Central to slow down, stop and think.
'We don't believe art is something just for the sake of art that people can't interact with physically,' he said. 'There are altogether 18 seats with different configurations, pedestrians who pass by can sit and become part of the installation.'
Although Chang is the main creator, the Cascade's chief designer is Raymond Chan, who admitted the biggest obstacle was getting government approval. 'The main challenge is that we can't destroy anything on site like the trees and the stone wall. The first design was done in 2005 and it took us a year and a half to go through all the submission process with various government departments.'