What makes beautiful architecture? To begin with, this is the wrong question to ask, according to leading Hong Kong architect Rocco Yim Sen-kee. Calling a building beautiful immediately marks you as uninitiated. As he says, 'Of course, architecture is about aesthetics, but it's aesthetics built on many things. Is there good use of light, material and space? What does the building do to your state of mind? And can it unlock your imagination about a culture or a particular feeling?'
The softly spoken architect is not pontificating: he is recalling the ideals of architecture learned at college three decades ago. Over the years, this intellectual foundation, coupled with Yim's talent, has given rise to some of Hong Kong's most prominent creations, including the Peninsula Hotel extension, the Park Lane Shopping Boulevard, Citibank Plaza and IFC2 (a collaboration with celebrated Argentinian architect Cesar Pelli). This year at least three of his projects will be completed in Hong Kong and on the mainland.
Yim is known for his ability to weave modernism into densely populated urban spaces. Now in his 50s, he won an international competition late last year to build the 500 million yuan (HK$568 million) new Yunnan Provincial Museum, adding another accolade to his long list of achievements.
It is 'entirely contemporary' in its construction, he says of the glass-clad building, the form of which alludes to Yunnan's natural landscape, in particular the famous Shilin 'rock forest' outside Kunming.
Having built a solid portfolio of commercial buildings, Yim is preoccupied these days with public and cultural architecture, evidenced by the clutch of buildings he and his 110-strong company are working on. These include a teaching hotel at the Polytechnic University, which features glass atria designed to be integrated with the surroundings. There is also the much publicised 'Door' in Tamar, an arched complex that will become the Hong Kong government's new headquarters in 2011. Across the border in Guangdong, he is building a multipurpose cultural centre in Shenzhen and the Museum of Guangdong. The latter is in the shape of a Chinese treasure box and is his favourite project to date.
Yim is not dodging commercialism - the redevelopment of the former Hyatt Hotel in Tsim Sha Tsui which he is close to completing is purely commercial, he says - but now, well into the 'third stage' of his career, he is trying to focus on non-commercial projects.