A wider view of the Ground Floor in the M+ building. Photo: Dan Leung. M+, Hong Kong
SUHANYA RAFFEL:
You’re currently in the Main Hall on the Ground Floor, and chances are this is where you started your museum journey today, coming in through one of the several entrances to M+ around you. It’s a bright, open space that—somewhat unusually for a building at the heart of Hong Kong—offers glimpses of the city around you through its many tall windows. There’s Victoria Harbour to the south, Kowloon Peninsula to the north, the Art Park to the west, and the rest of the district to the east.
It’s one thing knowing where you are in relation to the rest of the city, but, especially if it’s your first time visiting M+, you might be wondering how the museum itself is laid out. Well, from this level, you can actually get a pretty good idea of where you can go thanks to the building’s elevation. If you move towards the black railings and look down through the cutaway, you can see what’s known as the Found Space below us; an exciting, non-traditional exhibition space for larger works. Then, looking upwards from here through the cutaway in the ceiling, you can glimpse our second level, where most of the exhibition galleries are found, and even the M+ Facade beyond that.
But back to this level. It’s worth taking a moment to fully appreciate its airiness. M+ is a public institution, and as such has been designed as an open, civic space principally meant for you to enjoy. This theme of openness runs across the whole building, meaning that the natural environment is never far away: just look around this level. Through the doors, you’ll notice how the fully outdoor areas you came from subtly merge into semi-outdoor spaces thanks to the shaded overhangs by the entrances, which then lead into the Main Hall you’re in now: itself bathed in natural light, thanks to the lightwells. You probably didn’t even notice, but look down and you’ll see how this sense of continuity from outside to inside is further enhanced underfoot, by the use of the same wood-grained concrete flooring across each area.
Next, you can take a deeper dive into some of the design features around you, or head either up or down to explore another of the museum’s main spaces.