The Main Hall of the M+ building. Photo: Dan Leung. M+, Hong Kong
SUHANYA RAFFEL:
Welcome to M+.
My name is Suhanya Raffel, and I’m the museum director, and I can’t wait to show you around today.
We’re now in one of the most extraordinary buildings in all of Hong Kong—and not just for the reasons you might expect. As a world-leading museum of visual culture, M+ houses a vibrant and dynamic collection of design, architecture, moving image, and visual art. If you’d like to listen to stories from our collection, please select the ‘Collection Highlights’ tour from your menu.
But, what about the building itself, with its enormous podium base the size of two football fields, and its single, slender tower? Together, they form the shape of an inverted ‘T’—a striking addition to the Victoria Harbourside. In our city, where buildings are generally tightly packed, built on small spaces, and then erected densely upwards as far as possible, M+ is extraordinary in how it breaks this convention. The architects, Herzog & de Meuron, have created a museum of open, vast spaces that makes as much of a statement as the collection it holds.
Today, we’d like to help you get to know your new public space. M+ is a place for you to explore, to be inspired by, to feel comfortable in. Across this tour, we’ll help you get your bearings, give you an idea of some of the key areas to visit, and also reveal some of the architectural secrets behind why our museum of visual culture was designed like this. Did you notice the striking outdoor lights as you came in, styled after the traditional butchers’ lamps seen across Hong Kong? We’ll be exploring designs and features like this throughout the tour, which will last around 45 minutes.
If it’s your first visit, you can follow the stops in the order they appear on your screen, starting with stop 2 on the Ground Floor. Equally, you can explore the space in your own way, playing the relevant tracks as you discover each new area and feature on the tour.
So, when you’re ready, we recommend finding a space in our light and airy Main Hall away from too many other people, and then let’s dive straight into the story of M+.