Stanley, Hong Kong, 1982. HKIA Merit.

St Stephen’s College was founded at the turn of the nineteenth century by British missionaries in Hong Kong. A private institution, based on the British educational model, the College has both primary and secondary schools and over a hundred years, it has built up a reputation as one of Hong Kong’s finest schools. St Stephen’s inhabits a sprawling, green 25-acre campus in Stanley, on the south side of Hong Kong Island. At the core of the campus lay a series of colonial buildings. In need of more classroom, classroom and studio space, the college turned to Taoho Design.

Our challenge was to design a complex of buildings in the middle of the campus that were architecturally significant and would add a new formal element to the campus, but were still deferential to the British Colonial architecture of the older campus. The extension is a series of modernist rectangular boxes arranged around a courtyard, alluding to the traditional courtyard schemes of British scholastic architecture. Modern details are added, such as diagonal facades, including two that consist of striking angular glass windows and are framed by a grid-like series of special windowpanes that can be adjusted according to climate and allow for energy conservation. These panes are painted an ebullient yellow, adding a dramatic splash to the traditional context. The buildings, though, maintain the elegant proportions of its more classical neighbours, providing a sense of ordered harmony to the campus.