Hong Kong Monetary Authority Information Centre by OVAL DESIGN LTD

Name of Company or Individual: OVAL DESIGN LTD

Country: Hong Kong

Website: https://www.ovaldesign.com.hk

Project Name: Hong Kong Monetary Authority Information Centre

Project Completion Date: 10/14/2019

Project Completed City: Hong Kong

Interior Division: Institution

Elevating the HKMA Information Centre which has a mandate to educate the public and whose audience entails a wide-ranging profile into a welcoming place for visit requires relentless stretching limits of ordinariness. 

We achieve this goal by heavily injecting physical and digital interactive elements into education tools and games so as to make them playful for learning financial matters of different themes threading through monetary policies and history of Hong currency notes and coins. 

We build a floor-to-ceiling timeline wall to explain the 150 years of development that has made Hong Kong a financial hub today, animating it with exhibits that say nothing but history at first sight.  The audience raises their eyeballs when they see money notes and coins used by ancient Chinese in the 1840s displaying on this wall. At one end of the timeline is a giant LED screen operated by trending technologies that have provided room even for presenting future stories.   On the timeline wall, we have also installed tailored panels and devices at a low height for purposely presenting information to the kids.   

Moreover, currency notes are easy hooks for raising people’s interest in financial and money matters.  We leverage on this common thought and build an interactive table panel to display the electronic images of Hong Kong currency notes issued over the past 150 years and coins in circulation over the past 60 years Display the electronic images.  This is the ‘centre stage’ of the whole information centre anchoring visitors’ interest. 

Last but not least, we have set up a white strip-shaped table of waist height to run through the place. It displays information, guides visitor flow, and prompts visitors to enjoy the scenic ambience of the Victoria Harbour that the Centre is bestowed upon because of its physical location.   And to augment such a soothing environment, we set up two artistic installations made up of old coins and worn-out banknotes at strategic touchpoints of the Centre.   “Small Change, Big Ode” is a mosaic made up of 135,811 pieces of old coins and displays a historical but iconic scenery of the Victoria Harbour with a junk boat in front of it.  “Chanting Notes” is a Bauhinia tree formed with 2018 pieces of crystal cubes inlaid with shredded worn-out banknotes hanging up from the ceiling.  It juxtaposes a scene that is full of life and vigour in Chinese culture.  

The beauty of the Centre is in its integration. It strives to give every audience a bespoke visiting experience regardless of their background: bankers, state leaders, embassy representatives, businessmen, academics, parents or primary school kids.   It is a place that the public would visit, and revisit. The project has been done to the full satisfaction of the client.  Moreover, according to the TripAdvisor survey, about 90% of visitors give either a good or a very good score to the HKMA Information Centre.

Plans and Drawing