PANORAMA Design Group brought a unique eye to complete the K11 MUSEA Donut Playhouse for kids to explore and play in Hong Kong.

The K11 MUSEA is located in the heart of Hong Kong. In this composite shopping centre the three-storied “Donut Playhouse”, connected by slides from ground floor to basement, is designed to be the very first kids-oriented shopping arcade in the city.

“Donut Playhouse” consists of three main zones: Body, Mind and Soul. From the simple perspective of a kid, the basic elements of point, line and plane were manipulated to support different purposes given to the zones: a space for exercise, a space for learning and a space for performance respectively. Kid’s development was nurtured through introspection, exploration and discovery in enhancing the physical, mental and spiritual quality. Public facilities including concierge, seating, and directory are all catered for kid’s ergonomics. The family washrooms are all catered for easy access of adult’s and kid’s height: cubicles, washing islands and “Co-wee-wee” zone in the male washroom are specially designed to provide user-friendly, fun and out-of-expectation experience for building closer human relationships, it’s both a recreation of the childlike and a manifestation of the child’s pride.

An energetic and organic play zone and family cafe aims to unleash energy, provoke physical workout, provide space for relax and recharge. Besides the brightness and joy it brings, the yellow tone effectively stimulates muscle and enhances hand-foot coordination development of kids.

Mind zone is designed as an open learning hub that workshops and lessons are made available to parents and kids. This organic landscape in green has an effect of stimulating the memory of children. Relatively small sized seats and tables in different shapes provide flexibility for end-users to cater for different activity needs; kids can even sit on the reading zone padding freely, adding fun and arousing their interest of learning.

Soul Zone contains a mirrored tree as display device with a digital ring hoisting in the air. Whenever parents and kids finish their artworks in the workshops, their pieces of work will be posted simultaneously on the ring. The little artists or writers can go under the ring and see others’ and their own workpieces displaying. All to evoke creativity and ego expression through multi-media interactions.

We believe an ideal kids arcade shall not be a theme park, but go beyond reality and provide spatial experience for imaginations. We aimed to create a kidscape for edu-shopping that incorporated a sense of magic and playfulness for kids and parents.

Architect: PANORAMA Design Group
Photography: Ng Siu Fung