Building Beyond Boundaries Dutch Architecture Firm OMA Has Strategically Re-Aligned Its Hong Kong Office to Achieve Its Business Goals in Asia

Case Study

Building Beyond Boundaries Dutch Architecture firm OMA has strategically re-aligned its Hong Kong office to achieve its business goals in Asia

“ Hong Kong is an energetic, fast, diverse and ambitious city with people who dare to decide. This would benefit architecture firms as the decision-making process is much faster and efficient.” Chris van Duijn, Partner OMA

Co-founded by internationally acclaimed architect Rem making sure that works by the Hong Kong team share the same Koolhaas in 1975, Office for Metropolitan Architecture (OMA) vision across OMA international offices. is well-known in the global architecture scene for its projects, Van Duijn thinks that opportunity brought by the Belt and such as the Seattle Central Library in the US, Casa da Música in Road initiative has started emerging in the architecture world. Portugal, Beijing CCTV headquarters and the Shenzhen Stock “Although at this stage many of the projects from the Belt and Exchange in China, to name a few. With the headquarters in Road initiative are focusing on the infrastructure, we do see Rotterdam, OMA has recently strategically aligned its regional some Chinese investors looking for partners for projects in headquarters in Hong Kong to a team of 35, managing projects the Middle East or other regions. We believe there will be more in Asia including Mainland China, Hong Kong, Taiwan, Korea, opportunities for architecture projects,” he remarked. Indonesia, Vietnam, Thailand and Singapore. Van Duijn is impressed by the diversity and energy offered by Chris van Duijn, partner at OMA, revealed that the the city. “Hong Kong is an energetic, fast, diverse and ambitious transformation allows the Hong Kong team to have a more city with people who dare to decide. This would benefit focused and balanced portfolio. “With our current team size, architecture firms as the decision-making process is much faster we have more freedom to select projects that we want to do and efficient,” he noted. “It is also conveniently located near and enhance our portfolio. What’s more important for us is the many other Asian countries, and is an excellent place for living quality rather than the quantity,” he said. and working.” Over the last few years, van Duijn has led a variety of projects in Asia, ranging from pavilion design, flagship mixed use projects to large scale masterplanning, many of which were initiated from the Hong Kong office. “Having a regional headquarters in Hong OMA Kong has gained us a certain reputation in the region over the years. Many clients in Asia came directly to us because of the • Headquartered in Rotterdam, the Netherlands projects we have been working,” he said. • OMA Hong Kong office was set up in 2010 According to van Duijn, OMA’s communicative approach to • Hong Kong is the regional headquarters of Asia and clients is their key to success. “We are not like a master architect currently has approximately 35 employees that provides one sketch and says ‘this is the best design for you.’ We always take time to talk to our clients and make sure we oma.eu understand their requirement inside-out,” he explained, “we tend to be very open throughout the process.” Residing in Rotterdam, he travels between Hong Kong and Rotterdam every two weeks to maintain the project quality, investhk.gov.hk