Meeting… Forth Bagley Taking home a four-award haul at AHEAD Asia 2020 for Rosewood Hong Kong, Kohn Pedersen Fox Principal Forth Bagley sits down with Sleeper to talk defining skylines and guilt-free luxury. Words: Kristofer Thomas
PROFILE Forth Bagley Principal Kohn Pedersen Fox
How did you approach creating a flagship for
almost impossible to build something of that height
Rosewood in its home city?
and density so close to the water again. From the
It was an interesting project that was tied to a much
very beginning, this idea pushed us towards an
broader urban regeneration plan by the owner,
architecture that didn’t call attention to itself.
Having joined New York-based Kohn Pedersen Fox (KPF) in 2005, Forth Bagley has overseen some of the most prominent urban development projects around the world, including Manhattan’s Hudson Yards and Hong Kong’s Victoria Dockside.
involving the repositioning of The Avenue of the
We completed The Ritz-Carlton Hong Kong a
Stars and the introduction of a mixed-use lifestyle
number of years ago, where the aim was to create
district at the tip of the Kowloon Peninsula. This has
a new piece of the skyline and a business-facing
traditionally been a tourist trap, and one of those
destination, but for Rosewood we were explicitly
areas all cities have where locals don’t really go.
trying to take a very big building and break it down
The firm’s hand in designing Rosewood Hong Kong was recognised with a quartet of AHEAD Asia 2020 awards, naming the flagship project’s bar, restaurant, Corner Suite and ballroom event space as the region’s finest. Upcoming projects: The Royal Atlantis Resort & Residences, Dubai (2020); Mandarin Oriental Tel Aviv (2023); Rosewood Shanghai (2024)
The charge for Rosewood Hong Kong was really a
into a number of components. Every project is
wider urban proposition: how do you create a public
different of course; for Rosewood Bangkok it was
neighbourhood that locals want to keep returning
about creating an iconic piece of architecture that
to? A lot of this thinking was really informed by
would stand alongside the commercial corridor’s
our work on Covent Garden, where for 20 years
existing buildings, whilst in Guangzhou it was de-
we’ve been looking to gradually reposition the
constructing the notion of a totally symmetrical
neighbourhood into a place that residents want to
tower and adding some visual interest.
hang around.
Every time we approach these buildings, the ask
The Avenue of the Stars in Hong Kong is similar,
on the skyline is different, and you have to look at
and we talked with the operator about how we could
it not in ten-year increment but in centuries; these
create a hotel that does the same kind of thing: to
buildings leave cultural memories and can take
change the demographic in the lobby away from
society in certain directions.
tourists to include locals and residents as well. How have you seen the APAC region evolve during When taking on large-scale projects that alter a
your time at KPF?
city’s skyline, what elements do you consider?
Throughout the history of the hotel room, there has
In the context of Rosewood Hong Kong, it’s probably
been an attempt to replicate a living or bedroom
the tallest building ever constructed that close to
space – something you might find in a house. The
the harbour, and will likely remain that way thanks
work we did with Hyatt in Tokyo and the Mandarin
to the zoning. The project itself was a renovation
Oriental in Hong Kong back at the start of the
off the back of an older envelope, and it would be
millennium was an attempt not just to separate
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