THE LUNA

A single 31–storey serviced-apartment tower in the busy commercial district of Wan Chai, Hong Kong, designed by London-based Make Architects. The design is inspired by the letterpress printing history in the district.

As businesses thrived in Central, Sheung Wan and Wan Chai, letterpress print shops emerged to service them. There were once four Chinese type foundries in Sheung Wan and an English one in Wan Chai where this development stands.

With the introduction of computers in the 1980s, this historic industry largely shutdown. Today, however, young Hong Kong designers are injecting their creativity into reviving and transforming the tradition of movable type and letterpress printing.

Three levels of commercial podium are made up of an array of façade systems with both tower and podium clad in powder–coated aluminium rainscreen panels. The balconies covering the north and west elevations are made of champagne gold aluminium cladding, resembling traditional metal printing blocks used in letterpress printing.