Who is he?
Thomas Coldefy is an award-winning French architect whose company, Coldefy & Associes, Architectes Urbanistes, won an international competition to design the Hong Kong Design Institute building, which opened in Tiu Keng Leng last November. He recently opened an office in Sheung Wan.
What drew you to architecture as a career?
'I have always been surrounded by architects, including my father and my sister. My father tried to push me in other directions because he knew it was a difficult job, and I went to law school for a year. But I saw my sister studying architecture and I thought it was much more fun than law school. The work of an architect will impact life now and in the future, and I thought it was a meaningful career. Having worked with great architects such as Tadao Ando and KPF [Kohn Pedersen Fox] in New York, I have found a way to express my creativity through a very precise working process.'
What is your design approach?
'At the studio, we have a global approach, working in co-opera- tion with the client, guided by a fundamental objective to respond to function while giving users quality of life. Our designs demonstrate our attention to the quality of public space, a sensitive pursuit of perfection in the match between context, landscape and construction, and the economical use of resources. We understand that not every project will be able to meet all the desired criteria but, equally, we believe we have a responsibility to try to persuade clients and developers to adopt sustainable strategies - even small steps in the right direction are better than none at all.'
Tell us about the Hong Kong Design Institute.