Who designed the HSBC Building in Hong Kong?

Norman Foster designed the HSBC Building in Hong Kong. Foster Associates created the bank’s current headquarters as a bold high-tech structure, completed in 1985 and officially opened in 1986.

The building replaced an earlier HSBC headquarters on the same site in Central, Hong Kong. Its design broke from the conventional skyscraper model: instead of relying on a dense central structural core, it uses external columns, suspended floors and large atriums to create unusually open interior spaces.

Five steel modules were prefabricated in the United Kingdom and shipped to Hong Kong, while Ove Arup & Partners handled civil and structural engineering. The building rises about 180 metres and has 44 above-ground storeys, depending on how its levels are counted.

A common mix-up is confusing Foster’s role with that of the engineers or later designers. Norman Foster was the principal architect of the original building; later lobby additions, including the Asian Story Wall installation, were separate projects. Its exposed structure and modular construction helped make it a landmark of high-tech architecture.