Press Release
Bwl Hong Kong Regional Centre by Bean Buro Wins the Bronze A' Design Award in Interior Space and Exhibition Design
Bean Buro acknowledged for interior space and exhibition design by the international grand jury of the 2025 - 2026 A' Design Award & Competition
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
COMO, Italy, April 20, 2026 /DesignNewswire/ A' Design Award & Competition has confirmed the Bronze A' Design Award in the Interior Space and Exhibition Design category for Bwl Hong Kong Regional Centre by Bean Buro. The recognition forms part of the 2025 - 2026 A' Design Award & Competition and was determined through blind peer review by an international grand jury panel of established academics, design professionals and press members, who scored anonymized entries against predetermined criteria.
The Bronze A' Design Award Explained
The Bronze A' Design Award is given to outstanding designs that showcase a high degree of creativity and practicality. It recognizes the dedication and skill of designers who produce work that stands out for its thoughtful development and innovative use of materials and technology. These designs are acknowledged for their professional execution and potential to influence industry standards positively. Winning this award highlights the designer's ability to blend form and function effectively, offering solutions that enhance people's lives and wellbeing.
Regarding Bwl Hong Kong Regional Centre
Bwl Hong Kong is a multifunctional customer centre interior that merges showroom, cafe, training, and workspace functions in a continuous spatial sequence. A promenade layout leads visitors from a gentle window display to a central sculptural display table and a harbour-facing lounge. Terracotta tiles, halved bamboo, stainless steel, fluted glass, and concealed lighting create a calm and vibrant atmosphere. Flexible partitions, acoustic linings, and modular furniture allow the single floor plate to be reconfigured for consultations and larger events.
About Bean Buro
Lorène Faure & Kenny Kinugasa-Tsui are French and UK architects; they are life partners and founded Bean Buro in 2014. ‘Bean’ stands for Between Exchanges of Architectural Narratives. Our passionate, close-knit team is composed of international designers with a network of specialists to create humanistic, refined, fresh aesthetics for hospitality-driven projects. Our studio is based in Hong Kong and works globally.
Award Record
Bean Buro is a winner of 4 A' Design Awards, including this recognition. The awards were granted between the 2024 - 2025 and the 2025 - 2026 editions of the A' Design Award & Competition.
About the A' Interior Space, Retail and Exhibition Design Award
The A' Interior Design Award is an international interior design competition recognizing good interior designs by interior designers and architects worldwide. It is organized within the A' Design Award & Competition and is open to interior designers, interior architects, architects and decorators from all countries. Typical entries include residential interiors, restaurants, hotels, offices, galleries and retail stores. The awarded interior designs are published at https://dezigners.org/design-category/interior
About A' Design Award & Competition
Organized annually since 2008, A' Design Award & Competition is an international, juried design accolade. The competition is open to entries from all countries. The philanthropic mission of the A' Design Award is to advance society through good design, by recognizing and promoting superior products, projects and services that benefit society, and by creating a global awareness and appreciation for good design practices and principles. Nominations are peer reviewed and evaluated anonymously by an international grand jury panel of established academics, design professionals and press members against predetermined criteria such as functionality, ergonomics, engineering, presentation, innovation, usability, sustainability and technology, with score normalization applied to remove biases. Awards are conferred at Platinum, Gold, Silver, Bronze and Iron levels. Eligible laureates receive the A' Design Prize, which includes the award trophy, the certificate of design excellence, the hardcover yearbook, a lifetime license to use the A' Design Award winner logo, exhibition of awarded works, an invitation to the gala night and award ceremony in Italy, inclusion in the World Design Rankings and Designer Rankings, and public relations and publicity services. Registration, uploading a work and receiving a preliminary score are free of charge, and Professional and Digital Edition laureates are not contractually obliged to pay further fees to claim the A' Design Prize. More information is available at https://competition.adesignaward.com
Press Resources
- Winner Page: https://dezigners.org/181693
- A' Design Award Page: https://competition.adesignaward.com/181693
- Media Showcase: https://www.designnewsroom.com/!181693
- Laureate Profile: https://dezigners.org/d/357025
- Further Information from the Laureate: https://short-url.org/bwlhk
Media Contact
Giulia Ferrari, Press Office
Designers.Org
Via Leone Leoni 32, 22100 Como, Italy
press@designers.org
+39 031 4491953
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Fact Sheet
The Work
- Project
- Bwl Hong Kong Regional Centre
- Function
- Regional Centre
- Category
- Interior Space and Exhibition Design
- Discipline
- Spatial Design
- Industry
- Architecture and Packaging & Retail
- Colors
- Gray, Rosy Brown, Dark Olive Green, Dim Gray and Dark Gray
- Images
- 5
The Recognition
- Laureate
- Bean Buro
- Country
- Hong Kong (China)
- Recognition
- Bronze A' Design Award
- Edition
- 2025 - 2026
- Design ID
- #181693
Credits
- Team
- Lorène Faure, Kenny Kinugasa-Tsui, Alvin Bunjaya and Phoebe Yeung
- Image Credits
- Photographer Steven Ko Interior Photography, BWL Hong Kong, 2025. Optional; Photographer Steven Ko Interior Photography, BWL Hong Kong, 2025.
Design Details
- Unique Properties
- BWL Hong Kong is a hybrid customer centre that unites wellness retail, cafe, training, and workplace functions in a single sculptural promenade. A bamboo and terracotta palette, panoramic harbour views, modular furnishings, and acoustically adaptable rooms create a calm yet vibrant environment that supports product storytelling, social engagement, and flexible events within one cohesive spatial narrative.
- Inspiration
- The project is inspired by Hong Kongs dual character as a dense vertical city beside a living harbour. Bamboo scaffolding, terracotta pavements, and reflective water are translated into spatial and material motifs. Ongoing research into wellbeing, biophilic design, and circular material strategies informs the narrative, ensuring cultural references, sensory comfort, and environmental responsibility are integrated rather than decorative.
- Research
- Type of research: mixed qualitative and spatial performance research. Research objectives: to create a multifunctional hub that enhances wellbeing, brand storytelling, and operational efficiency. Methodology: precedent studies, post occupancy reviews, stakeholder interviews, and material life cycle assessments. Tools: mock ups, VR walkthroughs, acoustic simulations, daylight analysis. Participants: staff, customers, local makers. Results: flexible zoning and sustainable materials support focus and social activation, strengthening business performance.
- Challenge
- The main challenge was reconciling a highly mixed programme including retail, events, training, and office spaces within a single open floorplate while preserving calm and clarity. We had to negotiate strict building regulations, acoustic constraints, and tight construction timelines while prioritising local materials and low impact detailing. Through iterative prototyping, careful zoning, and concealed technical solutions, we transformed these constraints into a coherent, living environment that can continuously adapt over time.
- Realization and Technology
- The design was realised through close collaboration with local fabricators and craftspeople, prototyping bespoke stainless steel display elements, concealed lighting details, and modular joinery systems. Locally sourced terracotta tiles, halved bamboo, fluted glass, and acoustic linings were mock tested on site to balance visual texture, durability, and acoustic performance. Loose furniture was specified as modular, repairable components to support future reconfiguration and extended life cycles.
- Operation and Interaction
- Visitors enter through a gentle window display before being led along a clear promenade that unfolds from social hub to showroom, cafe, training rooms, and back-of-house workspace. Key moments include an Instagram-ready product installation, a central sculptural display table, and a harbour-facing lounge. Flexible partitions, intuitive sightlines, and consistent material cues make it easy to navigate, host events, and shift between intimate consultations and larger gatherings.
- Project Duration and Location
- The project commenced in July 2024. Design development, prototyping, and coordination continued through the year, with construction on the high-level floor of the World Trade Centre in Causeway Bay completed in December 2024. The BWL Hong Kong Regional Customer Centre has since been in active daily use for retail, training, and corporate events.
- Specifications
- A showroom of 5,020 square feet on a single floor plate in a Grade A commercial building in Hong Kong.
- Keywords
- Commercial Design, Commercial Space, Showroom, Hong Kong, Workplace, Training Rooms, Customer Centre
