Landmarks & Public Art — The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology

A university built on "technology" might be expected to greet visitors with something sleek and futuristic. Instead, the first piece of public art at its entrance is a red steel sundial paying homage to 39 technological achievements of ancient China. That self-introduction — "let the past speak for the present" — sets the tone for the landmark cluster of the HKUST campus at Clear Water Bay. This article walks through the most iconic buildings and public art installations in spatial order, from the Red Bird Sundial and armillary sphere replica at the entrance plaza, to the Central Piazza, the Shaw Auditorium, and a series of named buildings bearing the names of Lee Shau Kee, Cheng Yu Tung, Martin Ka Shing Lee, and others, along with the donation backgrounds and design details behind each.

---

# 1. The Red Bird Sundial — "Circle of Time"

# Status & naming

The Red Bird Sundial is the most recognisable landmark of HKUST and the number-one visual symbol in the University's brand system. Its official name is "Circle of Time", though it is universally known as the "Red Bird" for its resemblance to a bird in flight^※. "Red Bird" later became the unofficial mascot of HKUST and appears in the names of numerous student organisations (such as the Red Bird Racing team). The HKUST Brand Guidelines state explicitly that the sundial is "the most prominent brand icon" of the University, and that the official Chinese name 「紅鳥日晷」 and English name "The Red Bird Sundial" are the only formal designations^※, which may not be replaced or abbreviated in formal contexts.

The name "Red Bird" has two origins. First, the form: the curved steel structure of the sundial's central piece, viewed from the side, traces the lines of a bird spreading its wings; hence the popular name^※. Second, the colour: red symbolises auspiciousness and the warding off of evil in Chinese culture, and the steel structure is painted a vivid red^※ that provides visual tension against the grey-white building complex of the campus. The official logo of HKUST's 20th-anniversary celebrations took "the Red Bird in flight" as its design core; the University described the symbol as "the University's signature sundial, commonly known as the Red Bird, soaring with vigour and elegance"^※.

# Commissioning & creation

The sculpture was commissioned with funding from the Hong Kong Jockey Club^※, as part of the Jockey Club's donation programme during the campus construction phase. It was created by Irish-Australian sculptor couple Charles Walsh-Smith and Joan Walsh-Smith, then based in Perth, Western Australia^※, and officially installed on 8 October 1991^※ — fitting between the University's formal opening for classes on 2 October 1991 and its inauguration ceremony on 10 October^※. That is: six days after the University opened its doors, two days before the ceremony. The sundial was thus born with HKUST itself, not added later: when the first cohort of roughly 560 undergraduates and 140 postgraduates^※ set foot on campus, this 8.5-metre red steel sundial already stood at the centre of the entrance plaza — the "first piece of public art" to greet the first generation of HKUST students. Over the following three decades, through successive campus expansions, it has remained in place, its symbolic status never displaced.

Joan Walsh-Smith was born in Ireland in 1946 and graduated from the National College of Art and Design in Dublin (1971), where she met her husband Charles Smith^※; the two have since devoted themselves to large-scale public sculpture. They emigrated to Western Australia in 1984 and founded the Smith Sculptors studio in Gidgegannup^※, specialising in large public commissions. They received the Australian Centenary Medal in 2001^※, and Joan Walsh-Smith was additionally awarded the Medal of the Order of Australia in 2024^※. "Circle of Time" is Smith Sculptors' best-known work in Asia. According to the project background page on the Smith Sculptors website^※, the commission was won through an international art competition; the sundial's timekeeping scheme was designed by the gnomonist Dr. Margaret Folkard (Sundials Australia) — a clean division of labour between "art" and "science".

# Physical specifications

The sundial proper stands 8.5 metres tall, made of steel, mounted on a stepped plinth at the centre of the Entrance Piazza, surrounded by a pool of circulating water^※. The sides of the plinth carry a bas-relief mural 7.0 metres long and 1.5 metres high^※ (some sources give the total length of the relief as roughly 9 metres), recording ancient Chinese technological achievements in carved form. The artists assigned "flowing water" an explicit metaphorical role — it represents "the flow of history".

# The 39 achievements of ancient Chinese science carved on the plinth

The 39 achievements recorded in the relief span from the 6th century BC to the 13th century AD^※, covering agriculture, transport, astronomy, metallurgy, navigation, printing, medicine and mathematics:

This list is published in full on the website of the HKUST Campus Management Office (CMO)^※ and serves as the authoritative textual record of the relief's narrative content. The selection spans practical technology, precision instruments, fundamental science and cultural creation; a few entries (the six-point snowflake, the yin-yang symbol) carry a speculative, quasi-philosophical interpretation at the intersection of science and culture.

# Function & concept: sundial, sculpture, or both?

Functionally, "Circle of Time" is indeed a working sundial^※ — on a clear day sunlight casts a shadow from the steel structure onto marked gradations, and in principle the time can be read; but accuracy requires a sunny day and a view down from an upper floor window, since at plaza level parallax and shadow scale make the readout difficult^※.

The artists themselves have expressed their intentions clearly. As the CMO website^※ records, Walsh-Smith's creative statement reads: 「我们选择创作一座沉思性的『时间之环』，在大学繁忙的矩阵之中，成为一处绿洲」("we chose to create a contemplative 'Circle of Time', an oasis within the bustling matrix"). The artists deliberately removed scale references so that forms overlap and interpenetrate mid-flow, simulating what they term "a historical stream of consciousness" — the relief's narrative is not linear but ripples and eddies like historical memory itself, with "the shadow playing an integral aesthetic and functional role". The sculpture's core declaration: 「它是一座实际运作的日晷式雕塑，也是一座雕塑式日晷」("a sculpture which actually functions as a sundial, and a sundial which is also a sculpture").

The official brand narrative further invokes the principle: "the utility of an object cannot be separated from its artistry"^※. Symbolically, the designers fused "the circle", "flowing water" and "the moving shadow of the sun" to evoke the passage of time; the soaring "bird form", meanwhile, is read by the University as echoing the Chinese phoenix and the Western immorta (i.e. the phoenix mythos), signifying renewal and endless vitality. In the context of a university of science and technology, this concept is itself a founding declaration: science and art are not parallel tracks but two shores of the same river of time.

# How visitors should experience it

Visitors may step onto the plinth to take photos, but are not permitted to climb the sundial structure itself^※; that said, by student accounts, graduating seniors or newcomers occasionally do climb to the top tier for keepsake photos, and such behaviour is not always promptly discouraged. For the relief murals, a slow circuit around the plinth is recommended — at midday the oblique sunlight throws the carved layers into sharper relief, echoing the artists' aim of making light and shadow part of the narrative. To attempt reading the time, a clear day and a vantage point from an upper floor (about the 3rd floor or above) looking down through a window works best^※. The Entrance Piazza sits at the heart of the main building complex and is open to the public year-round, with no appointment or ticket required.

---

# 2. The Armillary Sphere: ancient astronomy moves onto campus

Beyond the Entrance Piazza, another public art installation on the theme of ancient Chinese astronomy makes an intriguing counterpart to the Red Bird Sundial. The sundial measures time by solar shadow; the armillary sphere measures position of celestial bodies by rings and frames. Both rank among humanity's earliest scientific instruments, and HKUST has installed both as functional apparatus and public art, translating "ancient Eastern science" into campus landscape — a quiet through-line in the University's spatial narrative.

The armillary sphere is a cast-bronze sculpture weighing roughly one tonne, about 1.41 m in diameter and 1.525 m high, sited at the start of the Fong Shu Chuen Promenade, in the small garden between Undergraduate Halls I and II^※. Its prototype is the Ming-dynasty armillary sphere now preserved at the Purple Mountain Observatory in Nanjing, more than 570 years old; the HKUST installation is a half-scale replica^※. The armillary sphere was a key instrument for determining celestial positions in ancient China, with origins traceable to the Western Han dynasty.

The piece was donated by the Fong Shu Fook Tong Foundation and the Fong's Family Foundation, with Foundation Chairman Dr. Fong Yun Wah representing the donors at the unveiling ceremony; the then Vice-Chancellor Paul Chu Ching-wu attended and spoke, encouraging the University community to draw inspiration from the wisdom of ancient Chinese scientists^※. The unveiling ceremony was held on 3 September 2008^※. The Vice-Chancellor remarked at the time that the replica 「本身即是一件华美的艺术品，为校园之美增添了一重新的维度」 ("This replica of the Armillary Sphere is a glamorous work of art in its own right and brings an added dimension to the beauty of our campus.").

The Fong Shu Chuen Promenade is one of the most important outdoor pedestrian axes on campus, linking the residential and sports zones. It runs down to the waterfront, opening onto an unobstructed view of Port Shelter, and is a well-known route for morning runs and quiet strolls.

---

# 3. The "One-World Fountain"

The "One-World Fountain", located outside the LG7 canteen (the student dining area), was designed by Austrian sculptor Prof. Hans Muhr — his first symbolic water-feature sculpture in Asia^※ — and was completed to mark HKUST's tenth anniversary. The installation is composed of natural stones from the five continents, with the Asian stone at the centre and the other continents arranged around it, connected by flowing water — a symbol of "harmony between humankind and nature, and the resonance of technology communicating with the world". According to reports, the fountain was commissioned and donated to the University by Dr. Helmut Sohmen, then a Council member and chairman of the World-Wide Shipping Agency^※.

Hans Muhr (1934–2022) was an Austrian sculptor born in Graz, known for water-feature fountain designs; his works are spread across Vienna, Berlin, Budapest, Chicago and Leipzig, typically combining natural stone with flowing water. The HKUST "One-World Fountain" was his first such work in Asia, and no further commissions of the kind are recorded afterwards — giving the piece a particular coordinate in his career geography.

---

# 4. The Central Piazza and the Atrium: the campus "living room"

The geography of the HKUST campus is inseparable from its "hillside, sea-facing" overall layout: the main campus sits on the Clear Water Bay Peninsula in Sai Kung District. The peninsula separates Tseung Kwan O (Junk Bay) from Port Shelter^※, with the HKUST site at the boundary on the Port Shelter side^※, facing Port Shelter, a relatively calm inner bay^※, rather than the open sea beyond. According to the HKUST careers website^※ and the 30th-anniversary feature^※, the campus is built into the hillside, a seaside complex overlooking Clear Water Bay^※. This vertical drama — "up the hill, down to the sea" — creates the campus's central circulation node: the Central Piazza and the Atrium between the academic building clusters, with the Red Bird Sundial standing in the piazza.

# Architectural character

The Atrium is the core atrium of the academic complex, topped by a large glazed skylight through which natural light pours down, creating a bright, open indoor public space^※. Students report that the roof is not fully sealed, and there is occasional seepage in the rainy season. According to a campus introduction^※, the Atrium is busy throughout the day — the central space where faculty, students, events and everyday life converge.

# Functions

The Atrium connects the academic corridors, the library and the canteen areas, and is the campus's main venue for large-scale events — typically Orientation, Alumni Day, the Garage Sale, and various student activity exhibitions. Because it sits on the campus's central axis, ventilation is strong, and the breeze can be distinctly felt by anyone pausing there. The Atrium, the Central Piazza and the waterfront promenade together form a three-part sequence of "indoor — semi-outdoor — seaside" public space, and are the most frequented sites of campus life: freshers' orientation, graduation photos, student society stalls. The lower edge of the campus hugs Port Shelter and features a waterfront promenade along which faculty and students can stroll and gaze across the bay. For a university built on "technology", this walkway leading from the academic buildings to the shore offers a juxtaposition of "one step between the most advanced laboratory and the most primal seascape".

---

# 5. The Shaw Auditorium

# Naming & donation

The auditorium is named "Shaw" in tribute to Sir Run Run Shaw and his wife Mona Shaw^※. The Shaw Foundation Hong Kong contributed HK$150 million to the project^※. The Shaw Foundation has long funded university auditoriums, hospitals and educational facilities across Hong Kong and the Chinese mainland; HKUST is one of its beneficiaries in Hong Kong higher education.

# Architectural design

The auditorium was designed by Danish architecture firm Henning Larsen Architects (project lead: Mr. Bøjer Godefroy)^※, in collaboration with engineering consultant WSP. The building takes the form of a four-storey oval volume^※; its cantilevered design means the balcony overhangs shield more than 70% of solar heat gain during the cooling season^※, reducing air-conditioning load. The building has received BEAM Plus NB V1.2 Platinum certification from the Hong Kong Green Building Council^※.

# Capacity & flexibility

The hall features a lifting stage and retractable seating system supporting roughly ten configurations: about 850 seats in concert mode, or over 1,300 people in flat-floor mode^※, with additional layouts for exhibitions, banquets or seminars. A 360-degree curved cyclorama projection backdrop^※ supports panoramic multimedia performances. The rectangular floor plan brings audience and stage close together, fostering an intimate performance atmosphere.

# Acoustics & materials

Acoustical consultant Marshall Day Acoustics provided the full acoustic design package — architectural acoustics, mechanical and electrical noise control, sound insulation and vibration control^※ — with all building services installed to isolation, anti-vibration and noise-reduction standards. The exterior uses renewable bamboo cladding, the white facade a mineral coating, and the acoustic absorbing panels Norwegian wool^※ — a blend of sustainability and acoustic performance. For these qualities, the auditorium received the Architectural Acoustics Gold Award of the Hong Kong Institute of Acoustics 2023, as well as a 2023 CIBSE Hong Kong Award and an Honor Award from AIA Hong Kong^※.

# Opening & surroundings

The Shaw Auditorium officially opened on 17 November 2021, coinciding with HKUST's 30th anniversary^※. Outside the auditorium lies the Mona Shaw Plaza, suitable for outdoor performances and public gatherings. A grove of Hong Kong hawthorn (commonly known as "spring blossom") was planted beside the plaza steps; according to reports, an anonymous donor arranged the planting in memory of Dr. Tse Yuen Man, a physician who died of SARS, hoping younger generations would remember her selfless devotion^※.

---

# 6. The Lee Shau Kee Campus & Named Buildings (South Campus)

# Lee Shau Kee Business Building (LSK)

The Lee Shau Kee Business Building, a seven-storey building in the Lee Shau Kee Campus on the southern side of the main campus, opened on 10 September 2013 together with the Lo Ka Chung Building and the Conference Lodge^※. The Lee Shau Kee Campus was built with a HK$400 million donation from Dr. Lee Shau Kee, Chairman of Henderson Land Group, made through the Lee Shau Kee Foundation; Dr. Lee is also a founding member of the University Court and holds an honorary Doctor of Business Administration degree from HKUST^※. The business building houses a 200-seat lecture hall, fully equipped classrooms and multi-function meeting rooms, primarily serving postgraduate programmes of the Business School.

# Lo Ka Chung Building & the Jockey Club Institute for Advanced Study (IAS)

The five-storey Lo Ka Chung Building is the dedicated home of the HKUST Jockey Club Institute for Advanced Study (IAS)^※, perched on the hilltop section of the Lee Shau Kee Campus. The IAS building project began in 2009, jointly funded by the Hong Kong SAR Government and the Hong Kong Jockey Club Charities Trust; the architectural design was a joint effort of Woods Bagot and Dennis Lau & Ng Chun Man Architects & Engineers, and the building became fully operational in June 2013^※. The building's exterior is regarded as one of the most iconic designs on campus: its facade features the letters "I" and "A" as visual motifs running through the whole building (echoing the acronym of "Institute for Advanced Study"), with a central open atrium connecting all five floors, symbolising the convergence of users from different backgrounds^※.

The IAS was formally established in 2006, with Prof. Paul Chu Ching-wu as its first Director; on 17 June 2013 it moved into the Lo Ka Chung Building and was at the same time formally named "Jockey Club"^※. The IAS invites world-leading scholars for visits and hosts numerous frontier academic lectures and workshops each year, making it a key node of academic exchange on campus. Over the years, multiple Nobel laureates and Fields Medalists have maintained academic ties with the IAS as visiting professors or senior visiting fellows (see Top Scholars^※ and Honorary Graduates, Honorary Fellows & Visiting Professors^※).

# Conference Lodge

Located adjacent to the South Gate at the highest point of the campus, the Conference Lodge offers 130 guest rooms, the "UniQue" restaurant (118 seats), three named private meeting rooms (Sage, Thyme, Lemongrass) and a rooftop terrace^※. Owned by HKUST and managed by Nina Hospitality, it serves conference delegates, visiting scholars, postgraduate students and University guests, with a 180-degree view over the South China Sea.

---

# 7. The Cheng Yu Tung Building (CYT)

The Cheng Yu Tung Building is an eight-storey building with a total floor area of about 10,000 square metres, officially opened on 23 February 2016 — the year of HKUST's 25th anniversary^※. The building's design is centred on open floor plates and high flexibility^※ to encourage cross-disciplinary research collaboration. It houses the State Key Laboratory of Advanced Displays and Optoelectronics Technologies, the Robotics Institute, and the artificial intelligence laboratory "WHAT LAB" established jointly by HKUST and WeChat^※.

The building is named in tribute to Dato' Dr. Cheng Yu Tung, founder of the New World Group and honorary chairman of Chow Tai Fook Jewellery Group; since the 1980s, the Cheng Yu Tung Foundation has donated more than HK$2.2 billion cumulatively for education, healthcare and charitable projects in Hong Kong and mainland China^※. The expansion of the central chilled-water system was also initiated with this building (see the "Seawater Cooling & Central Chilled-Water System" section in Green Campus, Ecology & Expansion History^※).

---

# 8. The Martin Ka Shing Lee Innovation Building

Located near the South Gate, the Martin Ka Shing Lee Innovation Building is designed as an eight-storey structure with a net usable floor area of about 5,100 square metres (including roughly 3,500 square metres of laboratory space)^※. The building adopts an open-plan layout with shared collaboration spaces and an exhibition workshop; a pedestrian bridge connects it to the Lee Shau Kee Campus and a link bridge to the Cheng Yu Tung Building, improving pedestrian circulation between the north and south campuses.

Groundbreaking was held in November 2022, with construction expected to complete in 2025^※. The building is named in recognition of a HK$150 million donation from Dr. Martin Lee Ka-shing, Chairman of Henderson Land Group^※. Green building features include: passive external shading, low-emissivity insulating glass, district cooling, rooftop photovoltaic panels, smart lighting and low-carbon concrete.

---

# 9. The Fok Ying Tung Sports Center

HKUST's seaside sports complex is named after Henry Fok Ying Tung, with the naming ceremony held on 12 December 2008^※, in honour of the business leader and major University donor. The centre features a full-size artificial-turf football pitch and a 400-metre eight-lane athletics track^※. At the centre's entrance stands a 2-metre, 600-kilogram cast-bronze memorial statue, the work of Chu Tat Shing, depicting Fok in a footballing pose^※ — chosen over the customary suited, portrait-style likeness to evoke Fok's public role as long-time patron and promoter of the Hong Kong Football Association. It is one of the few donor memorial sculptures on campus rendered in "athletic motion" rather than static portraiture.

---

# 10. The Mr & Mrs Ho Ting Sik Visitor Information Center

Located on the south-eastern side of the Entrance Piazza, the Visitor Information Center uses the latest interactive display technology to present HKUST to prospective local and international students, parents, alumni and visitors^※. The centre also houses a Souvenir Shop selling HKUST-branded merchandise.

---

# Supplementary notes & items not found

• The "Fire Bird" sculpture: despite repeated searches, no official documentation has been found of an independent "Fire Bird" sculpture at the Clear Water Bay campus distinct from the Red Bird Sundial. Available sources indicate that "Red Bird / Fire Bird" both refer to the same "Circle of Time" sundial sculpture; the HKUST(GZ) campus in Guangzhou has a separate sculpture named "Firebird" at its entrance plaza, but that is a different campus. The existence of an independent "Fire Bird sculpture" is therefore not confirmed.
• Simon Kwan design details: Simon Kwan & Associates served as campus master planner for HKUST; the firm's design archives have been deposited with the M+ museum, but have not been comprehensively published, so some architectural style details are noted as "documentation incomplete".
• Orientations and dimensions in this article (such as the armillary sphere's diameter and weight) follow the cited sources; the exact positions of campus installations may shift with campus redevelopment, and readers should consult the University's latest information before citing.

---