They have kept the Tin Wan gallery, and recently expanded it over two levels; its industrial feel is more suited to experimental exhibitions, while 10 Sik On Street will house more minimal presentations, but the couple intend to mix things up from time to time: “We will definitely have fun blurring the lines to surprise you,” says Kiang.

The pair enlisted Beau Architects to adapt, renovate and redesign both spaces. The architects initially didn’t feel the space’s relatively low ceilings and small windows were conducive to viewing art; however, by emphasising the gallery’s presence in the street and intrinsic domestic quality, and highlighting its interior verticality—essentially by breaking down floor divisions and combining levels to create higher ceilings—they bought to life its potential for showcasing and experiencing art, and turned it into an excellent example of adaptive reuse—an important contemporary architectural strategy, and one for which Beau is well known.

Few galleries in the city find as much harmony between an aesthetically pleasant, warm and homely environment and a critically acclaimed art programme as Kiang Malingue at 10 Sik On Street. “We were keen on addressing the balance between a gallery and a domestic space,” says Charlotte Lafont-Hugo, Beau Architects’ co-founder and director.

Kiang Malingue’s polished façade, nestled amid a cluster of older buildings, immediately draws the attention; a large square window allows for a sneak peek into the ground floor level gallery. Given the structure’s original function as a home, the architects imagined the gallery and viewing spaces as a series of individual rooms centred around the main staircase; a different format to the typical vast, open, horizontal floorplans found in many galleries. They removed walls between rooms, dictating the path for visitors to navigate the space. The stark, stripped walls add to the creation of a minimalist yet dramatic backdrop which allows the art to shine.

The couple inaugurated the space with an exhibition featuring Taiwanese American artist Brook Hsu’s poignant, intimate paintings, and followed it with Thai artist and filmmaker Apichatpong Weeraesethakul’s solo show. Each artist transformed the space with their work. Hsu marked the walls in her signature shade of green, adding warmth to the area, while her delicate nude paintings contributed a sense of vulnerability. Weerasethakul’s ethereal, slow-paced films and photographs depicting landscapes devoid of human presence and vacant interiors almost eerily correspond with the domestic qualities intrinsic to the gallery. “Our programme focuses on practices that draw viewers because of their visual impact,” says Kiang, “but then asks them to linger a little bit to reflect on what is hidden beyond the surface. [The space] invites viewers to take their time to look at art.”

Visitors spend a lot of time looking up. The fourth floor was removed to create high ceilings on the third floor. Artworks are strategically placed on walls above each staircase, and new ones are teasingly revealed the further you climb up.

Starkly different types of viewing rooms slowly start to emerge the further one ascends. “This ascension slows time down and is only worth it if you accept that you are here to enjoy art and talk about it,” says Malingue.

The rooms are distinctive features of the space, including a clinically lit, windowless white cube space and a contrasting airy lounge space with plenty of natural light, offering varied art viewing experiences. “The only space assuming absolute, uncompromising ‘gallery-ness’ is the white cube,” says Gilles Vanderstocken, the other co-founder and director of BEAU Architects, of the white cube room in 10 Sik On Street. “And it’s a real, not just metaphorical, perfectly geometrical cube ‘hidden’ at the core of the gallery.” Artworks are typically displayed in a white cube setting, especially when they’re in commercial galleries. Here the created “white cube” is simply one of many ways to experience art.

For Kiang and Malingue, having attractive, unique spaces comes second to ensuring their line-up remains strong. “The programme needs to be the magnet, period,” Kiang says emphatically. “We believe a meaningful scope of work needs to be shown to the public in Hong Kong and also the world.”

The pair has have doubled their investment in Hong Kong’s cultural scene during a time when many are questioning the city’s future. In 2020, they closed down their Shanghai space, refocusing their energy here, and show no signs of deviating from their commitment. “Our journey started in 2010, so the last three years of hardships are a short moment in our journey that do not derail our goal to show what is happening artistically in the region and abroad,” says Malingue definitively. “The gallery was born here and there’s no plan to change its DNA.”

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