It took Gilbert Yeung fourteen years to find the right designers to reimagine Dragon-i. When it opened in 2002, the nightclub became an iconic reference point for Hong Kong’s nightlife, a venue that defined a whole era. Now, with a complete redesign by London-based studio Pirajean Lees, working with Hong Kong-based studio JJA for execution, it returns as a bold statement about where the city’s after-dark scene is heading.
Tour Dragon-i 2.0, Hong Kong
The catalyst for its transformation was a visit to The House of KOKO, a private members’ live music club in London that stopped Yeung in his tracks. ‘It was such a complex, incredible concept,’ he says. ‘It is not just the design: it has a real spirit and vision.’ He went looking for the creative minds behind it, and found Pirajean Lees.
The studio founders, Clémence Pirajean and James Lees, begin every project with a period of intensive research and narrative building in order to prepare a script of feelings and intentions long before any images are developed. ‘We didn’t show Gilbert a mood board,’ says Pirajean. ‘We told him the story about the character of the space, the feeling and the emotion of it.’ For Dragon-i, that narrative drew on the cinematic world of Wong Kar-Wai, sidestepping nostalgia and focusing on its powerful atmosphere, tension, and emotional nuances.
The studio had not previously worked in Hong Kong, but says that distance was an advantage. ‘It is quite positive, because you are looking at a place with fresh eyes,’ says Lees. ‘Spend time with Gilbert, who gave us a completely different viewpoint. It was a sense of pure discovery.’ By collaborating with JJA, they gained access to regional craftspeople whose skill shows in all the details throughout the finished space.
The result is a complete reworking of the original, moving away from the established codes of nightlife to where acoustics and aesthetics carry equal weight, and a setting in which a high-spec sound and lighting system enhances a carefully considered material palette.
The stained glass ceiling, handcrafted by a 3rd generation atelier in Manila, features detailing in collage form. Each colour is precisely textured, and the sequencing carefully calculated. ‘From the very beginning, we talked about cinematography,’ says Lees, ‘how you create those snippets of memory that someone carries with them the next day. So, when you first walk into the club, you squeeze through a corridor - one tone, one colour - and that sets your mood to what is then revealed when you walk through the curtain. Everything is choreographed in a frame format.’
The redesign transforms Dragon-i into two interconnected but distinct experiences. The first, anchored by a bar, a central DJ console, mirrored ceiling installations, and silver leather banquettes, is a lounge on weeknights and a full-energy club at weekends. The materials are layered and tactile: coloured glass bricks, timber flooring, pendant lighting, and bespoke textiles, and the mobile mirrored screens mean the whole space can be reconfigured for live sets. Adjacent is the new members club, built around Yeung’s own vinyl collection and named 115, his preferred tempo - the disco groove between house music and hip hop. Turquoise velvet lines the walls, offset by stained glass and warm wooden panels.
An acoustic box within a box houses the games room and karaoke space, designed around how groups actually use them: sitting around a table, moving between games, and with someone singing alongside rather than in another room. Plans for live jazz, intimate performances, and informal talks will introduce another cultural dimension.
Dragon-i is located at LKF Tower, 33 Wyndham Street, Central, Hong Kong