Herzog & de Meuron Face Opposition in Hong Kong
February 20, 2008
Can Hong Kong government accept anything other than sykscrapers containing profit-generating programs? How can a cultural facility become a profit-generative and also societal/cultural RE-generative? I agree that Herzog’s plan have lots of technical issuses need to be solved, but their intention of preserving and reinventing the bamboo scaffolding system into a transparent spurring inhabitable space can definitely raise public discussion and interests.
Article courtesy Architectural Record
Correction appended February 14, 2008
Hong Kong is a jungle of high-rise buildings, so it may come as a surprise that architects and preservationists there are objecting to plans for a tall tower designed by Herzog & de Meuron. The Swiss firm was hired by a local nonprofit to transform the city’s old Central Police Station compound into an arts and culture complex—but after a backlash against the scheme the Hong Kong chapter of the American Institute of Architects (AIA) stepped in and is holding a charrette next week to identify other viable designs.
In the architects’ re-imagining of this formerly forbidding site, the signature piece of new construction will be a tapering, skeletal tower that supports program elements including an auditorium, a recital hall, two theaters, and an observation deck. To provide a suitable vantage point, the tower must rise above its nearest neighbor, a 38-story office building.
Despite the tower’s height, its massing will be almost nothing thanks to a latticework structure. “We want to keep its transparency, to make these cultural places be visible from the outside so everybody can see this is the place for us to go,” Herzog said during a press event last October. He added that this see-through high-rise will create a dynamic contrast to its context of barbed wire and stone walls, which will be retained as part of the compound’s landscape scheme.
But with conceptual plans calling for the tower to rise between 426 feet and 525 feet tall, talk about its transparency does little to persuade critics. They contend that an addition of such height is inappropriate. “The tower is going to ruin [the historical site],” says Margaret Brooke, chairwoman of Heritage Hong Kong, a group that formed to preserve the compound before the Jockey Club made its own offer to the government. “We object to the effort of trying to turn it into something it never was. This is not a place for overseas architects to make their mark.”
This rationale couldn’t be further from the architects’ intentions, according to de Meuron. “We are not doing this just for us. This would be ridiculous to do it just for us,” he said last fall. “What can be worse than when a building is not accepted.”
The Jockey Club has until early April to gather public comments on the design and present them to the government before it gives the final go-ahead. The non-profit is planning to spend $230 million on the project. But club officials already say they will abandon it altogether if the new tower is nixed. Meanwhile, the local AIA chapter is holding a charrette on February 16 to solicit ideas that might be more palatable and appropriate to the historical context.
The police compound boasts a storied past. Its courthouse and police barracks, which date to the 1860s and early 1900s, are well preserved and feature many Greek Revival and Classical Revival architectural details. The cell blocks stand witness to the jailing of political activists, including Sun Yat-sen, the father of modern China, as well as bloody executions.
Local architects and preservationists contend that the compound’s revitalization requires minimal intervention. They point to the recent transformation of another colonial-era barracks into a history museum. In January, the United Nations Educational Cultural and Scientific Organization presented the Hong Kong government, which spearheaded that project, with an award for outstanding integration of contemporary architecture into a historical context.
Correction:
In addition to examining the Central Police Station site, the AIA Hong Kong’s charrette on February 16 is also inviting architects to consider the old Police Married Quarters. The chapter has no intention of opposing or supporting any proposal that is made for the development of either of the two sites, but rather aims to raise awareness of the issues of heritage conservation.
Social Responsibility
December 13, 2007
Buildings are no longer a bilateral matter between owners and Government
Following is an excerpt from the speech by C. Y. Leung, Convenor of the Executive Council of the Hong Kong Government to the Hong Kong Chapter of the American Institute of Architects on 4 December 2007. For the full text visit http://www.mailreach.com/geturl.asp?url=31/2329/2134560/dGhrWYx8/I0FRO73CLTF3BY4S
“Government decisions cannot be justified solely on economic grounds. The intangibles are becoming more important in the public policy equation. The new dynamics mean that the public is a key stakeholder, not only in the use and design of public space such as the harbour, or the countryside, but also in the use and design of private space that have an impact on public space, in matters such as the walled effects of tall buildings and traffic impact. They have an interest not just in the present, but also in the preservation of the valuable parts of our past for the benefit not only of this generation but the also next generations to come.
Building projects are no longer bilateral matters between owners and Government, but are multi-lateral, with many interest groups of the public exercising their rights and claiming their stakes. The design, erection, alteration and demolition of buildings are no longer determined entirely by commercial profits. Social responsibilities are expected of their owners, designers, managers and occupants.
These are the constraints that we all face. They may appear daunting. But considering the many challenges we have overcome as a community, I believe we will find solutions. All we need is the creativity and imagination for which Hong Kong people are well known.
We have the most impressive settings for a modern city – tall and green mountains on both sides of an open space filled with water. The city areas are set on both sides of the harbour. From both sides, the architecture of buildings and the cityscape can be appreciated, much in the same way as the Suzhou double-sided embroidery is regarded.
We should make the best of our harbour and of the last round of reclamation in Central and Wanchai. We could give our new shoreline the best design and give Hong Kong the best features of a world-class waterfront city. The design of the new waterfront should not be engineering led. Urban designers and architects should set the form and function. Engineers can follow through with engineering solutions. We should let our imagination run free and let others tell us the downsides. We should run debates on the design options, broadcast them live and enjoy them.
Is it too wild an idea to ask for a swimming club or two to be located along the new shoreline in Central, at the same time as we tackle the quality of the water? We had 鐘聲，金銀and麗池 in Western District and North Point 40 years ago. What about shore fishing in Central and Wanchai? Tennis and squash are good sports after work, why can’t we add fishing and swimming, downstairs, in front of IFC II and Sun Hung Kai Centre etc? Our climate and geography are kind to many kinds of flora and fauna. My bird-watching friends tell me that 470 species of birds have been recorded in Hong Kong, about one-third the number found in China and one-twentieth in the world. My favourite is the red-whiskered bulbul. Quite a few are found on the Peak. Recently they are sighted around Southorn Playground in Wanchai. Some of the hundreds of kites which nest in Wong Nei Chung Gap come to the Central Business District to do fly-pasts outside offices, gliding in the air streams between high-rises.
For the size of Hong Kong, we have a huge number of butterflies, dragonflies and other beautiful insects. If the roof-top garden idea gets a reasonable following, before long we shall also enjoy the sights of colourful butterflies outside our high-rise offices. If we are bold enough, we could plant fruit trees on the pavements in public places, much like the citrus in Santorini and the mangoes in Shenzhen. The sights of fruits growing on trees are spiritually uplifting. People will be able to appreciate that gifts from nature are not meant just for the stomach.
The shores of Hong Kong and Kowloon, both new and old, should be properly dressed, in green, and not in bare, hard, straight-line concrete. The Drainage Department should not be overly concerned about fallen leaves. And no one should insist on finger-palms.
From here to the future, creativity and imagination remain the key. But here in this city, from the drawing board to reality, we have the best professionals. We have the most promising opportunity of blending high-density urban form with nature, and of blending work with play.”
THE ANATOMY OF A CONTEMPORARY CHINESE REAL ESTATE DEVELOPER – SOHO CHINA
ARTICLE WILL BE PUBLISHED SOON.
Hedging Real Estate (Michael Covel)
October 9, 2007
hedging against the risk of housing price drop, can this duality in real estate become a profitable and sustainable way of investment?
DYNAMIC ARCHITECTURE BY DAVID FISHER (ITA)
September 27, 2007
While similar ideas and methods have already been explored and developed in Robotic Ecologies, maybe it is time to consider the feasibility and practicality of dynamic architecture. Other than being a gimmick or a successful marketing tool, will this genre of architecture possibly become the next generation of sustainable architecture?
Can responsiveness in physical/environmental realm become a value-added factor in real estate development/investment?
UN says ‘architects can save the world’
“Buildings can play a key role in combating climate change,” says the U.N. So wow, architects are cooler then Al Gore.
from the press release:
Achim Steiner, UN Under-Secretary General and UNEP Executive Director, said: ” Energy efficiency, along with cleaner and renewable forms of energy generation, is one of the pillars upon which a de-carbonized world will stand or fall. The savings that can be made right now are potentially huge and the costs to implement them relatively low if sufficient numbers of governments, industries, businesses and consumers act”.
as first seen here on CNet
http://www.skyscraper.org/timeformations/intro.html
some timeformation of where I will be relocating myself
