My Visit to Hong Kong: Part 3
Busy with their daily life on chaotic streets, the residents of Hong Kong do not seem to care very much about the buildings above their heads. To a visitor, however, they are absolutely awe inspiring, if not mind boggling. According to Wikipedia, Hong Kong is the most vertical city in the world with 7,650 skyscrapers. In some areas, this level of density is enough to cause real overcrowding at street level, especially in key shopping districts.
Built Form :: Architecture is the first thing people notice in a city, even if they don’t realize it.
- A large part of Hong Kong is made up of rather nondescript, 10-20 storey tall tenement blocks that are often dirty and discoloured.
- Besides that, there are many examples of excellent planning in the city. Every space is used to the fullest, and places that would be ignored in North America are often turned into gardens or sculptural features.
- There is almost no historically significant buildings left, having been taken over by new development. Luckily, most new development of high quality; though to have real character, it is beneficial for a city to have some historic elements.
- The bottom line is, Hong Kong is the capital of glittering towers of glass and steel!
Since a picture is worth a thousand words when it comes to architecture, we will take a look at the different styles of building in Hong Kong through a gallery. If you would like to know where a picture was taken from, feel free to ask in the comments. Enjoy!
Modern :: Much attention is paid to the lower levels of important buildings to create lively public spaces.
Glass :: The material of choice for the newest generation of office towers is glass (residential buildings often have ceramic tile cladding).
Historic :: Although these are far and few between, the historic buildings that survive are beautifully preserved.
Beach :: “Expat” areas near beaches are lined with opulent and spectacular condominium towers and low-rise beach houses.
Tenement :: People are crammed into tiny apartments in these apartment blocks, which cover many areas of Hong Kong.
I really love your piece on Hong Kong architecture. It is very true that locals (like me) don’t really look around and appreciate the beauty of new buildings. But we are starting to understand the value of ancient buildings, although it is always a question of profit versus tradition. New buildings can be made more ‘efficient’ by developing them to residential buildings with boutiques or stores at the bottom. Or, for use in corporate settings.