Abstract
1997 was a watershed year for Hong Kong. The anxiety and expectations surrounding the sovereignty handover drained away with the heavy rain on the evening of June 30. Following the “one country two systems” and “no-change for fifty years” policies, economic and building activities were carried out as usual.
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Notes
- 1.
After several rounds of start and stop, Shui Chuen O Estate was completed in 2015 and accommodates 3,039 households.
- 2.
For more information about the West Kowloon Cultural District, see (Xue 2010); and the webpage of the Authority of West Kowloon Cultural District, http://www.westkowloon.hk/tc/home.
- 3.
Chan Yuen-han, Xijiu xin de guo? (How can you trust the West Kowloon?) AM730, July 3, 2013. The escalation of construction fee is partly attributed to the shortage of construction workers. Young people are not willing to join the building industry, and the importation of labor is banned by worker’s union and some politicians. In 2015, a rebar bending worker’s wage is around HK$2,200 (US$ 270) a day. The high salary heavily burdens the development and city construction. See the report from Financial Time, (M.ftchinese.com 2015).
- 4.
The design of Chu Hai College was given to OMA in 2011. But it was found that the site was too small for the design. After the foundation was basically made, Rocco Design re-designed the project and fitted into the site.
- 5.
The information about the design of the CityU Creative Media Building is partly from “The Building in Brief,” provided by Kevin Au, Project Manager of the CityU Campus Planning Office on 10 July 2008.
- 6.
From a speech made by Daniel Libeskind at City University of Hong Kong, 13 October 2006.
- 7.
Studies of CityU, PolyU and HKDI buildings were conducted between 2012 and 2013. See Yang et al. (2015). The students’ responses and comments in relation to the three campus buildings were taken from this investigation.
- 8.
For more information about the intention of PolyU to build the Inno Center, see (The Legislative Council 2009).
- 9.
“Two envelop” system is used by the Hong Kong government to determine the tender in procurement. One envelop is technical, another is budgetary. The highest scored tenderer gets the job. For more about the process of selecting the scheme for the Inno Center, see (Ng 2008).
- 10.
The PolyU Inno Center study was conducted in autumn 2013. Of the 70 students who participated, 21 were from members of the Urban and Interior Design program and 49 were from other design programs.
- 11.
This information about HKDI was taken in part from Elevating Design/Hong Kong Design Institute International Architectural Design Competition, Hong Kong Design Institute, 2007. Professor Leslie Lu later became Director of the HKDI.
- 12.
The comments of the jury were taken from Hong Kong Design Institute (2008).
- 13.
Some of the comments related to the HKDI design were taken from Hong Kong Design Institute (2008).
- 14.
The author and his team investigated the three school buildings in 2012–2013. Major differences between the survey feedback received from the HKDI and CMC could also be identified. Most of the HKDI students would appreciate the space more if they were informed that the designer was a famous global architect. This indicates that design pedagogy might have enforced compulsory aesthetic norms on the interviewees. As a result, the students valued the design itself and believed that the convenience of the layout and circulation deserved to be compromised in favor of the free architectural expression. When asked such questions as “Do you like the color and the texture of the building?” “Do you find the appearance of the building creative?” “Do you think the building could inspire you?” and “How do you feel about the layout and the circulation of the building?” most students answered with the “moderate” option. Less than 30 % of the students highly commended the inspiration and improvement of work efficiency offered by the building. However, the students could not appraise the conflicts between the idiosyncratic spatial identity and its urban context. Publication of this investigation is listed in Yang et al. (2015).
- 15.
Some feedbacks were collected by the author and his team during the period of 2009–2014.
- 16.
The collection of Hong Kong architects’ responses to the foreign-designed buildings has been conducted in several ways since 2011. We conducted formal interviews with three generations of architects who were in their 30s, 40–50s and 70–80. All six of the architects were working actively in their age groups. Local architects and professionals were invited to attend seminars and students’ work exhibitions in both of the buildings. Their opinions of the buildings were recorded.
- 17.
According to the Basic Law of Special Administrative Region of Hong Kong, the Hong Kong government can lease out land at most 50 ha a year. 300 ha is six times than one year’s quota. See Basic Law of Hong Kong, 1990.
- 18.
“White elephant” and “ghost” cities have been widely covered by the media in China and overseas. In the government direction, some towns saw many housing estates emerge, but few people moved in. See Finance.southcn.com (2012).
- 19.
- 20.
According to the statistics of government, there were 320,988 foreign domestic helpers in 2013, 46 % were from Indonesia and 51 % from The Philippines. They form around 3 % of Hong Kong population (Hong Kong Government 2014).
- 21.
The citizen disobedient movement in 2014 was triggered by the Chief Executive election method in 2017. The Chinese central government promised to allow “one person one vote”, but the democratic alliance and students unions asked for more rights. See South China Morning Post, 30 September to 1 December 2014. Eg. (South China Morning Post 2014).
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Xue, C.Q.L. (2016). Pursuing Excellence—Toward a Civic Architecture. In: Hong Kong Architecture 1945-2015. Springer, Singapore. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-10-1004-0_10
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