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“Being Chinese in Architecture”—The Growth of Local Architects

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Hong Kong Architecture 1945-2015

Abstract

Chapter 3 of this book discusses the situation in the 1950s and 60s and the rise of local designers. During that period, many professionals who had escaped from China were cultivating in the colony. By the 1970s, HKU graduates had matured with years of practice. Students from overseas returned to Hong Kong and plunged into the increasingly booming construction industry. In 1990, there were around 1,000 registered architects; in 1997, this number jumped to 1,700. The economy was resurging, providing ample opportunities both in the public and private sectors for these new practitioners. In the decades before the handover, the old British development companies tended to be conservative while the main building developers were emerging local Chinese capitalists who demanded exclusive, high-quality buildings. As a result of the highly commercial market and dense urban development, many new buildings were in-fills in the street blocks and projects tended to be big and pragmatic. In many projects, design was only one part of the long chain from development to construction to operation; hence, the designers remained anonymous behind these grand mansions.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    The number of architects is from Wong and Cheng (1990) and Ho (2000).

  2. 2.

    “Lingnan” literally means “south of the mountain”. It generally ranges in the Pearl River Delta. Several mountains in its north side block the cold air from the north. Its climate is very different from the north neighboring province Hunan.

  3. 3.

    Kadoorie, a Jewish family, arrived in China in 1880 and made a fortune in Shanghai, following the Jewish capitalist Victor Sassoon. After the Pacific War, the family withdrew to Hong Kong and ran electric companies, hotels and real estate. It is one of the richest families in Hong Kong. See “Kadoorie—legendary family”, http://info.ceo.hc360.com/2006/03/13101222267-2.shtml. Accessed 17 May 2015.

  4. 4.

    The competition to design the Kowloon Tong campus for City Polytechnic started in January 1983 and was reviewed on June 6–10. Six teams were shortlisted from more than 40 companies, including Alan Fitch and W.N. Chung in association with the Percy Thomas Partnership; Hsin Yieh Architects in association with the Colin St John Wilson Partnership; Ng Chun Men and Associates in association with Shepheard Epstein and Hunter; Kwan Ng Wong and Associates; Russell and Poon Group Partnership in association with Denys Lasdun, Redhouse and Softley of London; and YRM International (HK). The jury was chaired by D.W. McDonald, director of Land and Public Work; Director Sir Flowers from Imperial College London; Prof. D.J. Jones, Director of City Polytechnic; Prof. Eric Lye of HKU; Peter Y.S. Pun, Chair of Government Projects and Housing; and J. Lei, acting Director of the Buildings Department. The jury recommended Fitch-Chung and Percy Thomas for the work and the Planning Committee of City Polytechnic approved the decision. Vision, No. 9, 1983.

  5. 5.

    Since 1999, Chinese government has rapidly expanded higher education and built more than 300 new campuses, funded by provincial and municipal government. From 2003, there are 5–7 million university graduates every year. The expansion of higher education has high demand on campus planning and academic building design. See Yuan Wei, Zhonghuo gaodeng jiaoyu dazonghua de xianzhuang, wenti he zhanwang (China’s higher education: status, problems and prospect), Sino-Europe Social Forum, http://www.china-europa-forum.net/bdfdoc-996_zh.html. Accessed 21 May 2015.

  6. 6.

    Louis Kahn’s design method of “service and served” space was obviously adopted in the Hong Kong PolyU (completed 1980) and CityU’s campus (completed 1990) building design. For the concept, see Goldhagen (2001).

  7. 7.

    The description of Chung Wah-nan in this chapter is based on the author’s communication with Mr. Chung since 1989 and Lo (2011). For more details on the preservation of the Tsim Sha Tsui clock tower, see Chung Wah-nan, Preservation of the clock tower—Kowloon Canton Railway Terminal, Hong Kong Institute of Architects Journal, No. 1, 2013. Apart from Ting de jicheng, representative books written by Chung include The art of Chinese garden, 1982; Chao yu chao, jianzhu sheji chengshi guihua sanlun (Copy or surpass: on architectural design and urban planning), 1991; Contemporary architecture in Hong Kong, Hong Kong: Joint Publishing Ltd., 1989; Quan qiu hua, ke chixu fazhan, kuawenhua sheji (Globalization, sustainability and cross-culture design), Beijing: China Architecture and Building Press, 2007; Chengshihua weiji (Crisis of urbanization), Hong Kong: Commercial Press, 2008. See the references of this chapter.

  8. 8.

    Chung Wah-nan, Regional Culture and Modernity. Keynote speech at the Architectural Symposium of Hong Kong, Taipei, Macau and Shenzhen. Hong Kong, 16 March 2013.

  9. 9.

    To visualize how much was five million dollars in 1972, a university graduate could earn 700–1000 Hong Kong dollars a month at the time. See Zhang (2005). A new unit of two bedrooms, 585 ft.2, in Taikoo Shing asked for HK$124,500 in 1976, according to the Archive of Swire Group.

  10. 10.

    In 1972, the design competition of Pompidou Center in Paris received 681 entries from all over the world. Tao Ho’s design was published in Asian Architect and Builder, Hong Kong, March 1972.

  11. 11.

    William Lim particularly calls his and Asian peers’ practice as “non-western” modernity, see Lim and Chang (Ed.), 2012. For the relationship of Tao Ho with his Asian peers, see Xue and Xiao (2014).

  12. 12.

    The term “Renaissance man” repeatedly appears in Tao Ho’s speeches, see Ho (2000).

  13. 13.

    The description of Tao Ho’s career in this chapter is based on the author’s communication with Dr. Ho during 1985–2001, Ho (2000), Kwok (2010), Lim et al. (1980) and Khan (1995).

  14. 14.

    The design competition committee of the HKUST campus first announced that the first prize went to a rectangular plan designed by Eric Lye, Patrick Lau and other HKU faculty members. But for some reasons, Simon Kwan’s plan was recommended for implementation. See Hong Kong Institute of Architects, 2007, the part of Patrick Lau; and also from the interview with Professor Patrick Lau, 9 May 2013.

  15. 15.

    The description of the HKUST campus is taken from the author’s own investigation, ongoing since 1995; an interview with Simon Kwan, December 5, 2011; and Charlie Q.L. Xue, Modernism is coming to Hong Kong—A Tale of Four Architects, The Architect, No. 156, April 2012, pp. 69–75.

  16. 16.

    The description of Simon Kwan in this chapter is partly based on an interview conducted on 5 December 2011 and Rhythm of Space, Selected Works by Simon Kwan & Associates Ltd., Jiangxi Fine Arts Publishing House, 2001.

  17. 17.

    The information about Patrick Lau is based on the author’s communication with Lau since 1999; Hong Kong Institute of Architects, 2007; Patrick Lau, Future Architecture, Hong Kong Institute of Architects Journal, No. 2, 2013. pp. 88–89; and an interview conducted on 9 May 2013.

  18. 18.

    K.S. Wong became a leading figure in the green architecture movement in the twenty-first century. He was appointed Director of the Environmental Protection Department of the Hong Kong government in 2012.

  19. 19.

    The description of the design of Verbena Heights is based on materials from the Hong Kong Institutes of Architects, http://www.hkia.net/en/Events/action.do?method=detail&mappingName=AnnualAwards&id=4028813c24c36d2d0124c3ba5304001b; and Wikipedia http://zh.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E8%8C%B5%E6%80%A1%E8%8A%B1%E5%9C%92. Accessed 8 March 2015.

  20. 20.

    The description of Anthony Ng is partly based on Kvan et al. (2000).

  21. 21.

    Rocco Yim’s words on Hong Kong and overseas; see Rocco Yim, Architalk, Vision, No. 7, 1983.

  22. 22.

    The description of Rocco Yim in this chapter is based on the author’s communication with Yim since 1989, Rocco Design (2004, 2012), DeHoff (2013), and an exhibition of Yim’s work at the HKICC Lee Shau Kei School of Creativity, June 2009.

  23. 23.

    For more comments on Rocco Yim by Fumihiko Maki and Frampton, see Fumihiko Maki, “Globalization and floating modernism,” and Kenneth Frampton, “Beneath the radar: Rocco Yim and the new Chinese architecture,” in DeHoff (2013), pp. 8–13. For the “Culture of congestion,” see Koolhaas (1994).

  24. 24.

    The situation of IDA and Parkview Green project is from an interview of Winston T. Shu on 4 March 2016, and from special issue of Parkview Green, Beijing, Architectural Creation, No. 1, 2015.

  25. 25.

    Professor Bernard Lim’s study on public engagement and community buildings is reflected in the following books, Lim et al. (2005), Department of Architecture, The Chinese University of Hong Kong (2003).

  26. 26.

    For the importation of foreign designed architecture into the Chinese mainland, see two books of Charlie Q.L. Xue, Global Impact: overseas architectural design in China, 2006b; World Architecture in China, 2010.

  27. 27.

    For the experimental architects in China, see Charlie Q.L. Xue, Building a Revolution: Chinese architecture since 1980, 2006a, particularly its Chap. 8; and Zhu (2009).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Architecture and Civil Engineering, City University of Hong Kong, Kowloon Tong, Hong Kong

    Charlie Q. L. Xue

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  1. Charlie Q. L. Xue
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Correspondence to Charlie Q. L. Xue .

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Xue, C.Q.L. (2016). “Being Chinese in Architecture”—The Growth of Local Architects. In: Hong Kong Architecture 1945-2015. Springer, Singapore. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-10-1004-0_8

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-10-1004-0_8

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