Coffered ceiling above the lower level arches
Pedestrians have access to the buildings by a similar route. They can also enter the building at the podium entrance level by way of Cotton Tree Drive.
The building has 20 typical office floors and seven other floors. Gross area of a typical floor is 14,723 sq. ft., of which 3,603 sq. ft. are taken up by a central core containing lifts, stair- cases and service ducts, and 1,470 sq. ft. are taken up by corridors.
Internal planning has been based on the need for a large proportion of open office areas for use as drawing offices and for clerical work, etc. with supporting individual office units. On some floors access is directly from lift lobbies into the working areas, with no corridors around the central core.
The depth of usable space was planned to take in the most common standard office unit of 125 sq. ft. and to accommodate in the adjoining space a draughtsman with his drawing table and plan chest.
The use of a ventilated ceiling for air-conditioning purposes allows a flexible arrangement for both the open areas and the individually partitioned office units. To assist with this flexib- ility fluorescent lighting is recessed flush with the ventilated ceiling.
Structure
The structural concept of the tow- er block, built on foundations of the caisson type resting on rock at an average depth of 40 ft., was mainly dictated by typhoon wind pressures and its unusual height. The structure consists of in-situ reinforced concrete
twin central cores which provide later al stiffness and stability, and external walls of reinforced concrete fins set at regular intervals and angled at 45 de- grees.
The external wall design was de- veloped by the structural necessity for substantial support at the periphery, there being no internal columns. At the same time it provides protection against the east-west sun which could materially affect the air-contioning load and consequently the main- tenance cost.
As well as the angled window set- ting, a second architectural feature of the block is its high arches below the typical floors. These were introduced to allow the circulation of vehicular traffic within the structural framework and, in so doing, express the change of use of the building. Set back behind the arches, and within the traffic cir- culation, are two floors of infill of fices. The semi-basement contains air- conditioning plant rooms and stores, in addition to parking spaces.
In order to provide an economic and maintenance-free external finish, white glass mosaic tiles have been used for the whole of the facades, with the exception of the lower levels behind the arches.
Walls, ramps and pedestrian ways behind the arches are in fair-faced, ribbed concrete, bush hammered. This finish is also used on the boundary re- taining walls, podium balustrade walls, access road and bridge link.
To help accentuate the moulded facades the sprandrils below the win- dow units are finished with black glass
rendering.
The approximate cost of construct- ing the Murray Building was HK$ 20,500,000, of which some HK$ 2,000,000 was for foundations and sub-structure.
Contractors and suppliers
The main contractors were Yick Lee & Co. Ltd. (superstructure) and Hsin Chong & Co. Ltd. (substructure). Sub-contractors and suppliers includ-
ed:
Site-formation Chung Lee Con- struction Co.
Metal windows, doors and curtain walling - Dodwell & Co. Ltd.
Aluminium doors Honest Trad- ing Co.
Adjustable metal louvre frames - Hong Kong Metal Window Mfr.
Armour plate doors liance Corp. Ltd.
United Re-
Asphalt roofing - British Orient Weddel Co.
Marble wall lining and flooring -- Hong Kong Marble Works.
Fire shutters Golden Coin Fire Protection & Installation Engineers.
Roller shutters and grilles Choi Hung Factory.
Suspended ventilated ceiling American Engineering Corp.
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Electrical installation – The British GEC Ltd.
Vinyl asbestos floor tiling - Dreyer & Co. Ltd.
Lift installation Hitachi Elevator Engineering Co. (HK) Ltd.
Air-conditioning International Engineering Ltd.
16
Far East BUILDER, August 1970