351 metres: maximum span 16 metres: overall width 8 metres: width of roadway 7 metres: maximum clearance 5 metres; mean gradient 3.5 per cent.
The cost of construction including modification of the site is estimated at approximately 6,000,000 Baht (US$300,000).
ARCHITECTS' PROGRAMME
THE Hong Kong Society of Architects has now published its programme of events for 1966. Meetings will be held in the Hong Kong Hilton hotel at 5.30 p.m. The pro- gramme is as follows:
March 22. Seminar and Film. Prestressed concrete in relation to the architect.
April 20. Seminar. Effect of Government Regula- tions on architectural form.
May 19. Seminar. School design in relation to Hong Kong requirements.
June 24. Quarterly general meeting. Seminar. Fac- tory design in relation to Hong Kong requirements,
July 18. Seminar. Effect of Government planning
on the architect.
September 20. Quarterly general meeting. October 19. Seminar. Architectural design. November 18. Quarterly general meeting.
December 8. Annual dinner, to be attended by H.E. The Governor, Sir David Trench.
SEOUL LOW-COST HOUSES
WORK will start next month on a low-cost housing pro- gramme by the Seoul City Government providing for the construction of 11 four-storey blocks of flats and 850 houses.
The Government has set aside 130 million won in its 1966 budget for the project and is levelling building lots in Ungam Dong. western Seoul and in Taebang Dong, southern Seoul.
Due to be completed by the end of this year, the flats will accommodate 704 families. Each block will
house 64 families and each family will have two living rooms and one kitchen. Six blocks will be sited at Ungam Dong and five at Taebang Dong. Of the 850 houses, 750 are for the victims of recent floods and fires.
BANK STEELWORK CONTRACT
THE structural steelwork contract for the 23-storey Bank of Canton building at Des Voeux Road Central, Hong Kong, has been awarded to Gammon (HK) Ltd. The contract is worth about HK$1 million.
Gammon have now completed a HK$21⁄2 million contract for the foundations and substructure. They will start work on the steelwork in April and will finish by November. About 1,800 tons of steel, in sections weighing up to 14 tons each, is being shipped to Hong Kong from Dorman Long (Bridge and Engineering) Ltd., Middles- brough, UK.
The building is expected to be finished by December next year. It will be a podium and rectangular tower structure, clad entirely in granite slabs. Szeto Wai is the architect. The mechanical consultants are J. Roger Preston and Partners, and the quantity surveyors are Bridgewater and Coulton.
FIRST PRESTRESSED FRAME BUILDINGS
MANILA's first prestressed concrete multi-storey build- ings are now under construction a 12-storey office block at A. Mabini and an eight-storey apartment building at San Carlos Street, Ermita.
Use of prestressed concrete piles and prestressed joists will, it is claimed, shorten construction time by about six months. Architects for both buildings are A.J. Luz Associates.
The entire facade of the office building features marble facing and an aluminium and glass curtain wall with heat absorbing properties to lessen air conditioning
Far East Architect & Builder March, 1966
Mabini building
San Carlos apartments
costs. Dark grey tinted glass will contrast with white Mindoro marble and anodised aluminium.
The prestressed joists permit wide spans so that the office floors will be virtually columnless. Air conditioning will be by individual floor systems and two high speed lifts will be installed in the building.
completion before the end of this year.
Both the office and the apartment block are due for
BUILDING PLANS APPROVED
FIFTY-FIVE plans for new buildings of all types in Hong Kong, Kowloon and the New Territories were approved by the Building Authority in January as compared with 49 in the previous month and 128 in the corresponding month last year.
During the same month, 112 completed buildings were certified for occupation. Of these, 19 were buildings for domestic purposes. 35 for non-domestic purposes and 58 for combined domestic and non-domestic use. In addition, the Building Authority approved the demolition of 33 buildings.
Cost of new building work in the Colony during the month of January was $52,327,965. Another $2,763,792 was spent on site formation work. New buildings of all types erected totalled 66, including six factories and godowns, two offices and shops, 51 houses and flats and seven others.
NATIONAL PLANNING AUTHORITY PROPOSED
THE creation of a National Planning Authority with full powers and a responsibility to organise a co-ordinated national programme of planning was urged by Mr. Conrado B. Islip. Director of Planning of the Philippine National Planning Commission, in a speech in Manila last month.
He said that the unrestricted tolerance of unrelated uses of urban lands caused untold loss of life from fires and other causes. Unplanned or poorly planned street systems and the wrong siting of many public buildings showed a complete lack of direction and a waste of public funds.
The director has submitted to Congress a six-point plan. It calls for:
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