Most of these buildings are too easily condemned at face or facade value. i.e., as poor examples of misplaced classicism, warmed-over Palladianism. etc. With a high density development imminent in the dockyard area, how- ever, buildings such as the Law Courts or the Hong Kong Club. situated in and adjacent to existing open areas. will tend to dilute a potentially mammoth development. and provide a more gentle scale for what will become more pronouncedly the heart of the city.
In such a case it seems essential that these low buildings be preserved: an interesting open space ringed with high buildings provides a more clear and traditional focus for a city than would for example a lone tall building. The interest of exterior spaces, enclosed squares or precincts, seems largely absent from Hong Kong, and would provide an interest- ing contrast to the open views and long vistas found in the Colony.
Style to copy
It is often heard that buildings such as the Law Courts or the Offic- er's Mess at the foot of Garden Road represent a "colonial" style of build- ing, brought here in the nineteenth century. This is perhaps more com- mon in the foreigner, however. In North America for example. houses and other buildings from British, Dutch. French. Spanish, and Russian colonial periods are universally trea- sured. lavishly preserved. and fre quently copied.
What is as well appealing is that often these buildings represent a clear statement of tropical architecture, with wide verandahs, high ceilings, dark cool recesses, and of course large wood-bladed fans. Every Ameri can schoolboy has had his dose of Joseph Conrad; it is a great disap- pointment to arrive in the steamy tropics to find that the high back wicker chair and the boa constrictor on the verandah are giving way to the curtain wall.
Standing again in the Central Dis trict, it is easy to sympathize with the motorist; it would seem that be- fore long the traffic problem will demand something drastic. A com- prehensive scheme has been proposed for Central District redevelopment
with an emphasis on separation of pedestrian and motorist, to be imple- mented by raised pedestrian plat- forms with levels of parking below. The project is ambitious in scope, and will affect a more acceptable scale in larger new buildings through closer integration with pedestrian
areas.
In the meantime it would seem that much could be done by limiting vehicular traffic to a circling pattern, perhaps clockwise Queen's Road, Des Voeux Road, Pedder Street. Con- naught Road. Murray Road; and by expanding pedestrian activity within. The scale of new buildings could thus be tempered by the presence of existing old buildings and landscaped pedestrian walks. For example, transforming the narrow access streets (such as lower Ice House
seems virtuailly the heart of the city and of the Colony.
Tokyo is faced with a similar but far more acute traffic problem, and has evolved an interesting solution in the heart of its main shopping area. A two storey building (or series of buildings) has been constructed with an auto freeway on the top level, offices on the second level and shop- ping arcades at ground level. The offices and shopping arcades end and resume at cross streets; the auto free- way bridges above the streets while pedestrian continuity is preserved by subway ramp or by traffic light. Á high solid parapet screens the free- way and contains noise. fumes dis- sipate easily, and the heavy slab required for the roadway prevents sound transmission to the offices below.
OFFICE
M = A
PALM
LLS
Street) from chattering taxi ranks to landscaped pedestrian ways, ending in a view of the harbour or of the Peak would benefit pedestrians at no inconvenience to motorists or to ser- vicing of buildings. Such transfor- mation could be effected immediate. ly and quite economically, and could be phased in with more ambitious proposals. Pedestrian platforms will be expensive and from pavement level on streets behind will replace the harbour view with gloomy layers of parking.
The crowded sidewalks of Hong- Kong are difficult and irritating. It is said that crowds act like a gas, and lower Ice House Street even as an entirely pedestrian throughfare would probably still seem mobbed, but the pedestrian would at least have less fear of being flattened by a bus while trying to dodge hawkers. Finally, it would seem that the park- ed cars could economically removed from Wardley Street to yield a very pleasant landscaped area for what
THE HONG KONG & FAR EAST BUILDER—VOLUME 19. NUMBER 2
Rooftop roads
The idea of cars buzzing along the rooftops is not new (though in many schemes the people are likely to be put on the roof with the cars below). There are advantages in the Tokyo solution, however: much re- venue is derived from offices and shop rental, it is possible to drive through this part of the city with ease (there are periodic access ramps), and the building is low and inoffensive while obscuring little light. In fact, as a pedestrian I did not realize there were cars speeding along on top until I noticed the building indicated as a freeway on a city map.
Perhaps such a solution would work for the primary east-west roads in the Central District of Hong
The Kong,
smaller north-south streets could still give pleasant pedes- trians or
vehicular access to the waterfront under the bridges or arches of the freeways.
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