· OFFICES
ITILISATION
CONSTANTLY increasing values
of sites in the commercial and shopping centre of Victoria on Hong Kong island demand special care in planning new buildings to
ensure
that the greatest possible use is ex- tracted from redeveloped sites while keeping within the limits of the building ordinance.
A case in point is the Lok Hoi Tong Building (opened in August) in Queen's Road Central on the site of the old Queen's Theatre. Here the problem was to produce a build- ing which would provide space for shops, because this part of Queen's Road is the busiest shopping area in the city, offices and at the same time rehouse the old cinema in a modern building.
Area of the site is only 10,500 square feet coupled with the fact that Theatre Lane, which bounds the site to the east, was before demoli- tion of the old theatre a stepped alley, crooked and an obstacle rather than an invitation to pedestrian traffic. First thought of the archi- tects. Messrs. Kwan, Chu and Yang, was to clear up the alleyway. And with the co-operation of the Public Works Department it has been trans- formed into a smooth sloping and stepless pedestrian street into which opens the lower foyer of the new cinema and which is a positive con- tribution to improving the centre of of the city.
To allow for the provision of the maximum shopping area the theatre itself was put on the first floor, the hall rising through the second and third floors. This permitted an arcade lined with shops to be put on
the ground floor, from which escala. tors lead to the various parts of the cinema.
To increase the available space for shops it was decided to go under- ground and in the upper basement another shopping area has been provided. Beneath this is the lower basement which will later be used as a restaurant. Circulation between the first, ground and basement floors is by stairways and escalators.
Again in order to provide the maximum utilisable and lettable ac- commodation in the new building. it was decided not only to put the theatre on the first floor but to set it back from the portion of the site on Queen's Road itself in order to make room for an office block tower rising thirteen floors above the ground floor and served by lifts. Above the theatre roof itself will be a roof garden, although the final use to which this is to be put has not yet been decided.
In all on this site of 10,500 square feet there is now a building with a volume above ground of approximate- ly 1,250,000 cubic feet in which are a cinema with a seating capacity of nearly 1,000 in great comfort, offices with 40,000 square feet of rentable space, eighteen shops of various sizes and a restaurant. Cost of the building was approximately $4,000, 000, excluding furnishing of the cinema and its projection and sound equipment.
The demolished Queen's Theatre was built about 40 years ago on the site of a former warehouse. Excava- tion for the basements and founda-
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