sulted in the long rows of dreary. souldestroying property which is the heritage of the industrial and com- mercial conurbations of London, the Midlands and the North. Perhaps with no legislation at all the develop- ment would have been worse.
A different picture emerged in the greater American cities where build- ings developed towards the sky. The streets in the older parts of New York were relatively narrow. As buildings grew ever higher the rooms down at street level, at the bottom of these man-made canyons. were denied natural light and air until legislation imposed development re- quirements which resulted in the ugly stepped-back facades of the new skyscrapers. Yet here again it might well have been worse without the legislation.
The point that I am trying to make is that legislation was consid- ered necessary.
In many ways a parallel may be drawn between Hong Kong to-day. the England of the mid-nineteenth century and the America of the early twentieth century. In all three places there
enormous urban
occurs
growth with a comparatively cheap force that must be housed, and industrial and commercial interests developing too quickly for the build- ing industry to cope. The evils of bylaw development in England and the United States are very much apparent in Hong Kong, too.
the
The next time your are on the Peak, look below you over wastes of the Western District, the spreading Central Area and North Point, with old Wanchai in between. and then across the water to Kow- loon. At the southern end of Nathan Road, where the land is fairly level, a group of buildings has grown up. controlled by regulations to the same height, and with flat roofs and maxi- mum site development. It looks rather like a geometrical dried-up paddy field, with islands of roof intersected by the cracks and can- yons of the street pattern of Tsim- shatsui.
Over towards North Point the stepped facades are reminiscent of early pyramids of upper Egypt and the ziggurats of Babylon, whilst the
肶
faces of the buildings inhabited by the cliff-dwellers of modern times are an endless repetition of glazed-in balconies with as great an influence on the destruction of the social souls of their inmates as any bylaw street of industrial England.
Which is all really a part of the second element of good architecture
commodity the design of a building so that it may be used to full advantage. The Buildings Or- dinance and its administrators are with us to ensure good construction and, within the limits of their fairly extensive powers, they are generally successful. Naturally the occasional fault. or deliberate contravention, will escape them, and it is an unfor tunate trait of building that many hidden faults may not
not not show themselves for years, and then only suddenly and calamitously. Without warning the entire pack of cards will collapse.
The combined efforts of the build- ing surveyors and the contractors and the structural engineers. how- ever, do not necessarily produce architecture. Sometimes, admitted-
―
ly, by fluke or genius a real gem of architectural worth will arise as a creation of any one of these professions. but in general their object is to build well. and Hong Kong can claim to have been well served by them, now as well as in the past.
But what of this quality of com- modity? It is here that the developer steps in. He who pays the piper calls the tune. Having spent a gigantic suum of money to obtain (only on lease) a stretch of seawater. or a cliff face or a mountain top to develop, the first intention is to build something anything --- as quick- ly as possible. making the maximum use of that pile of rock or bottom- less sandy pit, to recoup the gold outpoured in pious (?) hope of, well. say a clear return in the next three or four years? Poor, gentle, naive developer! What pitfalls he must overcome before his dream is realised.
-
Not only do estate surveyors sell -lease him a cliff face (or a stretch of seawater
or a mountain top), but the lot doesn't even have a right angle anywhere. To fill in all
the odd corners so that he will get the full permissible development use entails a deft and expert juggling of pencil and set-square (adjustable of course; no fixed angles here; poor Euclid would give up the ghost). and commodity goes by the board. sacrificed to the almighty square foot (at $1000 a time).
In the end it is not the developer who suffers, but the accommodation- hungry hordes of homeless Hong Kong citizens. At so much a square foot does it matter that half the space cannot be used? The walls are full of windows and doors and there is nowhere to put the camphor- wood chest, except the middle of the floor, and the table is there; so it will have to go out on the balcony- But that has all been glazed in and grand-dad has his bed out there, all lit up at night by the neon sign just outside advertising rejuvenation pills.
A lot of use that is to grand-dad! At least it takes his mind off the awkward shape of the balcony something to do with the width of the street or the depth of the build. ing he's been told. Is it any wonder the cinemas do such good business? The seats are comfortable; room to stretch your legs; stairs easy to climb; air-conditioned, too well, in fact, it almost blows one out of one's seat (when they remember to switch it on).
SO
a summer
Oh, for the wide open spaces of Repulse Bay beach on Sunday afternoon! Although they are putting up buildings there now. Might be square though. And com- modious.
Am I being unfair to the develop- er? Perhaps. There are enlightened estate owners who consider amenity as well as square footage, and in- crease the value of their property thereby. Their bathrooms are not SO narrow that grazed knuckles result from a vigorous towelling down; their stairways have lights on at night; their lifts are large enough and fast enough to carry scurrying typists and clerks swiftly and safely homewards at 5.30, whilst relieving the cigar-chomping tycoon of his lion's cage patrol in the lift hall waiting for the lift to arrive, and hoping it won't be full when it does.
THE HONG KONG & FAR EAST BUILDER-VOLUME 18, NUMBER 3