NEW PRESIDENT HOTEL STANDS OUT
▲ The new President Hotel is the latest addition to Hong Kong's hotels. It was built entirely with Hong Kong capital by a group of five Chinese brothers. Notice how the full length vertical columns help give the building its individuality.
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ARCHITECT ALLOWS THE
$90 MILLION PROJECT TO 'EXPRESS ITSELF'
Architects: Wong & Ng Associates
HE 800 room President Hotel,
THE
due to be completed in a few weeks, stands out among the forest of buildings along Nathan Road not so much because of its size but be- cause of its designer's success in letting the building express itself.
Mr. Jackson C.S. Wong, B. Arch, of Wong and Ng Associates, the architect, was determined that the 19-storey 300 foot long building should not be an undistinguishable lump amongst a mass of other
structures.
He solved the situation by setting the building away from the adjoin- ing buildings at the ends by as much as 15 feet, by recessing the ground floor shop fronts and by literally spotlighting the projecting black-tiled columns.
Four foot high vertical spotlights are fixed to each column at first and top floor levels.
To emphasise the building's structure further he did away with the usual continuous awning above the street and instead broke it up to allow the columns to stretch without interruption from top to bottom.
Main entrance to the hotel is by a wide ramp leading up to a first floor lobby along the Lock Road side of the building. The ramp is designed to give the feeling that it is an in- tegral part of the structure. From
THE HONG KONG & FAR EAST BUILDER-VOLUME 18, NUMBER 3