units will be built on the 620 acre site to house a popula- tion of 250,000. There will be four neighbourhoods, each of which will have its own schools, market, shopping centre and community facilities. A town centre with a fire station, public library and post office will also be provided.
Over 100 acres have been cleared of squatters and contracts have already been let for building 1,425 units.
For the purposes of urban renewal, the central area of Singapore has been divided into 17 precincts, nine north of Singapore River and eight to the south. Pre- cinct N1 covers 90 acres bounded by Beach Road, Crawford Street, Victoria Street and Jalan Sultan. It is planned to build 6,250 new homes with schools and a community centre.
Precinct S1 covers 130 acres between Outram Road, New Bridge Road and Havelock Road. Existing two and three-storey buildings will be demolished to make way for 7,785 new residential units.
SILVER MEDAL AWARD
THE first Silver Medal Award by the Hong Kong Society of Architects has been made to Mr. Ian Campbell and Mr. Dick N. Pang, of Palmer and Turner, for their de sign of the Choi Hung housing estate at Kowloon.
As building developers for the project, the Hong Kong Housing Authority will receive a plaque for dis- play on one of the blocks, and the contractors concern- ed
Wan Hin and Co., and Cheong Lee Construction Co. will receive certificates of merit.
The new award, to be given annually by the So- ciety, has been instituted to "encourage excellence in architecture". Buildings completed within the preceeding three years will be considered by the award jury. This year the jury studied structures in the domestic building field.
This year's winning design, Choi Hung Estate, is one of the biggest individual housing estates in South East Asia, accommodating 43,300 people in 7,527 flats. It is in fact a township of its own, with shops, post office. kinder-gartens, primary and secondary schools and a bus terminus. It covers 27 acres and cost HK$50 million to bulld. There are eight 20-storey blocks linked by seven- storey blocks. The flats are served by electric lifts and
each home is self-contained.
The award jury comprised: the Hon. Michael Wright, director of public works (chairman), Sir S. N. Chau, Mr. Run Run Shaw, the Hon. Szeto Wai, Mr. Edward W. K. Lee, Mr. Bjorn Nedberg, Mr. Christopher Haffner, Mr. Lam Ching Wah, and Mr. Donald Liao. A total of ten schemes was submitted.
The awards will be presented at the Society's annual dinner on December 2.
15-STOREY INDUSTRIAL ESTATE
MORE than 20 acres of factory floorspace will be provided in a 15-storey development now under construction at Watson Road/Electric Road, North Point, Hong Kong.
The development is being undertaken by A.S. Wat- son and Co., Ltd. There will be three interconnected
Drawing of North Point factory estate
blocks (A, B and C). sixth floor stage.
Blocks A and C have reached
Ease of movement of goods to and from the factory levels is a feature of the design which incorporates high speed, computer controlled lifts. Plans are by Harri- mans, who are also the letting agents.
The contractors are T. S. Wong and Co. (block C) and Hsin Hong Co. (block A).
PHILIPPINE CONSTRUCTION BOOM
PRIVATE building construction in the Philippines reached a peak of 19,729 projects costing a total of P393.722.700 during 1964, according to data compiled by the Bureau of Census and Statistics.
These figures represent a rise of 27.27 per cent. in value over 1963, when the figures were 16,981 projects costing P309,358,100.
Largest share of private building construction was in Manila which registered some 4,840 new buildings valued at P107,938,600. Next was Quezon City with 3,515 units amounting to P79.910,700.
The Bureau observes that private building construc- tion is the third biggest industry in the country, behind
Choi Hung estate selected as the win- ning design for the H.K. Society of Ar- chitects' first silver medal award.
Far East Architect & Builder October, 1965
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