214
RECREATION AND THE ARTS
information about the sun. Accompanying the telescope are 12 groups of exhibits which employ extensive use of graphics and audio-visual devices, and a series of micro-computers for visitors to check what they have learned from the exhibit items. During 1981, the hall was visited by 177 730 people.
The museum has a 198-seat lecture hall where experts conduct special lectures on astronomy and space science for the public as well as students. Culture activities including film shows, dance demonstrations and musical performances were also held there.
The Space Museum organised a special series of lectures on science and humanities in co-ordination with the Royal Danish Consulate-General in April and in May, a lecture on The Space Shuttle and the Future Meaning of Space was given by U.S. astronaut General Thomas Stafford. A series of popular lectures on astronomy was also presented with local astronomical associations.
Museum of Science and Technology
The Hong Kong Museum of Science and Technology project, initiated by the Urban Council, will have a total usable floor area of 17 000 square metres at Chatham Road East. Preparations for the construction of a temporary science museum as Phase I of the whole project started in 1981 and the temporary museum is expected to be in operation by 1983.
When completed, the museum will promote audience participation and visitor involve- ment in contemporary exhibits, covering topics of current interest.
Tsim Sha Tsui Cultural Complex
Overlooking the harbour on the site of the former Kowloon-Canton Railway terminus and newly-reclaimed land at the tip of the Kowloon peninsula, the Urban Council and the government are planning a cultural complex that will become the centre of Hong Kong's cultural life.
Its facilities will included a crescent-shaped auditoria block housing a 2 300-seat concert hall for presenting unamplified music; a 2 000-seat lyric theatre for opera and ballet and stage shows; and a 400-seat studio theatre for experimental drama. A nine-storey tower block will accommodate the offices of the Cultural Services Department and an arts library, and a restaurant block will house Chinese and Western restaurants, conference and lecture rooms. The administration and restaurant blocks are scheduled for completion in late 1983 and the auditoria block in late 1985. The cultural complex will also include a new permanent Museum of Art.
に