THE CHINA MAIL'S
Windsor House Supplement
HONG KONG, APRIL 21, 1941.
།
MANY
UNIQUE FEATURES
An Underground Stream
INDSOR HOUSE,
WI
Hong Kong's newest
and one of the finest office buildings, is not only a completely modern eight- storey structure but in- cludes a large number of unique features, some of which are a result of the special peculiarities of
the site, while others are based on a study of the needs of such buildings in Hong Kong.
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The architects, Messy Leigh and Change, of which ham M. J. E Potter, ARIBA, wis prituripattiy se ponsible, had rant only to take into comoderation such things a..
Bumierground streama network of drag auf cable but also had to allow for the differ * Paster in the levels of Des Voeux and Queen's Roads, as Is pro- the posed eventually to extend building over what is now the St. Francis Hotel, making a huge and roughly U shaped structure
The bulk of the bulding, which
T
at the moment runs some 20 feet ther back than 1 Exchange Building next door, is falcen with the usual offices, all of which are aheady or cupied
Special Needs
Special arrangements, however, hard to be made to cater to the Deeds of three peenpiers.
the Pary Famu, whose premises take up the ground and mezzanin floors in front; the Newspaper Enterprise, Limited, whose print ing machinery and offices occupy the same floors at the back, away from the noises of the street; and a large Ballroom, owned by Gray Brothers, on the top floor.
No less than 338 concrete piles. the majority of them between 30 and 40 feet in length, were driven in below the level of the pile cap-. ping, which in many places is be- low the basement foundation old buildings formerly site
of the
f
of what is NOW Windsor House.
This old pile capping was. :labs on a bed of line and cement concrete.
Below Sea Level
Excavation was frequently be. low sea-level and this, together with the fact that an underground stream from the upper levels runs across the site, made pump- ing necessary at all times. AFL addition, there were variations in the water levels as the tides rose and fell, together with great variation after the exceptionally heavy rains which prevailed al- most throughout construction.
The level of the basement floor was laid four feet above the ord- nance datum, and, with the ex- perience of typhoons and floods in förmer years in the Colony, the architects made arrangements for the whole of the basement to be very carefully water-proofed. A waterproof membrane makes the whole basement
into
a vast'tank; a reinforced layer of concrete on the floor resists up-
.
An architect's sketch of Windsor House.
ward pressure, while a protective skin of brick has been applied to the walls.
The difficulties of piling and excavation were not, howeyer, confined to the problem of water... There was a veritable network of electric and telephone cables,, 10 .. pipes and sewers, in the lane ad- Joining the Exchange Building and on the Des Voeux Road from- tage..
In addition, constant attention
was required to the main drain - taking the outfall from the St. Francis Hotel, Marina House and the Exchange Building, owing to fractures following subsidence..........
Turning to the structure proper, the building is of reinforced con- crete frame construction. Except on the Des Voeux Road frontage, the walls are monolithic, the space between the rows of win- dows being a reinforced concrete beam bearing the floor load.
The roof is constructed of reinforced concrete truss, which serves the dual purpose of em- ciently insulating the upper floor from the heat of a summer ·CURI and also allows the top floor to be free of internal columns — an important consideration in view of the cabaret there.
are
The windows on the Des Voeux Road. frontage, incidentally, recessed and protected by a' con- (Continued on Pago 4)
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