January_1970 — Page 17

The effectiveness

of the local institute and its relationship with CAA

by Jon A. Prescott

Hong Kong

FEW laymen realise what the true potential of the architectural profes- sion is, in relation to the community, and the failure of a majority of Hong Kong architects to tell them, or to achieve the high ideals which are an assumed part of their training, is very much the result of the pressures of society itself.

Unless the profession can draw its ranks together at the same time as raising its aims and ideals of service to the community, it can never be a truly effective force in helping society es- tablish the quality of physical environ- ment which all have a right to expect from an able use of available resources.

The effectiveness of the local insti- tute must be discussed under two main heads for, as has been said, it takes at least two parties to make architecture

a receptive client and a convinced architect.

A client is merely a particular case of the general one, society, and as a preliminary it is proposed to discuss briefly the society which the Hong Kong architect has to serve.

Society

It may be a cliche, but it is a good starting point to state that any society gets the architecture which it deserves.

Hong Kong society, unable to es- cape the political reality of its situa- tion, demands firstly the earliest possible return on investment. This is frequently a sole criterion. Property development, as in many parts of the world but more so, is basically seen in

Far East BUILDER, January 1970

these terms. It is hardly worth discuss- ing architecture with a client.

He is interested in maximum cube, maximum rental area, minimum costs to a point where normal standards of spatial relationship in terms of sensible basic planning are rejected unless they are controlled by Building Or- dinance or Fire Code requirements.

The relationship of a development to that of its neighbours or the con- venience to the user is unimportant unless a clever architect can resolve these considerations unobtrusively without reducing revenue earning capacity.

At the same time however the de- veloper demands 'face'. Having made sure of the financial return, a pretense is made of doing a good job by clad- ding the entrance in the most expen- sive marble or other status symbol which happens to be fashionable at the time. Into this category may be placed Venini Chandeliers, the use of a fashionable artists work or imported European or American expensive trim. Mascara is applied to an ill formed basic building in an attempt to beau- tify it.

Hong Kong is full of the glittering superficiality of the tart, as demanded by the client or perhaps added by him after completion in that way fees are not paid on expensive parts of the building!

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This sort of comment may be re- garded as just snide but the situation described is regrettably typical. Society does not understand an aim of good

environmental conditions and needs to be educated towards such an under- standing - especially when the re- quirements of such conditions conflict with the questions of pure economics with which our community is oc- cupied.

One might ask, which society does understand, at a time of specialisation, of fragmentation educationally and the disappearence of the universal, all round man?

Educationally and experience-wise Hong Kong might be roughly divided into three groups. A limited entre. preneurial class coming from back- grounds of reasonable or considerable wealth and traditional education; a mass of ill-educated or 'non-schooled' working people, whose physical en- deavours have built the Hong Kong we know; and an expatriate class who frequently occupy positions to which they would never aspire in their own country or origin. With such back- grounds the people have no inclination or are not educated anyway in such a manner as to be able to utilise their position to encourage any truly ele- gant expression in architectural or

environmental terms.

There is also of course in this, or any aggressively capitalist society like ours, an element of the nouveau riche whose ability to spend exceeds their awareness of quality in design terms.

To these largely Hong Kong as- sembled peoples (as distinct from Hong Kong born) must be added the majority (58%) of the community to- day, who were born here and are under the age of 21 years. They know only the environment which they have inherited. They fight for mere exis- tence in the rat race of basic education and job getting, whilst finding panacea in the 'with it' expressions of youthful fashion. Their abilities and dress sense perhaps indicate an awareness and understanding of the principles of de- sign in a way lacking in their parents.

In the rest of Asia, many people look upon Hong Kong as a dreaded last bastian of colonialism. Dare one mention this? It is all too easy for the

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