July_1966 — Page 53

Stairs at lower car park level

gives a refinement to an

otherwise heavy structure. Floor slabs, with their corrugations on the underside, have been left exposed in many parts of the building and are a pleasant part of the design.

While trying not to spend more money than was necessary on this huge project, the owners have tried to present an image of solidity and a certain luxury to their building. Gen- erally this has been achieved. By giv- ing the interior a restrained and func- tional nature the designers have suc- ceeded in creating an environment of unostentatious quality.

The lack of an oriental look about the interior may again disappoint some visitors, but it is easy to see that in such a large building a Hong Kong street scene approach might rapidly deteriorate into a mess.

The signs in the building fit in well with the overall design and the client and designer are to be congratulated on this unified approach to the very necessary function of graphics in such a building. It is rare indeed, and uni- que in Hong Kong, for a graphics designer to have control over all the signs in a building.

The lettering is mostly white plas- tic let into a black metal background and the style is sans-serif, mainly low- er case. In addition there are sym- bols representing escalators, toilets.

etc. Some of these are rather small but their style is excellent.

Although the illuminated shop name signs are on the small side, they are suspended from the ceiling of the arcade in front of the respective shops and are clearly visible as one walks along, much more so than any signs applied to the face of the shopfronts would be.

Concourse

The heart of the interior is the passenger concourse, where those

Far East Architect & Builder July, 1966

View of passenger concourse at double-height portion

coming off the ships first enter. This is a large area quite near the land- ward end of the building with part of the upper shopping floor removed over it to give a double-height space. Escalators and a staircase in the mid- dle provide access and link the two levels visually.

There is plenty of space in the con- course, comfortable and sturdy chairs to sit in and information booths and other facilities to hand. Leading into and out of the concourse are the ar- cades with their shops on both sides and also the galleries on the outside of the building, giving access to the ships.

It is noticeable that the columns, which were cast in situ, and their haunches, are bush hammered, but the beams in between, which join the haunches on a diagonal line, are not.

Understandably the precast beams were of a better finish than the col-

umns. It may have been wished to emphasise the way in which the beams are placed on their supports. but the effect is peculiar and had the bush hammering been continued right across it would have helped to cover defects in the concrete finish.

Lighting

A more serious criticism that can be made of almost all the public areas is regarding the lighting levels. The brighter parts of the concourse are fine but the dimmer parts are really too dark. Since the adjoining arcades too are predominantly dark, there are too few bright areas to give contrast.

The idea presumably was that light would stream out of the shops on either side and provide variety and interest. This happens to some ex- tent but for the whole shopping area to have this subdued lighting is a

Top of escalators in passenger concourse, with suspended lights

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