March_1965 — Page 5

Mr. Firth arrived in Hong Kong in 1949 and was employed as an architect by the Public Works Depart- ment until 1954 when he was appointed chief architect to the Government of Trinidad and Tobago, British West Indies. He returned to Hong Kong in 1957 to be a lecturer at the University of Hong Kong and the follow- ing year he took up his present post of Housing Ar- chitect to the Housing Authority.

A foreign corresponding member of the American Institute of Planners and a member of the International Federation of Planning and Housing, Mr. Firth has been responsible for the design of a number of H.K. Hous- ing Authority estates.

PHILIPPINO APPOINTED

A PHILIPPINO designer, Wili Fernandez, has been com- missioned to plan the interiors of the restaurant and night club in Hong Kong's New Entertainment Building.

His preliminary sketches for the basement night club beneath the King's Theatre show a Polynesian-type decor with an illuminated fountain and cascade in the foyer. In the dining room a giant conch shell motif is used for the bandstand

Fernandez, 35, vice president of the Philippine Institute of Interior Designers, is the leader of a move- ment to give Philippino designers equal opportunity with foreigners in participating in the international hotel construction in Manila.

BRICKWORKS OPENED

SINGPORE'S Minister for Finance, Dr. Goh Keng Swee, opened a new brick plant for Ceramics (Malaysia) Ltd. at the Jurong industrial estate on February 12.

The plant is a joint venture by Malaysian and Australian investors. It has an operating capital of more than M$3 million. It will be the largest and most modern brick plant in South East Asia.

In full pro- duction it will turn out two million bricks a month.

HOSPITAL DEVELOPMENTS

SKETCH plans are being drawn by the Architectural Office of Hong Kong's Public Works Department for what will be one of the largest hospitals in the Com- monwealth. It will be sited at Laichikok and will have 1,250 beds.

The main block will contain 750 beds, administra- tive offices and specialist sections. Another block will have 500 beds for infectious cases and a casulaty de- partment will be located in a third block

Formation work on the site will start soon. Construction is expected to take about three years.

A second Hong Kong hospital project announced is for large-scale extensions to the Queen Mary Hospital.

Model shows new buildings within the H of the Queen Mary Hospital. The professorial block is in the right foreground These will include an eight-storey "professorial block" and buildings to house an operating theatre, radio- diagnostic and therapeutic equipment and student facilities.

Two blocks will be built within the H-shape of the existing building, while the professorial block will be on an adjacent site at the rear of the present sisters' quarters. The work is due to be completed by April next year.

PENANG STADIUM

THE Penang Indoor Stadium Committee has decided to go ahead with the scheme to build a new stadium in accordance with plans prepared by the city architect, Mr. Toh Kheng Hoon, ARIBA,

Total cost of the project is estimated at M$600,000. Of this sum, $450,000 will be met by the Central Government, the State authorities and the City Council, while the remainder will be raised by public appeal.

Work on the stadium is expected to start within the next few months.

FOCUS ON URBAN RENEWAL

WITH the alleviation of the acute housing shortage in Singapore greater attention and effort is being focussed on the task of urban renewal says the 1963 annual report of the Singapore Housing and Development Board.

The objective of this urban renewal plan is to re- juvenate the old core of the city by making better economic use of the land in the 1,700 acres of the old city. Many of the buildings date back to the 19th century and are very delapidated.

Under the plan it is proposed to rebuild the city completely by stages. There is provision for new apart- ment blocks. offices, hotels, theatres, shopping centres, markets, schools and multi-storey car parks. The plan

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construction

An artist's impression of the television studios now under

at Caldecott Hill, Singapore. They are being built for the Broadcasting Division of the Ministry of Culture. Architects are Mr. C. A. Eber, MBE, ARIBA, and Mr. Lim Soon Chye. ARIBA, and associates on the staff of the Public Works Department, He Bock Kee, Singapore, are the contractors.

Far East Architect & Builder March, 1965

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