HONG KONG'S Queen Elizabeth Hospital the largest hospital in the British Commonwealth under one roof. by far the largest build- ing in the Colony and the second largest in the Far East recently completed after nearly three years
of construction work and several more years of planning.
T
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The total cost of the project was about $70 million. The architects in the Architectural Office of the Public Works Department who designed the building. prepared more than 2.500 sheets of drawings to work from.
The Hospital, situated on
a 30 acre site in King's Park. Kowloon. has a floor area of nearly a million square feet equivalent to about 14 international size football pitches.
It was designed as an acute gener- al hospital for 1338 inpatients. Addi- tional special provision was made for physiotherapy, radiotherapy and a central medical department laundry to serve the whole Colony.
Staff quarters were included for a proportion of all grades of staff.
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The site is in the centre of the the Kowloon Peninsula on slight eminence which allows for ideal East-West orientation com. bined with commanding views the South over the Harbour to and the Kowloon Hills to the North. In the centre of a now thickly po- pulated area and previously being a flat sports ground. this site was ideal for a large hospital.
As the site is approachable from Gascoigne Road on the South and Wyhe Road on the East, the main building
sited to give easy but segregated pedestrian and vehicle access from both these im- portant roadways.
was
From Gascoigne Road. the prin- cipal approach road to the Hos- pital. a high level motor road was constructed immediately off the Gascoigne Road roundabout to take all visiting motor traffic direct to the parking areas of the Hospital with- out interfering with traffic.
pedestrian
Taxis and visitor's cars use the upper car park which gives ac cess to the main public entrance. The lower covered car parks are reserved principally for staff use. A
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total of well over 300 car park spaces has been provided within the irmediate vicinity of the Hospital.
Some existing changes of level on the Southern access have been ex- ploited by means of a bridge and sunken garden to provide added spatial interest to the pedestrian approach from Gascoigne Road. As an alternative entry in Wylie Road pedestrians must use a stairway adjacent to a new bus bay.
A service road on the North of the Hospital links with Wylie Road and is intended solely for the use of ambulances, services vehicles and hearses.
Access for ambulances to the pri vate Casualty entrance forecourt at ground floor level is by means of a curved ramp and road cross-over bridge.
Stores vehicles turn into an enclosed service forecourt at lower ground floor level past a checking office and gate.
Basic Form
As a total floor area of almost a million square feet was required for the main building alone and with an overall site
(to include
30 all quarters of only it was of course essential to develop vertically.
area
acres.
The basic form of the Hospital is a double cross with the main ward blocks 13 storeys high joined to- gether in a straight line along the majlor axis facing North and South and with the other related special units such
as operating theatres, pathology laboratories etc. forming the lower wing blocks along the two minor axis facing East and West.
The two major vertical circulation lobbies or towers are located at the two centres of the double cross and give access to all sections of the high rising blocks. At the lower two floors around the base of the higher blocks various service units. such as kitchen and laundry, are located with horizontal links to con- nect with all parts of the Hospital.
This basic form, very simple in outline, suits local site conditions as it gives very adequate natural light- ing and cross ventilation to all sec- tions of the building and also avoids
THE ARCHITECTS
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EDWIN WONG was born in
Wellington New Zealand in 1926. However from the age of one to 12 he lived in Canton with his parents.
He returned to New Zealand in 1937 where he completed his secondary education. Subsequent- ly he attended the School of Ar
chitecture at the University of New Zealand from which he gra duated as a Bachelor of Architec turc in 1952. He worked as arn architect in New Zealand until 1955 and then went to England for a year.
After completing a world tour he arrived in Hong Kong in 1957 and joined the P.W.D. Architec- tural Office.
Mr. Wong is married with one child.
close overlooking from one block to the other.
It also makes it easy to identify the various major sections of the Hospital complex, reducing possible confusion in circulation.
Circulations
Within the Hospital, staff, visitors and stores traffic have been kept separate wherever possible
Visitors will normally arrive at the main enquiry and admission centre at the upper ground floor
THE HONG KONG & FAR EAST BUILDER
VOLUME 18, NUMBER 5
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