No_5_May_1968 — Page 13

Further stage of Garden Road complex starting

WORK is about to begin on the final section of Kapok Drive which forms part of the Garden Road complex of flyovers and new highways designed to im- prove traffic flow in the Central District of Hong Kong.

This section involves the building of some 800 ft. of elevated road stretching from behind the Helena May Institute over Kennedy Road to merge with Gar- den Road just below the YWCA, and the formation of two slip roads to and from Kennedy Road. These two roads will be located to the west of the Peak Tram tracks.

A section of Kennedy Road near Union Church, and Garden Road where Kapok Drive merges with it, will be widened and a pedestrian footbridge will be built across Garden Road at its junction with Mac- donnell Road. A car park will be formed under the Kapok Drive flyover between St. Joseph's Church and Kennedy Road.

When finally completed in early 1970, the 2,700 ft. long Kapok Drive will run in between the proposed Dockyard development and extend southwards along the line of Albany Nullah to join Garden Road just below the YWCA building.

Included in the Garden Road Complex are a total of six flyovers, two of which have been completed and in use for sometime. One is at Harcourt Road and the other spans Queensway, forming the first section of Kapok Drive. Another flyover is at Kennedy Road and is included in the construction of the final stage of Kapok Drive,

The others still in the planning stage will span Garden Road, one linking Kapok Drive with Upper Albert Road and the other Kennedy Road with Upper

Yamasaki to design S$30 million. Singapore hotel

MR. MINORU YAMASAKI, the well-known American architect, whose current projects include the World Trade Centre in New York, has been appointed to design a new S$30 million hotel for Singapore. Announcing this at a con- ference last month, Mr. Pritam Nanda, managing director of Consolidated Enterprises Ltd., said that the hotel would be built at the junction of North Bridge Road and Coleman Street, on the site of the existing Meyer Man- sions which would soon demolished.

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M. Yamasaki

Foreign and local investors would finance the scheme which would include luxury rooms, penthouses, swimming pools, cabanas, banquet halls, two round- the-clock restaurants, sauna baths, convention halls and an underground car park. Planning and designing would be completed by the end of this year and the hotel should be ready for occupation by 1970.

Mr. Yamasaki will work in co-operation with local architects, Palmer and Turner. Also engaged on the project are Mr. J. Skilling, an American structural engineer, and Mr. Dale Keller, interior designer.

"Careful studies were made of the tourist poten- tial of Singapore and Asia before venturing into this project," said Mr. Nanda. "To adequately cater for the vast number of foreign visitors, Singapore will re-

Far East BUILDER, May 1968.

Model of upper section of Garden Road complex

Albert Road. The remaining flyover is planned at the foot of Garden Road to enable a continuous flow of downhill traffic to the Waterfront or to Wan Chai.

quire a minimum of 7,000 rooms by 1975. There is such a shortage of good hotel accommodation at pre- sent that many groups and individuals are by-passing Singapore.

"It was these factors which have influenced Con- solidated Enterprises and a leading U.S. chain of hotel and local investors to participate in this joint venture."

Less Government work for private architects in HK

IT had always been and still was the practice to make limited use of private architects for Govern- ment projects though less use was being made of them now than was the case a few years ago.

In a recent speech on the Colony's public works projects, Mr. A.M.J. Wright, Hong Kong's director of public works, said these firms were chosen after every architect in private practice had been written to and asked if he wished to be put on a list for Gov- ernment projects. After replies were received offices were visited and the capabilities of the applicants were assessed.

Mr. Wright said that as the result of the public works sub-committee report for 1959/60, which ex- pressed disappointment at the rate of progress on 56 projects being undertaken by private architects, the establishment of the PWD architectural office was in- creased. At the same time the director of public works was given authority to continue to appoint pri- vate architects when he considered it necessary to maintain the rate of production.

"Though private architects may not be so busy

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