No_6_April_1963 — Page 97

STAGE 1

QUEEN'S

PIER

CITY HALL

MEMORIAL

GARDEN

CAR

PARK

EXISTING USE

COURTS

OF JUSTICE:

口

RO

OPEN SPACE

NTRAL

VNMENT

PICE

hotel

multi-storry)

car park

N

Jacommercial institutions Lötrade centra || and porking

L

DS

DIS

(Commercial residential,

and car parking

DS

பட

80%

RESERVED FOR GOVERNMENT - OFFICES

பப

(ON BUBJECT

DESIGN

DIO

00

D14

012

OPEN

SPACE

tion, that confusion does not become chaos.

"Its first thoughts, therefore, have been to separate motorist and pedes trian and, to a lesser degree, busi- nessman and tourist, shopper and clerk. This has led to a system of pedestrian precincts. Only thus can the prosperity of a compact business or shopping centre be maintained.”

Even though Hong Kong's present traffic and parking problems have not yet reached the proportion of other major cities, it is obvious that the city will soon have traffic blems of as great a magnitude as those encountered elsewhere.

pro-

been taken in redesigning the build- ing layouts to increase the traffic capacity of road intersections, parti- cularly the main roundabout at the bottom of Pedder Street.

In future when traffic volumes rise beyond the capacity of even the enlarged roundabouts at both Pedder Street and Harcourt Road, it will be possible to construct elevated road- ways at these points.

The high level pedestrian ways and intermediate level parking floors with off-street space for service de- liveries at ground level have been retained in the revised scheme and together with the provision of further multi-storey car parks will materially assist, if not completely provide for, traffic and pedestrian needs.

Town planning must be far sighted and not allow short term expedients to take the place of designing for future needs as well as the present. For this reason, opportunity has

THE HONG KONG & FAR EAST BUILDER — VOLUME 17, NUMBER 6

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The only other amendment of note. is the introduction of a public open

space at the west end of Stage III of the Central Reclamation adjacent to the Macao Ferry berths. The Town Planning Board were keenly aware of the lack of open space in the Western District and felt that recrea- tion space on Stage III of the Central Reclamation would help to a small extent to remedy the situation.

The upper level pedestrian areas in both the Dockyard and Central Reclamation are of sufficient size not only to ensure separation of vehicu- lar traffic and pedestrian and ease of communication between buildings, but also contribute to providing public open space for strolling and sitting about.

Since the plan was first published, the City Hall has been completed and the popularity of the areas ré- served purely for pedestrian use in

95

RECLAMATION

POLICE

(HEABOU