1992 14:11
BRITISH TRADE COMM
THE BRITISH CONSULATE GENERAL
A
HONG KONG
P.04
There was a very good response from all the participants in this architectural selection exercise to what proved to be an exceedingly demanding and complex brief for a prestigious building on a difficult urban site. The high quality of the submissions in general fully justified the procedure that has been adopted to select an Architect and a design concept.
Our clear preference is for the scheme submitted by Terry Farrell and Company. This design is a coherent architectural statement responding to a complex urban context and it stands apart from the other schemes, The analysis of the site by this Architect was particularly penetrating and the result builds on this to produce the most responsive and satisfying outcome. The design sets up its own scale and stylistic integrity and has the conviction and presence to hold
Its its own with the neighbouring tower buildings which surround it. form follows the curved line of the road and therefore associates more strongly with the ground level and the pedestrian movement of the city.
In the Architect's words "the buildings should not be showy and should not attempt to compete with or emulate the new Hong Kong architecture". Detailed study of the drawings reveals internal architecture which delights in the sequence and variety of spaces. We have noted some planning inconsistencies and inaccuracies, all of which we consider can be rectified at the next detailed stage.
A perimeter development such as this has the benefit of leaving a large garden, and the drawings show a well considered landscape
This scheme scheme which uses falling water to great effect. demonstrates an intelligent and imaginative architectural approach which we are confident will result in the development of a very fine building.
We felt that the schemes by RMJM and Leigh and Orange had the most potential of the remaining five submissions. There was, however, a lack of subtlety in their urban response. The buildings were neither towers like their neighbours nor did they create street architecture, and their slab-like forms, though cleverly angled, could not exploit to advantage the curves and contours of the site. Although both had many commendable internal planning arrangements, neither dealt satisfactorily with the residential accommodation. In addition, neither captured the forward-looking image that we should want to see emerge for this building.
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specific merits in the way they
However, they had adopted which were too
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Each of the other three schemes has handled parts of the accommodation. overall concepts all of them very different inflexible to lend themselves well to the detailed requirements of both the brief and the site. In each case the resulting architecture fell short of the other schemes.
J A Partridge M H R Bertram 15 May 1992
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