1 Open door to creativity, says top architect
Una So, The Standard 25 March 2008
When it comes to design, not many people in Hong Kong understand the difference between the good, the bad and the ugly, an internationally famed and award- winning architect said .
Rocco Yim, the Hong Kong architect behind Tamar's The Door creation, said because of this, there is little public pressure on the government to elevate its game in public buildings design through open competition, rather than relying on the problematic tendering process.
"Public architecture is the expression of a city's spirit, but administration people are deciding the face of Hong Kong," he said.
Hong Kong tends to be too conservative for creativity, Yim said, noting the problem is that architecture has been dominated by developers who are mostly conservative, preferring to stick with "formula" glories dating back decades.
The government too, he said, is playing it safe to avoid blame in the tendering process for public buildings. This system chooses projects based on price, the company's financial situation and track record - not on design merits.
The system bars young architects from competing and is "good for big firms, but not so good for the little guys."
He said fine examples of public buildings such as the Wetland Park and the Stanley Library complex are rare.
Yim praised the mainland, Taiwan and Singapore for frequently boosting the level of their public buildings through architecture competitions to give young blood chances to shine and grow into stars.
He said opening up the public building arena to competition is a bold step, one which also tests a city's courage.
"This is about the creative spirit of a city extending beyond architecture - this is a mindset," Yim said.
"If they are willing to do it in public buildings, this will permeate to arts and business .. it's about risk-taking."
However, he is optimistic, since the city is close to a creativity tipping point for the better, and the tide is changing.
When well-designed public buildings begin to spring up all over the mainland, including the Museum of Guangdong - which is based on the Chinese "treasure box" design - in Guangzhou and the new Library of Guangzhou, Hong Kong will take notice, Yim said.
2 Renewal projects to get green walls
Olga Wong, SCMP 25 March 2008
The URA’s vertical greening trial at Vision City.
The Quai Brankley Museum in Paris.
Vertical planting - a greening concept taking root around the world - will be introduced to Hong Kong urban renewal projects following a successful experimental project at a residential development in Tsuen Wan.
Last year, the Urban Renewal Authority experimented with vertical planting in a project developed with the Sino Group to soften the impact of the buildings.
The 7,500 sq ft green wall is on the multi-storey car park of Vision City's podium, facing an open space at the five 50-storey residential development in Tsuen Wan.
The green wall, covered with 39,600 plants, is a metal frame with pockets. Sturdy species are planted in the pockets including spider plant, ferns and mother-in-law's tongue.
Since it hangs about 30 metres above ground, an automatic irrigation system has been installed.
"The cost of vertical planting is minimal," the authority's district development director, Stephen Lam Wai-nang, said. "It is not a problem for the developer to shoulder the cost of maintenance."
The HK$5 million cost of the green wall was just 0.5 per cent of the cost of the HK$1 billion development. "We could have rented out the space for advertising, but we opted for greening the wall to improve residents' visual environment."
To ensure the plants stay healthy and to deter mosquitoes, the management office will monitor its progress and fertilise the wall two or three times a year.
"It may seem to be a burden to the developer, but a greener environment will enhance the value of the development as a whole," Mr Lam said, adding the authority would apply the technology to future renewal projects.
The authority's 37 renewal projects have a total 200,000 sq ft of open space. Developers have to meet greening targets in their contracts.
The authority commissioned a study on overseas experiences in vertical planting last year, hoping to apply the technology at sites with limited open areas.
The study, which is also looking for a demonstration project in Hong Kong, will end this year.
An architectural expert welcomed the Tsuen Wan project as the first step to diversifying greening technology in the city, but urged the government and the private sector to give developers more incentives to design green buildings.
"It is an encouraging move, but we can do a lot better," said Stephen Lau Siu-yu, of the architecture faculty at the University of Hong Kong, who is conducting the study of overseas experiences.
Professor Lau said the pilot scheme at Vision City should be just a starting point.
"Green walls in Paris, Taiwan and Japan look natural and artistic, with diverse colours and species," he said, adding that the Quai Branley Museum in the centre of Paris was a good example for reference.
The office wing of the museum, designed by Paris' chief architect, Jean Nouvel, has become a tourist attraction because of its vertical garden. The exterior of the three-storey building is covered with a sheet of dense and irregular moss and vegetation, impressing pedestrians with its natural and forested style.
"Having said that, proper maintenance is a critical part of vertical planting," Professor Lau said. "Things could turn sour if people are annoyed by insects like mosquitoes."
He said incentives, such as granting extra gross floor area, could be given to developers to encourage diversified greening technologies.
"In Australia, you will enjoy a lower interest rate if the property being mortgaged is a green building," he said.
3 Call for people power to reclaim public space
Ng Kang-chung, SCMP 25 March 2008
Activists have called for a "people's power" movement to challenge restrictions Times Square can impose on the public's use of its piazza.
Their call came after documents revealed the developer of the Causeway Bay mall, Wharf (Holdings), is allowed to impose restrictions under the terms of its deal with the government for providing the 3,017 square metres of public open space.
According to documents obtained by the group Local Action, a 1992 deed signed between the government and Wharf says the piazza should be used for "pedestrian passage and passive recreation".
In return, Wharf was granted extra gross floor area of about 22,000 square metres, from which Local Action estimates the developer has made HK$2 billion in rent since 1994.
But the deed also states the developer can impose restrictions in the public space, such as a ban on food and drinks and birds or other animals, and any activities deemed by the developer as too noisy or causing disturbance to visitors.
Secretary for Development Carrie Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor said in a Legislative Council session this month that the practice was not unusual. "Private developers providing privately owned open space for public use can enjoy concessions such as on extra gross floor area," she said.
Local Action activist Chu Hoi-dick, who with about 10 others distributed leaflets in the piazza yesterday calling for a people's power challenge, said: "Wharf has gained some HK$2 billion over the years and in return gives the public a so-called open space that the public cannot freely enjoy. The rules are so strict they are like school regulations."
He conceded there was not much the public could do to change the deed now. "If more people come to stage activities in the piazza and extend the limits ... one day the piazza can become a truly public area," he said.
A government spokeswoman said it could not confirm the details of the deed cited by Local Action.
Mr Chu said his group's research showed similar problems could be found at Jardine House, the Two IFC roof garden and the podium on top of Kowloon MTR station. The Development Bureau confirmed the podium was public space, but could not confirm the others, saying it needed more time to check.
Critics said the government counted areas within private developments as "public open space" in an attempt to meet the required minimum provision of open space as set out in the planning standards.
A Times Square spokesman could not be reached for comment.
4 Drainage work ends flooding hazard Scheme to reduce impact of heavy rain
Scarlett Chiang, SCMP 25 March 2008
The Drainage Services Department’s work in Fanling, which should channel water away faster during heavy rain. Photo: Martin Chan. Source: SCMP
An area of greatest concern during flooding in the New Territories should be free from serious inundation in the coming rainy season, although a HK$167 million drainage project in the area has yet to be completed.
The Drainage Services Department says the partly finished river channel in Fanling will afford protection in five villages along the Ma Wat River for 4,000 residents who have been plagued by floods in the past.
The Ma Wat channel project at Kau Lung Hang - designated a Class 4, or serious, flood-risk area - is due to be completed later this year.
The project, which began in 2005, aims to increase the water discharge capacity of the channel by straightening, widening and deepening the existing river channel.
It includes 1.8km of drainage channels along the river, which has its source at Kau Lung Hang Shan, and flows north towards Fanling before emptying into the Ng Tung River near Kan Lung Tsuen.
When the work is finished, the channel - which currently ranges in width from four to 15 metres - will measure 26 to 36 metres.
Two road bridges across the river have been raised to prevent them impeding the water flow.
Drainage Services Department chief engineer Chan Kin-kwong said the most difficult part of the project had been constructing four drainage conduits, each with a diameter of 2.1 metres, underneath the MTR East Rail embankment at Kau Lung Hang.
"As the conduits are placed underneath the railway embankment, we need to do it after midnight so that the rail service is not disturbed," Mr Chan said.
He said the project would increase the channel's capacity to 300 cubic metres a second, which meant that the water equivalent to the capacity of a standard swimming pool (about 2,000 cubic metres) could be handled in about seven seconds.
He said even at this stage of the work Kau Lung Hang could be removed from the list of areas of greatest concern or "black spots".
Lee Koon-chung, representative of Yuen Leng village, said the Ma Wat River flooded two to three times every year, inundating the road and trapping cars.
"The road goes totally under water, and no car can pass," Mr Lee said. "In 2001 and 2003, some [parked cars] were [carried] away by the water."
