Charlie Q.L. Xue Hong Kong Architecture 1945– 2015 From Colonial to Global – Hong Kong Architecture 1945 2015 Charlie Q.L. Xue Hong Kong Architecture – 1945 2015 From Colonial to Global 123 Charlie Q.L.Xue Department ofArchitecture andCivil Engineering City University of HongKong KowloonTong Hong Kong ISBN978-981-10-1003-3 ISBN978-981-10-1004-0 (eBook) DOI 10.1007/978-981-10-1004-0 LibraryofCongressControlNumber:2016939925 ©SpringerScience+BusinessMediaSingapore2016 Thisworkissubjecttocopyright.AllrightsarereservedbythePublisher,whetherthewholeorpart of the material is concerned, specifically the rights of translation, reprinting, reuse of illustrations, recitation, broadcasting, reproduction on microfilms or in any other physical way, and transmission orinformationstorageandretrieval,electronicadaptation,computersoftware,orbysimilarordissimilar methodologynowknownorhereafterdeveloped. The use of general descriptive names, registered names, trademarks, service marks, etc. in this publicationdoesnotimply,evenintheabsenceofaspecificstatement,thatsuchnamesareexemptfrom therelevantprotectivelawsandregulationsandthereforefreeforgeneraluse. The publisher, the authors and the editors are safe to assume that the advice and information in this book are believed to be true and accurate at the date of publication. Neither the publisher nor the authorsortheeditorsgiveawarranty,expressorimplied,withrespecttothematerialcontainedhereinor foranyerrorsoromissionsthatmayhavebeenmade. Printedonacid-freepaper ThisSpringerimprintispublishedbySpringerNature TheregisteredcompanyisSpringerScience+BusinessMediaSingaporePteLtd. Preface The Impetus for This Book Hong Kong, a Chinese territory located at the tip of the South China Sea, was the last British overseas colony. During its 150 years of colonial rule from 1841 to 1997, the colonial leadership combined with a Chinese effort from the adminis- trative to grass-roots levels made Hong Kong unique. In addition to its values and lifestyle, this city-state has its own social, political, and economic systems. Hong Kong laiddown theframeworkfor thecityproper duringitsfirsthundred years of development from 1841 to 1945. The 50 years following World War II saw Hong Kong transition from a defensive outpost into an international financial hub. The urban architecture seen in the city today was formulated mainly during the 1980s and fermented to maturity. Since 1978, when China opened its doors, Hong Kong has served as an example of economic success, and its experiences have directly contributed to the success of mainland China. In the 1990s, the per capita GDP of Hong Kong once surpassed that of UK, its suzerain.1 After the handover of sovereigntyin1997,HongKongbecameoneofChina’smanycities.Sincethen,it has contributed its wealth of experience to other parts of China. In the 1950s and 1960s, Hong Kong was busy relocating refugees and devel- oping local industry. From the 1970s to 1990s, the rise of the “four Asian drag- ons”—HongKong,Taiwan,SouthKorea,andSingapore—wasmanifestedintheir remarkable construction boom. Hong Kong architecture during the half century from1946to1997wasshapedbygovernment’spolicies,localsocialandtechnical forces and products created by local and expatriate planners, architects, and builders.ThetinyislandtookitsownpathapartfromUKandChina.HongKong’s architecture is the result of a pragmatic economy and property speculation, and is 1During1993to1998,thepercapitaGDPofHongKongwashigherthanthatoftheUK. The data of per capita GDP is available from (International Bank for Reconstruction and Development2014). v vi Preface free from political ideology. The independence and uniqueness of its built envi- ronment are worth exploring. Although the port city was shaped in the nineteenth century, the buildings constructed before the war were mostly demolished when the economy took off in the 1970s. The buildings constructed after the war mostly followed modernist principles and resonated with the modern architectural movement in the Western world during the 1950s. These buildings of the 1950s and 1960s have become endangeredasaresultofthetideofredevelopmentencouragedbyhighcommercial profits.Morethanhalfofthepost-warbuildingshavebeenorarebeingreplacedby newskyscrapers.Somebuildingsinthecentralbusinessdistrict stoodforlessthan 30 years before they were replaced by a new generation of skyscrapers. This modernheritagedeservesfurtherexploration.MystudyofHongKongarchitecture is further motivated by the following questions. – As one of the major economic pillars, how did urban architecture help Hong Kong’s transformation and economic miracles in its last 50 years before the sovereignty handover? – Howdidthebuildingprojectsrepresentandsymbolizethevariousstagesduring this period of transformation? – What are the driving forces for building development in different stages? – What contributions has Hong Kong architecture made to China, Asia, and the world? Although many books and articles have considered Hong Kong’s urban archi- tecture and construction, a comprehensive and resourceful English volume related to post-war architecture has not yet appeared. I have written and published several books, chapters, and papers about contemporary Chinese mainland architecture (includingafewaboutHongKongarchitecture)fordecades,andhopetoextendmy study to this corner of the South China Sea to compare developments in mainland China and Hong Kong. By answering these questions, I hope to establish a framework of Hong Kong architecture from 1945 to now, contribute to the archi- tectural history of this vibrant city and enrich the discourse of city-state develop- ment. On the practical side, a study of Hong Kong architecture would reveal its design and development and provide a reference for architects, developers, gov- ernment,scholarsandmembersofthepublic.HongKongarchitectureinvolvesthe development,designandmanagementofahigh-densityenvironment,anditsstudy should be useful and meaningful for other cities facing similar problems. Other Studies of Hong Kong Architecture ScholarlyworksinspirethestudyofHongKongarchitectureinthefollowingways. Due to space limitations, only the most representative works are discussed. Preface vii British Colony and Hong Kong History Britishoverseascoloniesreachedtheirheydayinthenineteenthcentury.Home’sOf Planting and Planning: The Making of British Colonial Cities (1997) covers the entiresweepofBritishcolonialurbanismfromAfricatoAsia.Buildingdesignwas partly mentioned. Ngo’s Hong Kong’s History: State and Society under Colonial Rule(1999)offersacolonialhistoryperspectiveofHongKong.Severalbookshave described the history of Hong Kong in different ways. For example, Akers-Jones (2004)focusesmoreonthehuman rather thanadministrative aspects,butprovides many insights into the recent history of Hong Kong. Welsh (1997) evokes the history of Hong Kong and the characters of those who shaped it, from its bucca- neeringoriginstoitspost-wargrowth.Wang’s(1997)bookincludestwoparts,one involving archaeology, society, policy, urban development, and economy and the other involving education, culture, religion, and social customs. Ching and Faure (2003) analyze the social formation of Hong Kong, the interaction between its government and society, the internal and external factors underlying its social evolution, and the emergence of its culture and identity. Li (2012) reveals the government decision process in the last colonial administration period through reading the released archives in London. Blyth and Wotherspoon (1996) examine the oral histories of more than 30 people. Lui (2012) analyzes the social factors experienced during the 1970s. The last two books provide a voice from grass-root citizens, which are rarely heard in formal historic accounts. As a piece of cultural critique,Abbas’book(1997)relentlesslyexpoundstheessenceof“disappearance” culture in the last colonial years. SomebooksmentionHongKong’sregionalhistory.Girardetal.(2011)explore the notorious Kowloon Walled City before its final clearance in 1992. Lee and DiStefano (2002) examine the threats of recent development to two of the oldest villagesinHongKong’sNewTerritories.Nomatterhowstrictthelawwasenacted, peoplehavetheirowninnovativewaysofresistance,resilience,andsurvival.They created“architecturewithoutarchitects.”Manysimilarbooks,mainlypublishedby non-government organizations, take a nostalgic approach to post-war life in Shek KipMei,ShauKeiWan,LammaIsland,andotherareas.Thegovernmenthasalso recordedpopulation,housing,andotherchangingstatisticsinitsannualreportsand other documents. Urban Studies of Hong Kong and the Statutory System Urban studies of Hong Kong usually refer to items such as the city’s geography, estates, reclamation, land use, municipal construction, administration, policies and town planning. Victor F.S. Sit established a framework for Hong Kong’s urban developmentinHongKong:150years,DevelopmentinMaps(2001, 2010)which consists of the city’s geography, history, economy, city, society, community, and environment statistics. Sit compiled a factual panorama of the city. Alexander Holmes and Joan Waller’s Hong Kong: Growth of the City (2008) takes a series of important cities as references and analyses their growth and evolution in tables to show Hong Kong’s developmental history. Feng Bangyan’s Chinese book entitled One Hundred Year History of Hong Kong Real Estate viii Preface Property (2001) attempts to reveal and dissect the historical progression of the city’s real estate against its economic and population development backgrounds in thetwentiethcentury.Livinginandspeculationofrealestatehavebeenthedriving force of urban construction and building design in Hong Kong. Ho’s several English and Chinese books (2004, 2008, 2011) focus on Hong Kong’s harbor, land, infrastructure and construction development history over a 150-year period. These books consider data from the government and professional bodies and present them in statistic tables and figures. Bristow (1984) records the history and progression of land policy implementation from the viewpoint of land-use planning. In another book, Bristow (1989) covers the historical and con- ceptual origins of new towns and satellite towns worldwide and the Hong Kong cases, in addition to development procedures and controls, design aspects and problems,andtheroleofgovernmentandtheprivatesectorincateringtothepublic need. As thedifficulties of accessing thematerials of half a century ago, Bristow’s books give a reliable source. More critical review of public housing comes from Castellsetal.(1991),whostudiedthepublichousinginHongKongandSingapore and linked “collective consumption” with the cities’ economic growth. Cheng (2000) has written several books introducing the development clues of Hong Kong’s roads and streets with abundant historical pictures. Nissim explains both the historical development and current practice of land administration. The HongKonggovernmenthasalsopublished urbanstudymaterialsthatconsiderthe city and its statutory system. For example, the government manual entitled Hong Kong Planning Standards and Guidelines provides criteria for determining the scale, location and site requirements of various land uses and facilities. Lu and Chan’s (1998) Chinese book about Hong Kong’s urban planning is a systemic monograph that introduces the formation and development of the urban planning framework after World War II in Hong Kong. Other books consider recent case studies to extensively explore Hong Kong’s economy, town planning, building control,urbanrenewal,andhousingpriceproblems(Lai1997;LaiandFong2000; LeungandYiu2004).Yiu’se-museumofbuildingcontrolandlandadministration focuses on the changing policy of building control and its consequences for building development and design. Hong Kong architecture Most of thebooks and articles about Hong Kong architecture have been published in the Chinese language. Lung Ping-yee’s pioneering Ancient and Current Hong Kong Architecture (1991) outlines Hong Kong architecture from the early nine- teenthcenturytotheendofthe1980s.Peng’s(1990)editedcollectionofarchitects’ andscholars’articleswrittenaboutHongKong’shistory,housing,commercial,and new town development covers the period to 1990, with all authors knowing Hong Kong well at the time. Zhang and Lau (1998) analyze the formation of Hong Kong’s port in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries by comparing ShanghaiandYokohama.TheHongKongInstituteofArchitects(HKIA)published a Chinese book entitled Hundred Years of Hong Kong Architecture (2005), which consists of chapters on tenement housing, public and private housing, and Preface ix vernacularbuildings.Thebookisintendedforconsumptionbythegeneralpublicat the expense of academic depth. Two by-product books from the HKIA investiga- tion, including Loving Architecture (comprising dialogues with 15 veteran archi- tects)andJianwenzhuji(abiographyofoldarchitects)werepublishedin2007,and serveasvitalrecordsoffamousarchitectsbetweenthe1950sand1980s.Gu(2011) records the endeavor of Chinese architects and clients to construct the Chung Chi CollegebuildingsattheChineseUniversityofHongKonginthe1950sand1960s. Thesebooksdelineatealineofdevelopmentfromthepost-WorldWarIIperiodto 1970. Other Chinese books have been written by cultural commentators and pub- lished by non-government organizations (Woo 2005; Fang 2006), and express personal ideas and observations. Except for Gu’s bilingual book, none of the aforementioned books are accessible to the English-speaking world. Some English books have focused on Hong Kong architecture. Walker and Rowlinson(1990)describe theHongKongConstructionAssociation’s70yearsof building construction. Their book provides information about milestone building projects from the 1920s to 1980s. Denison and Guang (2014) tell a story of architectLukeHimSaufromHongKong,London,Shanghai,andthenHongKong. In their book about Hong Kong’s high density, Shelton et al. (2011) describe the city’s land constraints, planning innovations and peculiar situation. Three books including Christ and Gantenbein’s An Architectural Research on Hong Kong BuildingTypes(2010),Frampton,SolomonandWong’sCitiesWithoutGround-A Hong Kong Guidebook (2012) and Zhang’s Invisible Logic (2009) demonstrate a lasting research interest in the high density and design strategies of Hong Kong. Cities Without Ground focuses on this interest in the academic and professional worlds. It uses digital axonometric drawings of various traffic interexchange areas and attempts to exaggeratedly demonstrate Hong Hong’s intricate high-density environment and pragmatic solutions. Cities Without Ground most typically rep- resents the fresh psychology when a (foreign) visitor first arrives in the city. Books by Chung (1990) and Lampugnani et al. (1993) include large-format design case pictorial introductions and cover articles. Both books focus on prominent building cases completed before 1991. The property market has always beenamajordrivingforcebehindHongKong’seconomy.ThebooksProfessional Practice for Architects (1998) and Building Design and Development in Hong Kong (2003) cover a wide range of topics related to building design and property development practices in Hong Kong. The government departments publish materialsabout their work, such asbooks about publichousing (Yeung and Wong 2003; Leung 1999), and reports related to subways (Tang et al. 2004) and public buildings (ASD 2006). JournalsinChinaandabroadoccasionallypublishdesignworksorarticlesabout HongKong.HongKongtrademagazinessuchasChinaArchitecture&Urbanism, BuildingJournal,Vision,Pace,Space,Hinge,Perspective,HongKongInstituteof Architects Journal and Asian Architects and Contractors frequently print stories aboutbuiltprojectsinHongKongusinglittletextandanalysis.Theyrecordample factual material and timely information. x Preface Conclusively,thereisaplethoraofpublicationsrelatedtoHongKong’shistory, society,geography,urbanplanning,environment,andconstructionespeciallyinthe Chinese language. However, quality writing about post-war Hong Kong architec- ture is rarely published. Although professionals know about many buildings and events,theyhavenotyetcapturedtheminwriting.Inviewofthisgap,Ipublisheda Chinese book entitled Contextualizing Modernity: Hong Kong Architecture 1946– 2011 in the summer of 2014. It was warmly welcomed by readers in Hong Kong, Taiwan, and mainland China. This English edition lends its findings a broader scope and consolidates the other chapters. From Colonial to Global My observations of Hong Kong architecture in this book are set against the background of Greater China and world architecture. I have read most of the aforementioned materials and immersed myself in the life of Hong Kong over the past 20 years, following the construction of key buildings and participating in design projects and social events. My view of Hong Kong architecture was grad- uallyformedduringaprocessofcloseexamination,experience,andcontemplation. Most books on architecture highlight built works with attractive and tasteful pictures. Initially, I intended to focus on building design and formal evolution in thisbook.ThedeeperIlookedintohistoricalmaterialsfromhalfacenturyago,the more I felt the pulse of Hong Kong’s development and found it to be closely associated with the building form. Behind the form and evolution of the building hide governmental policy and control, a societal vision, various forces and archi- tects’ creativity. Some buildings deserve description and broadcasting. Some buildings are generic, and only serve the operation of the busy capitalist urban machine and provide usable space to owners, end users and speculators. These buildingslackprominentqualitiesandglamor.DuringHongKong’stransitionfrom last British colony to international Asian metropolis, buildings were produced, consumed,andquicklydemolishedorreplaced.ThatisthemeaningofHongKong architecture and also the departure point of this book. The text and illustrations provided in this book explain this process. A “colony” is a type of territory expansion in which people migrate from a central region to an outlying region. The ancient Romans conquered the vast ter- ritories from Minor Asia to North Africa and Northern Europe. Overseas colo- nizationstartedfromoceannavigationandventuringexpansion.VastlandofLatin America, India and Far East fell to the hands of European colonists. British colo- nists built Hong Kong Island into a trade outpost and military base during the first hundredyearsafteritsoccupationin1841.IntheturbulentyearsofmodernChinese history, Hong Kong acted as a refuge, a buffer zone, and an enclave between politicalpowersandcruelwars.TheculturalseedsofEastmeetsWestwereplanted from its inception as a port city.