Hong Kong Skyline – Cheung Kong Center
ByStanding 70 storeys tall in the heart of Central District, Cheung Kong Center rises in a perfectly symmetrical square, almost as antithesis to the sculptural exuberance of the adjoining Bank of China Tower on the opposite side of Garden Road.
Eschewing poetry in favour of pragmatism. Cheung Kong Center packs, within its blandly utilitarian curtain wall of silver reflective glazing, some of the biggest surprises in Hong Kong’s architectural scene, including totally integrated and computerised lighting circuitry that can transform its facades into giant illuminated display panels configured to any design.
It also offers some of the most commodious and sensibly planned office accommodation in Hong Kong, elevated on raised floors to allow for convenient ducting of utilities, including air-conditioning, and equipped with fan powered terminal units which can be moved to permit maximum temperature control. 28 passenger lifts serve the building from the ground and upper ground floor lobbies. Rising at 9 metres per second, these display up-to-the-minute news and worldwide stock market information on LCD panels.
Offset at an angle which emphasizes its distinction from neighbouring buildings, the Cheung Kong Center has contributed to the variety of contrasting styles that serves to make this area of Central of particular architectural interest. Located on a site formerly occupied by the Hilton Hotel, the development provides for extensive landscaping, including a large waterfall, all of which opens up attractive vistas of ancient banyan trees, palms and veteran neighbouring buildings: among them St. John’s Cathedral (1849) and the Court of Final Appeal, housed in the red-bricked French Mission Building (1911).
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