Norman Foster
Works of Sir Norman Foster
, Tuesday 10 January 2006 - 15:28:20
HONG KONG & SHANGHAI BANKING HEADQUARTERSInformation Contributor: Tauheed
Location: Hong Kong, China
Architect: Norman Foster & Partners
Structural Engineers: Ove Arup & Partners Engineers
Completion:1985
Height:180 m (590 ft)
Urban contextThe Hong Kong & Shanghai Bank is located on one of the most splendid sites in Hong Kong's business centre and stands in a direct line with the Star Ferry Terminal. Between the bank and the harbour, there is a park and a multi-storey car park. The classical style of the existing law-court building (directly neighbouring the Hong Kong and Shanghai Bank) offers the most striking contrast to the bank. The bank tower emphasises the importance of both the Chinese-British territory of Hong Kong and the company itself - the foremost bank in the Far East and Hong Kong's central bank - within the international financial world. As an institution and symbol, the Hong Kong and Shanghai Bank expresses the confidence placed in the future of Hong Kong. The ground-floor access area to the bank is interesting in terms of urban context. a public space has been created by allowing the public to traverse the building. From lower level, escalators lead to the bank's enormous, internal atrium.
StructureThe vertical loads are transferred by a total of eight columns of cantilever transfer structures In combination with hangers. Together with the diagonals and verticals providing reinforcement tension, they form the dominant features of the facade. Horizontal loads are absorbed by reinforcing storeys.
Circulation / InstallationsIn designing this building, the aim was to create extensive unified areas and thus achieve transparency and maxi-mum flexibility. For this reason, nearly all the vertical structural elements, as well as the circulation and service shafts, are arranged on the building's external skins. The cores are located in the east and west facades. Vertical movement is provided by a combination of express lifts, with central escalators for local circulation. The form of the building reflects the circulation density, which decreases towards the top.
FacadeFoster's magnificent building represents a new aesthetic, which no longer distinguishes between the science of engineering and the "art" of architecture. The facade design demonstrates how the structure itself can become ornamentation and the structural principle a stylistic device. In designing the building, Foster drew on the principles underlying suspension bridges, which make an internal supporting structure superfluous.
Images:view from north-east.
floor plans
sectional perspective of structure
structural elements
north elevation
Contributor's commentWe did a report on this building in level-3 term-2 as a part of high-rise-building analysis. Arc. Armaan Choudhury was our studio instructor.
In the jury of the report, Arc. Noor-Ur-Rahman Khan asked me please say something conclusive, what is in the building that information we can get from anywhere you need not tell, but what is the thing in this building which touched you? I said exitedly, The urban plaza at the ground-floor! It's faulous! The urban plaza and the huge atrium have taken this building beyond any other typical highrise buildings. As Sir Norman Foster said himself:
"...What are the short-comings of the high-rise office, which bristles in every
business district from Dallas to Tokyo? First a complete absence of variety,
inside and out; second, poor technical performance; and third, an almost
complete indifference to the public, or semi-public domain at street level..."
Check for further information:HSBC Official site on this buildingInfo in GreatBuildingsOnlineCanary Wharf
Underground Stationlocation: London, United
Kingdom
Use: Urban plaza, Station
The Jubilee Line extension is one of the greatest acts of architectural patronage of recent years, comprising eleven new stations by as many architects. the practice's station at Canary Wharf is by far the largest of these- when the development of the area is
complete, it will be used by more people at peak ties than Oxford Circus, currently London's busiest Underground destination. The station is built within the hollow of the former West Indian Dock using "cut-and-cover" construction techniques. At 300 meters in length, it is as Canary Wharf Tower is tall. The roof of the station is laid out as a
leafy landscaped park, creating Canary Wharf's principal public recreation space.
The only visible station elements are the swelling glass canopies that cover its three entrances. Glowing with light at nighttime, by day these structures draw daylight deep into the station concourse. By concentrating natural light dramatically at these points,
orientation is enhanced, minimizing the need for directional signage. Twenty banks of escalators transport passengers in and out of the station. administrative offices, kiosks and
other amenities are sited along the flanks of the ticket hall, which leaves the main concourse free, creating a sense of clarity and calm.
Due to the volume of station traffic, the guiding design principles were durability and ease of maintenance. The result is a simple palette of hardwearing materials: fair-faced
concrete, stainless steel and glass. This robust aesthetic is most pronounced at platform level where the concrete diaphragm tunnel walls are left exposed. The station introduces many security innovations: glazed lifts enhances passenger security and deter vandalism; access to the racks is blocked by platform-edge screens, which open in alignment with the doors of the trains. Servicing is also enhanced: cabling runs beneath platforms or behind walls, with access via maintenance gangways, allowing the station to be
maintained entirely from behind the scenes.
Images:
Exterior top viewInterior of canary wharf stationInterior of canary wharf stationThe entry of canary wharf stationCross section of canary wharf station (800x647, larger than it's being shown)longitudinal section of canary wharf station (1500x287, larger than it's being shown)longitudinal section2 of canary wharf station (1500x298, larger than it's being shown)Column and roof connection detail(1500x287, larger than it's being shown)plans(1500x287, larger than it's being shown)Photography: Nigel Young (Foster & Pertners) + Dennis Gilbert [view])
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