Hong Kong town hall

Abstract

This town hall comprises five buildings, each with a particular function, but all expressing a mutual coherence and architectural unity. The main building features a large entrance hall, leading to the concert hall and the theatre. On the first floor there is a dancing hall with accommodation for 500 people. The banquet hall can seat 500, it is situated on the second floor, and is fitted to supply both Chinese and European food. It can operate as an ordinary restaurant. The concert hall has been designed for an audience of 1,500, with a stage suitable for an orchestra of 100 players and 120 dancers. Although its primary purpose is the holding of symphony concerts, it can be adapted to Chinese opera and other types of stage displays. The theatre has 467 seats, and its acoustical properties are such that chamber music can also be performed in it. Another building of this project is a 12 storey tower. On the lower floor weddings and civil ceremonies are held. There are libraries on the second and sixth floors. An exhibition hall occupies the seventh floor. On the eighth there are two lecture rooms, and on the ninth offices and a workshop. A museum and an art gallery take up the tenth and eleventh floors. The air conditioning installations, engine room and other ancillary services are situated on the top of the building. Part of the project includes a garden commemorating the Hong-Kong volunteers who died in the period 1941-45: it stands on an elevated site, and a polygonal shaped chapel completes this memorial. On the outside the tower is faced in marble, whilst the concert hall walls are in polished granite. A sole of blue enamelled brick extends along the whole perimeter of the central block, including the wall surrounding the memorial garden.