Campus landscape
November 19, 2007 by nicol
The University of Hong Kong campus is quite a unique space because it is located on a hill and the buildings are scattered at various levels along the hill side. It is also representative of the urban landscape of Hong Kong, especially that of the Hong Kong island because of its ‘hilly’ landscape.
To navigate in such landscape is therefore very interesting because you are always walking up and down, walking through different layers of ground in order to get to a particular spot or building area. A ground floor for building A could be the 1st floor for building B and the lower ground for building C. And one thing that people here will tell you is that it is very difficult to give directions to first time visitors because you cannot say walk down one block and turn left then walk two more blocks then turn right.
Unlike buildings that stand alone in a relatively flat landscape, buildings at HKU are interconnected and sometimes buildings are within buildings, making it very difficult to separate them visually. And even physically you would experience walking through a building and not knowing you are entering into a different building. Obviously with such physical space and arrangment, stairways and path ways are everywhere acting as the connection and transitional spaces. In terms of convenience, people who carry lots of books or are physically challenged or who are simply in a hurry may find it a nusance because traveling in campus is not a straight away business. But for me, such irregular and hybrid landscape is much more interesting. I still very much enjoy a leisure walk around the campus after lunch and are surprised by new places and hidden spots all the time even after all these years. Again, if you are thinking of buildings and physical space as having only pure functional purposes, this may not be a desirable feature at all. Because people want to get things done and get to places quickly and will not find such ’surprises’ or discovery amusing not to mention the educational value in such activities.
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A great start to your research, outlining the broad environment of the buildings and spaces in HKU. The open forum introduction to the centennial campus, held last Friday (16 November, 2007) was really interesting, with Prof John Malpas and the architect talking about the new campus and how it will interrelate with the old parts of the campus. The architect also spoke of the lack of connectivity in design of the HKU buildings -all built at separate times for particular purposes. He spoke of the need to develop a common theme that would run through the entire campus, bringing the separate parts into one whole and that this would be the spaces IN BETWEEN the buildings – which need to be landscaped. Although some tress will be knocked down to make way for the new buildings, most will be spared and hundreds of new tress will be planted. The new buildings would also pay attention to the juxtaposition of open/closed spaces, indoor and outdoor spaces and connecting these appropriately. It’s great that the old Water Authority buildings will all be saved and the new buildings will be built around them. The new water reservoir, currently being built wil be covered and lanscaped with treess around the edges and a large pond in the middle. The connection between the campus and the country park behind will also be made much more explicit – this too will be a real bonus for HKU. The whole project is really exciting. It is great that the SMT have decided to open up the plans and invite feedback and suggestions from the University community as well as the HK community. as you know, 6000 square metres have been set aside for the new ‘Learning Commons’. What this space is envisaged will be used for – what’s the vision and mission of this space – what it will look like and what will it include/exclude, who will use this space and for what are among the next set of questions we should focus on.
okay, so my thoughts are kind of come and go like lightnings, I guess I just write sth here for now.
I am the similar kind of ppl who like to see “surprises” along. For example, I take a longer route to office from where I get off everyday. I walk up-hill from Lyetteton Road entry to MengWah building where those elders play TaiChi there every morning, instead of walking into the tunnel. To start with sth fresh and interesting is very important to me. It affects my mood in a great deal. Sometimes I meet random ppl there too. Listening to elders’ conversation is also another fun bit. haha~
But then, I reckon most of HK ppl do not treasure these surprises and randomness. Many frds of mine would just like to take the fastest route to the destination. They like straight to the point. My overall feeling.
However, the other day I saw a disabled person in wheelchair….. seeking way to get down from HOC to Eastgate. That make me realised how unfriendly is this campus to them!!! There is no easy way to move around HKU campus. So at the end, four of his frds lift his wheelchair up and walked the long stairs down. So Dangerous!!! Sometimes the poetic way of architecture is good….. but then for disables and elders would be a disaster! I think to make HKU be easily accessible is important too!
The architect is right about lack of coherent themes or designs between the buildings that were built from time to time at the HKU campus. And there are historical reasons behind it. The need for setting up new buildings is intimately related to the adding of new faculties, academic disciplines, and the expanding student body.
For example, in the early years, the Main Building was the only building that housed the liberal arts subjects, the Art Faculty is one of the oldest faculties. Back then, the university’s major mission was to produce ministers and government officials. Although we need to check the histories of the university, but I can imagine as other subjects emerge, such as science, engineering, and the later education faculties come into being, new buildings are being put up accordingly. And there are also the various student halls(dormitory)as the student body grows. We can say this sort of ‘evolution’ of the campus landscape is less a result of a master plan or highly mandated development, but one that’s more shaped by the on-going activities or ‘ecology’ of the space.
In contrast, the more recently built university campus such as the University of Technology and Science, started with more or less complete blueprint of what the university would look like with all its faculties and functional units in tact, everything was in a way, already there in the imaginery of the founding body’s vision.
It is difficult to say which mode of development of the campus landscape is better, because it is less a case for good or bad judgement but more of a case for understanding how local histories and social forces shape the development of a place. And today, the global aspect is also playing a huge role in urban developments including higher education institutions in metropolitan cities such as Hong Kong.
Angie, thanks for giving the example of that wheel chaired person. I think much of the landscape and buildings of HKU were built rather functionally and timely, meaning they serve a certain purpose in particular historical periods. But this is obviously not an excuse to not consider in the design the little things that may make someone’s life a little easier on campus, such as pathways for wheelchairs instead of only stairways to connect the buildings and sites.
My immediate thinking about space planning is that it should include two aspects. It should have some future visions, for example envisage the kinds of local developments in 10 years time, although nowadays with the rapid changing world, it’s hard to even come up with 5 year plans, but nevetheless, people should together conjure a vision of the future, something they’d agree upon as desirable and viable, a focal point to keep people from side tracking. It should also place people at the heart of its design, to pay attention to the needs of its residents, dwellers, the surrounding community, say for example, if the area has a lot of school age kids or senior citizens, then the plan should include the views and needs of those people as well.
One thing I notice in our evolving student body is that there are a lot more people from other countries and cultures than 10 years before who come to study and live, a large majority of them were from mainland China. Obviously, any future plans will become lop-sided if these people’s views and needs are left out of the picture. There are complicated issues involved of course such as cultural differences, identities, etc. Which is why it is important that these issues get to put on the table rather than being ignored or swept under the carpet.
I checked the history. HKU was founded in 1912, evolving from the old Medicine college. So the Medicine Faculty was its founding faculty which quarter did not reside in the main campus. The Arts and Engineering faculty was set up within the first year. And between 1912 and the WWII, there were only four faculties, Medicine, Engineering, Arts and Science.
The post WWII period was a pivotal development time for HKU which went through major structural changes – basically the addition of new faculties and expansion of student population. The continuing adult education programs was also set up in 1956 ‘in response to the demands of a rapidly changing society’. In other words, to produce new work forces to rebuild a society in a post war torn city. Only 3 faculties was set up within the first 33 years before the WWII, yet 5 faculties plus a further education school was added following the post war period.
The youngest faculty of HKU was the Faculty of Business and Economics which was established in 2001.
So most of what we see today at the HKU campus was built before the 80s and 90s. Then I remember as an undergraduate in the mid 90s, there were also a sort of major campus development where many new buildings were built including a number of new residential halls to basically replace the overloaded old buildings and to accommodate the rapidly expanding student populations. Now we are talking about a new major campus development, one that is much larger and influential in scale than the early one in less than15 years of time. Because it is no longer the addition of one or two buildings but the development of a whole large area. I would consider this a 2nd pivotal development point after post WWII. And the historical and social forces behind this is entirely a different one, and I would say more complicated one too.
One thing I notice from going through the numbers is that the speed of development seems to go up exponentially through time; well this is just an expression, but you can see that the speed is picking up. And that’s reflected in Hong Kong’s overall development too, as we people are saying our coastline and our Victoria harbor is changing every 5 years or maybe less.
As a newcomer, it is an interesting experience to get to know HKU gradually. And your writing help me further it a lot.
I didn’t attend the orientation tour in HKU. I try to expand my scope by myself. So it takes much longer time than others for me to familiarize it. But I got some little discovery now and then.
~I guess most people who come to HKU for the first time will get lost like I did 3 months before.
~I don’t even know what the blue/red/yellow districts mean for now. And I still have problem to find the venues for certain courses if they are put in abbreviation form.
~There are different HKU in the eyes of people who drive and who walk.
~Few people will use stair lane between buildings though they have more nature view. In my opinion, the connection between buildings is more convenient and practical for everyday use, but it destroy the natural landscape of the hill which is so precious for a over-modernized city.
~I can’t find my ’secret garden’ to take a break in HKU because there is no grassplot or other natural space for students to hang out except cafe and canteen. The planning of space will in return shape people’s activity and ways of life (quote one lecturer in my critical geography course).
But anyway, I like ‘hilly’ HKU.
Where did you take that ‘critical geography course’? And who taught it? I totally agree with that lecturer.
Yeah I have the same view for lack of green spot for people to just relax and hang out. But that little precious green space just outside of the Run Run Shaw building, with the Sun Yet Sin statue was to my view very well designed, considering the constraints of the space there. Yet it was able to bring the lotus pond, the trees and wooden pathway and a little bit of Japanese garden elements all crammed into that tiny space. It is also clever in the way that with the help of its lowered elevation and bush fence, it’s a bit hidden away from the crowd who are constantly walking up and down on the Sun Yet Sin stairway right next to it, therefore able to preserve a sense of seclusion and serenity. I’ve always wanted to do some meditation there. Especially at night, the space has a Zen like quality to it.
I’d certainly hope the new campus will incorporate some kind of garden space or green spot similar to the lotus pond area I mentioned above. In fact, there should be a balance between expansive open areas, and little hide out areas, such as corners, seclusion spots for smaller group gatherings. Personally I dislike Square spaces with virtually nothing but empty space installed. One example, is the Chinese University campus Square. I’d offend a lot of people, but I have to say it’s a very unattractive space. I had stood in that Square once on a mid summer day, at noon, waiting for my friend to show up; no place to sit, and no shelter. It’s just not a pleasant experience.
I took two courses from general education related to critical geography, namely Reclaiming the Street and Who Steal My Map, both brought out such idea. I think this point of view is inspiring to me, especially the way I examine the public space and maybe even more useful for your study:)
Oh, I forgot to say, again, that your son is cute:D
I love to play with kids, so cannot pass by without taking a look at the pic and mentioning about this:)
Thanks for your nice words about my son. He is an adorable kid.
Last Thursday I went to the Centennial Campus open forum where the new campus development team introduced their latest work on the project.
Last year, in similar vain, they explained the overall design and incorporated community voices. This time they talked about the more detail design for the buildings and surrounding environments. This include the layout and features of the 3 faculty buildings (arts, social science & law), the surrounding spaces such as the leisure areas, the gardens and the Learning Commons.
I was excited to learn that there’ll be a world class theater installed which can house 1000 audience at one time for art, musical and drama performance, and it is designed as a shared cultural resource for the university and the local communities. The same theater also serves as the largest lecture hall in the whole campus. I’d imagine we will no longer have the problem of running out of seats for talks by internationally renowned speakers, such as Nobel Laureates and world leaders. In fact, this would allow more of such events and functions to be organized.
Another feature I was particularly impressed by was the mini gardens that will be installed in the tiny open areas of the stairwells of the buildings on each floor. This is intended to connect the ‘outside’ natural landscape to the inside of the building, and provide a space of greenery and fresh air for people who dwell in the building.
For the 3 faculty buildings, there will be 1-2 levels above ground that connects the three buildings. The idea was to create a common physical space where the students and faculty members of the 3 faculties would meet freely and perhaps engage in interdisciplinary discussion, and research collaboration. This was also a very novel teaching and learning idea which is considered and incorporated into the physical design of the new campus.
Overall, I hear a lot of design concepts about blending and mixing different environmental elements such as indoor gardens, such as university street where there’d be facilities like bookstores, shops and cafes for bringing the local community living into the campus.
And I’d open a different post for discussion on the Learning Commons which has many interesting issues on its own. What I’d like to briefly say here is that one postgraduate student was so impressed by the idea of the Learning Commons, that he asked if such similar spaces can be replicated in the older campus area so people who do not belong to the 3 faculties can also enjoy the resources.
I thought it was wonderful how new developments have prompted people to re-think about existing spaces and practices. People from other faculties have started to inquire the use of available spaces that are freed up as a result of the new campus development. And someone also mentioned that we need a child care center badly, and I totally agree. I was thrilled to hear the project leader responded positively by saying that the new campus development would certainly have implications on the old campus, and there are plans to renovate the existing spaces. In fact, the library has plan to renovate the ground floor area into a mini Learning Commons as we are speaking.
And finally some teaching staff talked about the use of classrooms and learning spaces and felt that teachers ideas and voices need to be heard and consulted when thinking about the design of such spaces.
My general impression is that the new campus development has been a very open and transparent process. And what’s so important is that it has been very proactive in including voices and ideas from different stake holders, and in engaging the whole university community and the local community as well. This certainly is something that’s never been happened before in the historical development of the HKU campus.