As Hong Kong continues to develop as one of the leading modernist cities of the world, its battle with air pollution and smog is slowly being lost casting huge gray clouds over many of its triumphant skyscrapers.

On the 22nd of March 2010, levels of pollution reached record highs in the city due to changes in wind patterns. Instead of pollution naturally diffusing throughout the skies of Southern China, it was left to build up over Hong Kong and accumulate in its atmosphere. This lead to Environmental Health Officers warning people across the city to stay indoors as much as possible to avoid the inflammation of illnesses such as asthma and bronchitis. Since March, viruses and premature deaths caused by pollution have sadly risen as people continue to ignore the health warnings they are receiving.   

There are two main contributors to air pollution in Hong Kong – factories and motor vehicles.  Along the Hong Kong borders are 70,000 factories which pump out a number of harmful gases everyday. These gases are then carried by the wind across the skies of the city. They then linger in the air above Hong Kong because high rise buildings and skyscrapers trap them, preventing the wind from carrying them any further.
So it seems, the more Hong Kong does to improve its Western lifestyle, the more it is destroying its natural beauty and air quality. Ironically the city is named after the fragrant harbor it once possessed but that is now long gone and replaced by a scent that is some what less appealing

Dining in Hong Kong

As well as its modernist, state of the art architecture, Hong Kong is known world wide for its complex and flavorsome cuisine. With a history of British control and a population consisting of descendants from all over China and further afield, the city has a wide range of influences to please the pallet.  

Among the dishes commonly served from day to day is the Hong Kong speciality, Dim Sum. Dim Sum consists of many small plates of food served together to produce a complex meal. These small dishes, which are served in steam baskets, range from shrimp dumplings to rice porridge and are usually accompanied by a serving of traditional Chinese soy sauce. Shockingly, the deep fried savoury dish, is commonly served as breakfast for the native Chinese people although it is available in restaurants for lunch time meals also. 

Unlike many Western countries such as Britain and the USA, the people of Hong Kong tend to eat very small portions. Instead of eating in quantity at certain times of the day, the Chinese prefer to eat snack-sized meals around five times a day. This, combined with the use of very fresh ingredients in cooking and a highly active lifestyle, is thought to be the reason the life expectancy for HongKongers is so high. The average healthy individual living in Hong Kong has a life expectancy of around 82 years compared with just 77 years in Scotland.

Hong Kong

A close friend of mine recently packed her bags and ventured on a spontaneous university exchange year to Hong Kong. As a student of business studies the opportunity to learn in one of the world’s leading financial centres seemed to good to pass by so she decided to embrace this once in a life time experience. Now, as a keen student of architecture, i too feel Hong Kong is a place of importance to my learning, so have persuaded my parents to take me East on a venture of my own. 

Hong Kong is situated on China’s south coast and has a hot and humid climate due to its close proximity to the tropic of Cancer. It is home to over seven million people who all inhabit a small percentage of land due to the mountainous landscape of the city. This has forced the densely packed region to build upwards rather than outwards to accommodate its growing population. It has recently become the most vertical city in the world and a hub for modern architecture and construction.

Amongst the cities 7650 skyscrapers  are The International Commerce Centre (3rd tallest building in the world), Central Plaza, which takes on a triangular floor plan, and The Bank Of China which resembles shoots of growing bamboo. These along with other unique buildings transform the city into a place of architectural excellence and are the reason the city has now been branded the most visually pleasing in the world. 

Concrete Jungle

At the age of 11, I went on a long weekend trip to ‘The Big Apple.’ Due to my age I was perhaps slightly too young to appreciate all that I was experiencing, but what did stand out to me was the colossal and daunting scale of the bustling city. 

Thousands of people crowded the broad pavements, with cars and yellow taxis crawling slowly through the city at gridlock. The murmured sound of American accents and frustrated vehicle horns filled the air with an occasional roaring vibration from the, equally as busy, underground tube system. As a child, i found it hard to see passed the backs of the many people who walked before me but the one direction, in which i could enjoy the view, was upwards. 

 In early October, the air was cold and, occasionally, accompanied with a frosty wind yet the sky above was bright, clear, and scattered with vast towering buildings in all different styles of architecture, that appeared to glisten in the shimmering sunlight. For me, one building stood out against its neighbours – The Chrysler Building.

Contrasting dramatically to its robust, mechanical like bordering buildings, the Chrysler stands tall and elegantly on the New York City skyline. Its delicate and intricate facade is enough to leave anyone in awe of its beauty, triggering a great appreciation for the men involved in its complex design and detailed construction. The building is a precious gem amongst, some what, box like monstrosities, which inhabit the city, and is perhaps the finest examples of Art Deco architecture of its time.    

    

Thought Provoking Design

On a recent trip to Berlin with my friends, i was taken aback by the violent history of the city during the Second World War. After Adolf Hitler and his Nazi army took control of the city in 1933, discrimination towards the German Jews became horrific with Hitler sending hundreds of thousands of men, women and children to their deaths at concentration camps.   

The Jewish Museum in Berlin was built in 2001 in memory of the innocent lives lost during this tragic war. The design, by Daniel Leibskind, not only houses artefact and films in respect of the dead, but is a memorial in its own right.

The building takes on the shape of a bent and twisted Star of David with its jagged angular form. The zinc coating, which covers the facade, is deeply gashed and torn to show the pain and suffering the Jews were subjected to during their war stricken lives in Germany. These cuts form windows into the building, which create dynamic and dramatic shadows within the museums interior. The internal floors are uneven, ascending and descending very gradually making the space feel very open in some areas but closed and tight in others. Leibskind has done this to create a sense of disorientation which symbolises how lost the Jewish people felt within their home country.

The museum creates the perfect environment to remember the dead with its thought provoking and dramatic design. Leibskind has successfully helped to ensure the events of World War Two are not forgotten and that the memory of those killed during this time lives on into the future.

The City of Gold

               Throughout my life, I have been fortunate enough to travel to many foreign destinations around the world where I have experienced a range of different cultures and styles of architecture. In 2004 my close friend emmigrated to Dubai, in the UAE, with her family. The following summer I was invited to stay with them and experience their new way of life.

The city is perhaps the most widely recognisable of the seven emirates. The climate is hot and dry with deserts spread accross most of the land. During the day, temperatures are generally too hot to spend a great deal of time outside so we tended to venture out and explore the city in the evening.

Possibly my most memorable experience in the UAE was an off road trip through the dessert in a 4x4 Land Rover. As we drove into the dessert the road slowly became less and less apparent until we were completely surrounded by towering sand dunes. Despite the late afternoon hour, the sand was still very warm to the touch and the panoramic views were incredible.

Dubai is a truely breathtaking city with many abstract and modern pieces of architecture despite the cultures traditional and ethical beliefs. The Burj Al Arab is perhaps the most recognisable building on the cities coastal skyline. Designed to look like the sail of a ship, the Burj is the only seven star hotel in the world. Built on its own ‘private island’ (reclaimed land from the sea) it attracts many of the worlds rich and famous all year round. Sadly a fourteen night stay in this hotel would have set me back thousands (which as a thirteen year old, I couldn’t quite afford).