[AlbertC]

Kwun Tong Town Centre Project(Urban Redevelopment Project)
Project Information (including 2 sites)
Site Area : 53,500 square metres
No. of affected buildings : 24
Estimated no. of affected households : 1,860
Estimated no. of affected property interests : 1,640
Estimated no. of affected people : 4,500
Estimated no. of affected shops : 300
Expected Completion:2015

1 * Mixed Use Landmark Tower -280m
4 * Residential tower -140m-170m

 

[yyzer]

amazing project....really like the waterfall.....imagine if CityPlace had this....

 

[Hydrogen]

Very cool!

Imagine City Place had half of this.

 

[Venti de Milo]

Nice. Imagine City Place had even thought about half of something like this...

 

[Hydrogen]

...and that sad part is that it has no such thing.

 

[wyliepoon]

I can't decide whether I like what's existing right now in Kwun Tong Centre than what is being proposed. Architecturally this proposal has a lot of merit, but it doesn't really look too good if it is looked at contextually.

Currently Kwun Tong Centre is the heart of the densest district in Hong Kong (51,336 persons/square km). The centre of the district is the busy Yue Man Fong, a main street lined with old tenement buildings with plenty of street level shops and lots of pedestrian traffic. Yue Man Fong will be eliminated in the new plan and replaced by a (nice looking) shopping mall and what appears to be a bus terminal at street level (a common sight in HK). I can't really tell from the renderings how well the development will work at street level, and how good the linkages between the development and the rest of the community really are.

The Kwun Tong development appears to be a Hong Kong version of the Eaton Centre, and we know quite well how Eaton Centre affects street life around it. I'm only cautiously optimistic about this proposal.

Yue Man Fong

 

[AlbertC]

I can't decide whether I like what's existing right now in Kwun Tong Centre than what is being proposed. Architecturally this proposal has a lot of merit, but it doesn't really look too good if it is looked at contextually.

Currently Kwun Tong Centre is the heart of the densest district in Hong Kong (51,336 persons/square km). The centre of the district is the busy Yue Man Fong, a main street lined with old tenement buildings with plenty of street level shops and lots of pedestrian traffic. Yue Man Fong will be eliminated in the new plan and replaced by a (nice looking) shopping mall and what appears to be a bus terminal at street level (a common sight in HK). I can't really tell from the renderings how well the development will work at street level, and how good the linkages between the development and the rest of the community really are.

The Kwun Tong development appears to be a Hong Kong version of the Eaton Centre, and we know quite well how Eaton Centre affects street life around it. I'm only cautiously optimistic about this proposal.

Yue Man Fong

Well Kwun Tong has already begun its gentrification process with the already completed Millenium City and APM Mall complex (Which is one of HK's best new malls). If anything, this huge redevelopment plan should further revitalize the once industrial area into a destination and one of Hong Kong's many mini-hubs. This along with the Kai Tak redevelopment plan and the nearby Kowloon Bay developments should breathe new life to the older parts of Kowloon. Kwun Tong is also in dire need for more open space.

However, you do have a right to concern over the loss of an established neighbourhood being turned into one giant shopping centre with office and residential towers. This would be a major concern for well established Toronto neighbouhoods but one city in which I think should be able to sustain such an urban transition would be Hong Kong where retail seems to work almost everywhere, even for newly built residential towers in older parts of Kowloon. Unlike Toronto, Hong Kong seems to have endless seas of pedestrians and untouchable streetlife which ultimately make their retail sustainable in almost all parts of Hong Kong.

 

[wyliepoon]

If anything, this huge redevelopment plan should further revitalize the once industrial area into a destination and one of Hong Kong's many mini-hubs.

While I would agree that Kwun Tong needs revitalization, should it really begin with ripping out its commercial centre, which is bustling right now and really is in no need for "revitalization" (although it is in need for "renewal", which can either mean building this proposal or by restoring the existing buildings)? The industrial area of Kwun Tong is actually across the MTR line and closer to the waterfront.

This would be a major concern for well established Toronto neighbouhoods but one city in which I think should be able to sustain such an urban transition would be Hong Kong where retail seems to work almost everywhere, even for newly built residential towers in older parts of Kowloon. Unlike Toronto, Hong Kong seems to have endless seas of pedestrians and untouchable streetlife which ultimately make their retail sustainable in almost all parts of Hong Kong.

My issue with the development is not about the architecture, or the retail, but rather about urban design, how the development will fit into its context, and whether this development will generate the same amount of urbanity that the existing neighbourhood has. Although Hong Kong is able to generate lots of urban density through building ever-taller towers on ever-larger retail podiums, it is very weak in the department of urban design. A lot of the new mixed use developments now have at street level nothing but a bus terminal and a pair of escalators to whisk pedestrians up to the vertical mall upstairs, with very little street retail presence. In Toronto, our Eaton Centre has learned its lesson and now has a facade that allows stores to open up to the street as well as the mall.

The key to the success of street life in Hong Kong lies precisely in the strength of its old neighbourhoods of tenement buildings with street level retail (not just Kwun Tong, but also Mongkok, Sham Shui Po, etc.), the very things that will be eliminated in this proposal. I hope people in Hong Kong won't take for granted their great old neighbourhoods and replace all their old tenement blocks with poorly-designed vertical malls.

 

[Andrew3D]

Our waterfront could use something free flowing and organic like this. Instead we get the same old same old.

 

[Oliver Tweed]

I wonder what kind of budget this carries? With the land values, density, number of rich developers, etc. in Hong Kong compared to Toronto, it doesn't surprise me to see this kind of development there.

P.S. - Kinda weird being a newbie again, especially since I had a few hundred posts prior to the move. Luckily my pay isn't tied to my experience on this site.

 

[interchange42]

A number of members found the 'Newbie' thing a little weird, one even left in a huff.

It'll change when you hit 50 posts Oliver. Post away!

42