Coming soon...

There will be lots of news from work, since I've just finished a project.  That's right!  I saw one through to its logical conclusion, although, if it is taken up by a purchaser or however it works, I'll have to start the whole process over and do it according to their style/specs.  but at least I did it.  I also promise some sort of a commentary on or analysis of some cool aspect of Hong Kong.  I have a bunch of pictures waiting around for a post to make them feel useful.  just as soon as I get a few minutes to sort them out.

Hong Kong Electronics Exhibition (or something like that)

Last Wednesday, I went to the Hong Kong Electronics Exhibition (I think that's the name, but wither way, you get the picture).  The company I work for had a number of current designs on display, but all of the upcoming and future products (I had one in this category) were kept under wraps due to intellectual property and the ease with which people could snag new ideas and reverse engineer them for a profit.  I went mainly to see my team's work, and to see what else is on the market.  While I didn't see any of the team's designs, or my concept (they were in a meeting room - and were only being shown to serious investors) I did walk at least a few miles looking at everything from new sushi-shaped thumb drives, to security systems, to incredibly powerful audio systems, to baseball bat/flashlight contraptions.   I didn't have the greatest time because no one was showing anything too exciting, and there seemed to be nearly a gajillion people there.  I am, however, very glad to have attended.  After the soreness dissipated, and the ringing in my ears went away, I got to thinking about how fortunate I am to have a job that is relatively secure.  Although the Industrial Design industry is in a state of over-saturation and upheaval, a position in a design office is a fairly stable place.  Especially when compared to the plight of many of these Chinese manufacturers who have built their empires on casette players, tube-style televisions, corded telephones and other such obsolete technologies.  It is true that they can produce a walkman knockoff for a few pennies, but it does no one any good if there are no new cassettes being produced, and most of the world wouldn't be able to name the last time they used a tape, or the artist for that matter.

The venue was ridiculously immense.  It sprawled from most of the spaces in the convention center itself, into the bottom five floors of three neighboring buildings' convention spaces.  It took me at least an hour to figure out where the heck my company's exhibition space was set up.  I wish I could share images of the show itself for you readers, but I'll have to settle for these exterior shots taken a few days ago.  The building is built on something of an island created from earth dredged from the surrounding Victoria Harbour.  The exterior, while somewhat elegant and certainly visually interesting, is a nightmare for engineers.  And weather-proofers.  I saw more than a little bit of aluminum tape around the beams and columns inside the venue.  

Hopefully the second phase (I assume that's what it is, as it is smack in the middle of the few buildings that comprise the convention center) fairs better than the first.  It is being built on columns, just a few feet above the water.  

sorry it's so dark...the trusses are the new section, and the sweeping silver surfaces are the old.

The scale of the materials is staggering.  Even with all the iron and steel, bamboo holds the key to cheap construction.

Here is the smallest minivan I think I've ever seen.  It reminds me of the van from "Scooby Doo" with that absurdly short wheelbase.  

And who would have thought you'd have the space to fit two people inside comfortably enough to sleep at the side of the road!?

OOBJECT.COM

I found a new website today. http://www.oobject.com/ It is constantly updated with new lists of the most/least/or other superlatives. Some of them


(alright most of them) are pretty useless - when i think of the word foldable, i think if deformable, collapsible, crushable, and otherwise "un-helmety" -

but a few, like the Olympic Cauldrons are great.

Not in Hong Kong, but beautiful nonetheless...

I tend to ignore these crazy, unbuildable, astronomically expansive and expensive fantasy houses, but this one is something different. It seems somewhat more doable with vertical walls and flat windows and the like. It's still a little bit ostentacious, but the clean white walls and the appearance of spilling over the hill make it undeniably attractive in my opinion. Let me know what you think... (click the image for the full story)

If you'll look to the Left
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you can see a few links to things that interest me and give more insight into who I am.

You May Want to Learn about RSS Feeds

I've recently begun using Google Reader to keep up to date on sites that change often (or not so often). It's basically all the headlines that have changed since I last checked and it allows me to check blogs, news sites, and design sites without having to go to it to find out if it's been updated. I know some of yo uare less tech savvy and some of you moreso...If this is over your head, let me know and I can explain it or drop it. If this is elementary knowledge, then you beat me to it.

Simply sign up with Google Reader (for free) and click "Add Subscription" in the green bar to the left. Copy and Paste my blog (and any others you'd like to keep track of) URL into the box and you're done. This way, when you build up a library of different sites, you are always getting news, even if it is from somewhat divergent sources.

Feel Free to:

Wander around my blog. For example, in the upper right over here-----> are a couple of links (more to follow) to sites that I find interesting. The Tumblr link is something like a blog but I will update it more frequently. The purpose is to provide others with access to the things that strike my fancy or inspire me. Or that I wish to share with others.

Please make comments. I like to hear what other people like, dislike, want to see, etc.

Pretty

I'm a big fan of

1. simplicity

2. elegant, minimal forms

3. Bauhaus

4. Brushed metal

5. The Eva Solo trash bin

National Day

I'm sitting here in the office on my second "day off" in two weeks, but today is more of a day on. Between the Hong Kong electronics show on the 13th, and the "work forever" attitude of many HK companies, it makes sense that I'm in here today. Anyway, this post was meant to go up a while ago, but there are too many photos to post from my apartment using someone else's wireless signal...

On Wednesday, we had a day off in the name of National Day. It was a welcome break from the recently frantic pace of work. I have a concept due for the electronics show in a little over a week. I've just gotten over the hump on part one of the project, but parts two three and four should take the rest of the week for me to sort out. Let's hope it goes smoothly. Anyway, I took Wednesday slow and woke up late. I headed down to Hong Kong island to wander around and explore. I consider myself fortunate on two counts. First, I am very interested in divergent and alternative architecture. And second, I am in Hong Kong, one of the most architecturally diverse places I've ever seen (which isn't saying much, since I haven't seen too many other places yet)

I started out in Tsim Sha Tsui, across from Hong Kong Island. I wandered back to all the places that I remembered from the last trip. It is strange how much it feels like home. I am more comfortable in some parts of Tsim Sha Tsui and Kowloon than I am in parts of Savannah, or DC. Part of it has to do with having been here for so long, but I also feel like a big part of it is just the fact that Kowloon and the rest of Hong Kong are very welcoming. Yes it's busy and foreign, but it's also safe and incredibly intriguing. I stopped back in on Kowloon Park and observed the beautiful gardens and people relaxing on their day off.

For all the glorified chrome, glass, and steel across the Harbor on Hong Kong Island, Tsim Sha Tsui is often forgotten, but whereas Hong Kong is extravagant in its appearance and scale, TST is known for opulence and tastefulness. There are a lot of interesting buildings in Hong Kong, but Tsim Sha Tsui has its fair share as well. The Peninsula is here after all, and save for the Philippe Starck-designed toilets, it is the epitome of tastefulness. It looks like it came right from New York or Washington DC.

Other buildings in TST are just as impressive, but few are as tasteful or historically significant as The Peninsula.

All of the mixture of cultures and eras that can be observed across the harbor can also be seen in Kowloon/TST, but you have to look a little harder.

The major difference between Hong Kong and Kowloon/TST, aside from the cachet of the names, is the fact that Kowloon seems unafraid to show its age or grittiness.

It seems that the chrome and glass that makes Hong Kong so incredible is starting to weasel its way into the Kowloon/TST area at the moment.



And the scale and speed of new construction is mind-blowing. The building on the left was an empty shell with no glass and very little else only a few months ago in May when I was last here.

Of course, if I’m going to talk about interesting architecture or style, I have to talk at length about Hong Kong. After wandering through TST for a while, I crossed the Harbour on the Star Ferry. For the equivalent of about $.25 US, it's the cheapest way to cross the harbour and sports the best view by far.

Upon landing in Central, I started to walk the familiar streets and paths from a few months ago. One thing I've noticed about Hong Kong that is a major contrast to the US way of life is the incredible attention payed to moving people without their own wheels. There are dedicated bike paths along all major roads, removed by at least a few feet from the road's edge. There are sidewalks everywhere. There are buses, bikes, taxis, trains, trams, light rails, cable cars, and even a couple of old rickshaws

(I think these are out of commission, though).

There are long tunnels under roads that connect offices, malls, train stations, and hotels. And there is a network of pedestrian bridges that mirror the roads below. The one from the Central Pier is at least 4 blocks long (I've never needed to walk the whole thing), and intersects at least three others along its path.

While it isn't notably tall or shiny, this may be one of the most distinctively styled buildings along the shoreline in Central.

It looks cool from the outside, but I wonder what Hong Kong looks like through a round window...

The buildings here are obviously tall and slender, but they're also very closely packed. It reminds me of a forest, but significantly less green and soothing.

This building, 2 International Finance Center, is notably tall and shiny. It is a second shot at holding the title of the tallest building in Hong Kong. The first try, lies pitifully to the right in its big brother's shadow, almost unnoticed.

Many of the buildings in Hong Kong make use of a narrow design element running from the ground floor to near the roof. This accentuates the height and "elegance" of the structure.

While I'm a million miles away from the financial travesty in the US, it seems closer than I care to admit.

The glass and chrome of Hong Kong can make the city seem many times larger and more densely populated than it actually is, as local buildings are doubled and redoubled in the facades of neighboring offices.

I found a building that stood on a handful of massive chrome columns. These provided a great example of the oppressive nature of the buildings being reflected on the column.

A few things surprised me, even in Hong Kong. For all the scale and grandeur of Hong Kong, there are little jewels for people like me who notice little things for whatever meaning they may or may not have...

Possibly the worlds biggest smallest Crocs store - that's not a typo - just look at it.

A beautiful sculpture that depicts a human "breaking free from the machine..."

And quite possibly the most useless escalator in Hong Kong.

I have no idea what this building is, but it is certainly an anachronism amidst the hustle and flash surrounding it.

After I had shot as much of the west end of Central as I felt I needed to, I went wandering up the hill behind the city. I came across a cute little Episcopal Church. Not exactly beautiful, but interesting nonetheless.

As I continued to wander up the mountain, I found myself, suddenly, in the midst of the Hong Kong Zoological and Botanical Gardens. It’s no Washington National Zoo, but it is a quiet, well done, interesting zoo, which is free and open not just to the public, but to the sidewalks and streets surrounding it. It seems like more of a public park with unusual animals than a proper zoo. In addition to a zoo, this park offers amazing views and a quiet spot to rest. The animals are a bonus, because this park is well manicured and very attractive. It has a small sampling of sculptures and a huge public playground as well.

I walked into the "The Hong Kong Zoological and Botanical Gardens" and was greeted by the first 'gator I've ever seen anywhere near the glass for people to see.

There were also some lemurs...

And some flamingos - the birds are not terribly interesting, but the red water thay drank looked pretty sinister. I assume this is a way to keep the birds pink, because I've heard that flamingos are naturally white, and it is actually their diet of shrimp that turns them pink in Florida.

This view reminded me just how steep Hong Kong really is.

After leaving the "zoo", I kept trudging up the hill and came across a seriously Art Deco apartment building.

another view...

Other styles are represented as well... For instance:

umm...organic?


This struck me as a feeble attempt at Classical.

Bauhaus perhaps?

Sci Fi? Futurism? Strange? These two cranes on the HSBC Tower look strikingly similar to massive cannons. This thought is backed up by the fact that, when viewed from afar, they appear to be "aimed" directly at the Bank of China Tower.

It clearly costs a lot of money to live on the mountainside near Central as evidenced by this Rolls Royce. (unless the owner lives in a penthouse, I'd assume this car may be bigger than his apartment.)

And the security around some of these locations is...plenty. Clearly there is no climbing. None.

Eventually, I tired of hiking up the mountainside and decided to stroll back down. I found the entrance for the peak tram, with an enormous sign for SCAD posted right next to it – good marketing placement… and nearby was a nice quiet little Catholic church nestled amongst over- and underpasses and on and off ramps. The battery in my camera had died by this point, so I'm sorry not to be able to share the photos with you all, but that's life.

The apartments here are like nests carved into the mountainside. Hong Kong is one of the few places in the world where the map of the city expands from the water’s edge into the water. It is simply too difficult to build on the mountainsides, so Hong Kong simply reclaims waterfront property and builds land out into the harbor. I heard recently that Victoria Harbor has lost 7000 hectares (don’t ask me what a hectare is) to development along the shore.

After my big day in Central, I took the ferry home and met a guy visiting from Indonesia. He had a spare ticket to watch the National Day Fireworks from the roof of a mall that is right on the water. He'll be sending me his pictures soon and I will go in depth on the interesting story in a future post...For now, here's a link to the incredible fireworks display. It was 23 minutes long and set to music. Overall, it was very well done.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dLHEQjFEVMg