The construction of the HSBC building in Hong Kong – images from its architect Foster + Partners
HSBC Main Building (香港滙豐總行大廈) is a headquarters building of The Hongkong and Shanghai Banking Corporation, which is today a wholly owned subsidiary of London-based HSBC Holdings. It is located on the southern side of Statue Square near the location of the old City Hall, Hong Kong. The previous HSBC building was built in 1935 and pulled down to make way for the current building.
The current building is the fourth HSBC headquarters in Hong Kong. The wikipedia article below provides details of the other three.
The new building was designed by the British architect Norman Foster and civil & structural engineers Ove Arup & Partners with service design by J. Roger Preston & Partners. It was constructed by the John Lok / Wimpey Joint Venture. From the concept to completion, it took seven years (1978–1985). The building is 180 metres high with 47 storeys and four basement levels.The building has a modular design consisting of five steel modules prefabricated in the UK by Scott Lithgow Shipbuilders near Glasgow, and shipped to Hong Kong. About 30,000 tons of steel and 4,500 tons of aluminium were used.
Foster + Partners is a British international studio for architecture and integrated design, with headquarters in London. The practice is led by its founder and chairman, Norman Foster, and has constructed many high-profile glass-and-steel buildings.
Yannis Baritakis has kindly sent links from the Foster + Partners’ website showing background information to the building’s construction itself, and development and drawings from F + P presumably made prior to construction or during this period itself. These complement our two posted articles on this subject shown below.
IDJ suggests: The book Hong Kong Bank-The building of Norman Foster’s masterpiece by Stephanie Williams-1989 is the book to have for the whole process-concept to completion.
HF: I have selected a couple of images from each of three links sent by Yanni under the subtitles Foster + Partners use.
Construction
Development
Drawings
Sources:
- HSBC Building (Hong Kong) wikipedia
- https://www.fosterandpartners.com/projects/hongkong-and-shanghai-bank-headquarters/#construction
- https://www.fosterandpartners.com/projects/hongkong-and-shanghai-bank-headquarters/#development
- https://www.fosterandpartners.com/projects/hongkong-and-shanghai-bank-headquarters/#drawings
- Building relationships: how Hong Kong women overcome myths and prejudice to succeed as engineers in the male-dominated world of construction SCMP 13th July 2019
This article was first posted on 16th March 2019.
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I am glad to know about the idea of what they use in building hsbc.
As for such commercial building, only steel structure could allow vast interior space for the building.