Reading Week- Kwun Tong and Belcher Bay

Hey Everyone,

This week was Hong Kong University's Reading Week. Roughly translated from anyone taking architecture, this is the week we hope to catch up, and get some sleep. At least, that's what I thought reading week was. In HKU reading week for architecture students is the equivalent to field trips, workshops, working, and another week of sleepless nights.

Over the last couple of days, my studio, which was Hong Kong based, had the pleasure of sitting through multiple workshops, films, and walking A LOT. The past Tuesday consisted of arriving at school for a 10:00 am presentation and being dismissed at 11:45pm in Kwun Tong. It was a good thing that I had completed my analysis of selected readings the night prior, but either way, everyone at one point in time had only a few hours of sleep. The workshops were interesting and with the intensive two day workshop, I think as a studio group we got to know each other a little better.

Image taken by Joey

There were a lot of new experiences and places that I hadn't been, so the following is a snap shot of a couple of the places we went to:

Kwun Tong is located in the eastern area of the Kowloon Peninsula. As one of the first "New Towns" in Hong Kong, it was and still is an industrial town. Kwun Tong aka. Koon Tong was suspected to be named after the Koon Fu salt yards and established to prevent unauthorised trading by the government. Koon roughly translated, means official or government, but in the 1950's local residents petitioned the government to change the name to Kwun Tong which now translates to "viewing the pond".

The roof of one of the industrial buildings

Light well

Belcher Bay is the bay outside Kennedy Town on the northwest shore of Hong Kong. Belcher Bay was named after Admiral Sir Edward Belcher (1799-1877), a Nova Scotian Bristish naval officiee, who surveyed the area in the 1840's. Currently, it is a docking area for ships to load and unload their goods. The space is also where construction materials are kept before being carted off to the site.

A Landscape of Bamboo

Bamboo Supports

Until next time, take care!