Newsletter No. 43

CUHK Newsletter No.43 June 1993 Planning for the Future: Do You Want a Part? How should we guide the future development of our campus? As the University rapidly expands, more and more buildings will appear and planners will be faced with a host of difficult problems: how should we best utilize available space for new structures? What should they look like? What are the best sites for teaching blocks, hostels, residences, amenities, and landscaping? How can we best link these places together? What elements of the existing campus should be preserved? How can we strike a good balance between development and environment? The vice-chancellor appointed a Working Group on Campus Master Development Plan in late 1990 to study the current situation, identify problems, and draw up clear guidelines for the physical planning of our campus in the future. The working group is chaired by Prof. Tunney Lee, head of the University's new Department of Architecture. It has carried out preliminary studies and issued its first report last April. Explanatory workshops on relevant issues will be organized in the summer, and all are welcome to attend. I f you have brilliant ideas and are genuinely interested in helping to build a better campus for all to live and work in, do get in touch with Mr. Ronald Chiu (Ext. 6556), who will tell you how you can play a part. To Use and Not to Use Fair-faced Concrete Characteristics Fair-faced concrete buildings are noted for their form and pattern design. The austerity in form gives them an aura of dignity and solemnity. Always greyish in tone, their outer walls are well regulated and patterned without manifesting colour or glossy decorations. Their construction demands high quality formwork and skilful workmanship: the sophisticated grooved patterns on the outer walls of the University Library Building, for example, were skilfully hammered out by hand. Popular in the 1970s Fair-faced concrete structures constitute the first generation of buildings on the campus: the University Library Building, the University Administration Building, the Institute of Chinese Studies, and the earliest buildings for New Asia College and United College. They were all designed by the late Dr. Szeto Wai, University Architect, and completed in the 1970s, when fair-faced concrete was popular and when labour costs were still low. These structures are scattered all over the campus and blend well with the natural environment. Abandoned after 1980 Without protection from paint, glazed tiles, facing stones and other exterior decorations, buildings using fair-faced concrete are vulnerable to the elements. In subtropical Hong Kong with its warm and humid springs and rainy summers, the concrete in the outer walls of these structures spalls and mildews easily, causing serious leaks, rusting of iron bars embedded in the concrete, and damage to the mechanical and electrical engineering installations inside the building. Fair-faced concrete buildings are therefore very difficult and costly to maintain. The local building industry abandoned its use in the 1980s, and as labour costs continued to rise, the government also advised the University against using fair-faced concrete for its buildings. Thereafter, buildings with multi-colour external walls began to appear on the campus. The Choh-Ming Li Building for Basic Medical Sciences completed in 1982 was the first follower of such a new trend. 8