The Center, a 73-story 346-meter (1135 feet) high skyscraper, is the fourth tallest building in Hong Kong. Only Two International Finance Centre, Central Plaza and Bank of China Tower are taller. Construction began on the building in 1995 and was completed in 1998. One of the unusual features of The Center is that it has no reinforced concrete core and instead has a structure that is entirely made of steel. The Center is situated in the Central and Western District of Hong Kong Island, on Queen’s Road Central, in between the Central and Sheung Wan stations. Most of The Center consists of office space but there are some retail shops on the ground level. The tower has a magnificent entrance hall on the sixth story and a sky lobby on the 42nd story. Other facilities on the premises include underground parking, a day nursery, and landscaped areas and public open spaces.
The Center development project involved the Land Development Corporation. Many old buildings had to be demolished for the construction project. Many of the old cloth shops along Cloth Alley (Wing On Street) were relocated to the Western Market. The Center’s premises, set on a site area of 8,816 square meters, is an irregular shape due to the developments surrounding the building in the densely packed urban environment.
There were some challenges to the construction project due to the size of the building and the crowded urban environment. One of the biggest problems was getting building materials delivered on a consistent basis. The project required a planned out delivery schedule which had to be constantly updated and coordinated with all of the subcontractors and suppliers. The project used four tower cranes, four lifts and two material hoists during the construction process.
One of the most striking features of the building’s structural design is that is does not contain a reinforced central concrete core, but is entirely reinforced with structural steel, along with additional bracing members. The structure’s rigidity was accomplished through the use of an enormous space frame. The principal foundations of the building tower consists of four 24 meter caissons, with reinforced concrete rafts at the bottom of the caissons which forms a foundation for the building tower’s column clusters. The podium and basement makes use of composite columns and reinforced concrete, and the office tower has a steel structural frame.
The design of The Center is by Dennis Lau & Ng Chun Man Architects and Engineers Ltd. The skyscraper is known for its neon lights at the top of the building that are arranged as bars that increase in frequency up the tower. The lights scroll through a spectrum of colors at night providing a nightly light show, and during the Christmas season, the neon lights arrangement is in the shape of a Christmas tree.
Another distinctive feature of The Center is the automatic system for curtain wall cleaning. On each side of the building’s facade there is a retractable gate door to launch the gondola. All of the wall surfaces can be entirely covered by the automatic cleaning system.