tim's experiment

I owe Hong Kong architects a profound apology. Over the years I have been pretty rude about Hong Kong architecture. Most Hong Kong buildings are carefully dssigned to maximise the owner’s income or profit. The architect is too busy exploring plot ratio loopholes to worry about the eventual appearance of the result. When something more interesting is attempted it is usually either boring or derivative or both. Sites with great potential are squandered: the Convention Centre looks like the Sydney Opera House would have looked if it was designed by a committee; the Art Museum looks like a giant public toilet; the new Government offices … Well you see the point. However, last weekend I went to Macau for the first time since, I think, about 1990. A great deal has happened to Macau since then, most of it bad. The city now offers a chance to recalibrate your assessments of architecture. Architecture does not have to be boring. It can be ostentatiously hideous.

We played at the Venetian (music, not at the tables) which I found quite acceptable as casino resorts go. If you are going to copy an alien and historic style then Venetian republican is not a bad choice. The curious thing was that having been to the Venetian first, walking round the old parts of Macau was disconcerting. The ground floors are occupied by retail outlets from the usual suspects – much the same gang as those found round the Venetian’s fake Grand Canal. The upper floors are in Macau antique and they all look freshly painted. The result is that you could be back in the Venetian, though in Macau proper you do get a real sky.

I noticed that the old Lisboa rotunda had miraculously survived. It used to be a by-word for over-blown ostentation. In its present company it looks a model of dignified restraint. The outstanding eyesore is the new building just behind it, a sort of multi-storey gold eruption. I am not sure what the shape is supposed to be. From the direction of Taipa it looks rather like one of the pawn shop signs of which Macau has so many, gathered in vulture flocks round the casinos. I suppose a reminder that the house always wins in the long run could be considered a public-spirited feature in a town devoted to gambling, but I can’t believe they intended it to be the first thing people would notice.

The other thing which has changed about Macau is that it was full of mainlanders. Well this was quite close to the Golden Week holiday, but still … Outside of the businesses which they staff, Macau people seemed as rare as native Americans on the streets of Detroit. This is what the Tourism Authority is working so hard to bring to  us here in Hong Kong. Oh dear. I have seen the future and it sucks.