A new kid in town

I

just wanted to show you the present construction status of the International Commerce Centre on the harbour side in West Kowloon. The ICC will be the 3rd tallest building in the world and is expected to become the most prominent office landmark in Hong Kong upon its completion in 2010. The mega-tower will be 118 storeys high - Morgan Stanley has already committed to leasing 10 floors for its Asia-Pacific headquarters - 490 metres above sea level and has been designed by world-renown architects Kohn Pedersen Fox Associates. It will become the only integrated, easily accessible Grade-A commerce and retail space along the peninsula but will also contain boutique residences and green spaces, amongst them a vertical garden with plants embedded in a wall to increase the amount of greenery. Innovative green initiatives are being put in place at the ICC to make the skyscraper more energy efficient and environmentally friendly - the project already won high praises for the introduction of energy-saving lifts, air cons that recycle water (it's estimated that this initiative could save about 10.000 cubic metres of water/year which would fill about 4 Olympic-sized swimming pools) the latest LED technology which will be applied for facade lighting to save energy and mitigate light pollution. It's reported that the extra electricity saved from the ICC would be enough for about one month's consumption by 6.500 four-member families in Hong Kong. Very impressive for architecture fans, keep it coming, can't wait!