Render vs. Reality // A Faked Nature
Hong Kong is a dense city, of that, there is absolutely no question. To a certain extent then, one might expect nature and natural eco-systems to be prized and protected, given its fragility and rarity in this concrete jungle. One could not be more wrong. Upon reviewing a project which has since been completed in Hong Kong, I am sad to declare that the notion of preserving nature has been twisted and capitalised merely into a marketing ploy.
Official government statistics the late 2000s concluded that in Hong Kong, 89% of electricity consumption and 70% of greenhouse gases were the direct result of building usage and building construction (Yau, 2008). Despite this shocking statistic, what we find in the realm of urban residential design which has no bearing to improving this situation.
Lake Silver is a large residential project, next to a Country Park and the pristine Tolo Harbour in the city’s north represents a shocking lack of sustainable motivation and respect for nature. Even the architect’s design intent for “seven jewels within the resort environment” (Methanola Studio, 2009) appears to be seeking to mould an imaginary idealisation of nature rather than seeking a critical engagement with environment and topography. The result is a fabrication, a falsified architectural creation, which results in further separation and thus reinforces human dominance over nature rather than humans living within nature. This ‘pristine nature’ is the insular façade we as urban citizens are increasingly hiding under, denying the truth of our unsustainable city developments and instead creating these gardens to pretend that nature is still very much alright.
Ironically perhaps however, Lake Silver’s television advertisement has a strong emphasis on the project’s proximity to nature, declaring boldly in Chinese, “set beside Hong Kong’s most treasured natural landscape vistas” (Sino Land, 2009). Nature has been reduced to an object to be sold, a desirable escape where people can “spend your days living next to nature in a palace by the sea” (Sino Land, 2009). As mesmerizing as Andrea Bocelli's rendition of Con Te Partirois, the images below will reveal to us the seriousness of the situation, not to mention how far reality stands from rendering. With a series of apartments designed like this , I would caution that unless a fundamental reassessment of residential design is made, even the property developers will soon be left without a natural reserve to sell in their airy-fairy advertisements.
Actual aerial photo of Lake Silver, showing pre-existing
and proposed developments surrounding it.
Advertising nature: The original advertisement for Lake Silver,
showing apparently pristine natural condition.
References
Sino Land. (2009). Where is Your Paradise? Lake Silver. Retrieved Online Via:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z2xiVDcbjjs
Methanola Studio. (2009). ORO/SINO LAND – Lake Silver Development. Retrieved Online Via:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EuzgbMd_QcY
China Dialogue. (2010). A Structural Problem. Retrieved Online via:
https://www.chinadialogue.net/article/3922-A-structural-problem
Edward Yau (Secretary for Environment, Hong Kong). Press Release on 20 June 2008 for O2 Vision Climate Conference. Retrieved Online via: http://www.info.gov.hk/gia/general/200806/20/P200806200230.htm