[JSS2006]

Someone visited 2 years ago and visited an amazing building in HK where everything was glass and transparent - even the toilets where one could look down at the city???!!! I've never heard of this - would anyone know what she was talking about. She can't remember where it was.

[Decca]

Top of the Peninsula Hotel in T.S.T. - As soon as you arrive at the top in the elevator the lights dim and you step out into a corridor. Toilets are located at one end and dining room/bar at the other. This exhibitionist option is ony available for Male Toilet visitors only I'm afraid! As a guy you get to 'aim' at Kowloon.

People go there just to visit the toilet.

[discobay]

On a similar level the toilets next to the Broadway cinema at apm shopping centre offer a 180 degree view over the lovely Ngau Tau Kok/Kwun Tong area. I can only comment on the male toilets at this stage.

[fly]

Somehow transparent toilets themselves wouldn't be a big attraction for me...

[fly]

Oh, and the bar is called "Felix", a great example of mid/late 80's Philippe Starck interiors

[DaveD]

but there is a big residential (?) building on the way to Stanley, very close to Repulse bay.... it looks like it is made out of glass only! So a perfect home for peepers? ;-)

But the weird thing: I don't think anybody is living in there.... Every time I pass by, there are security guys or so but no residents?!? Why not?!

It looks like a great place to live in though... overlooking the sea etc.
Does anbody know what's wrong with this estate??
Maybe we could found the GeoInvest Group Ltd. and buy it....

[Lammarite]

If you're talking about "The Girdle' then it has an interesting past.
It is owned by a mainland company and initially Sir David Foster was commissioned to do the design- something he promptly did. When it came to collecting his fees they basically told him they didn't like the design and weren't going to go to build. They then gave all the plans to plans to a local architect who 'tweaked' it enough that when Sir Foster tried to sue them for design fees it was thrown out.
Unfortunately the architect didn't understand the complexity of the initial design and, combined with poor build quality to save some readies, the building is now inherently unsafe.
It was built as an office block but they never tried to lease it, now they are applying for a license to turn it into serviced apartments- something they know it will not be granted. Basically it is a great big money laundering service! All the above is 'allegedly' by the way.

I remember a typhoon right after they put the glass in- almost all of them came out and the broken glass at the bottom was knee-deep!

[DaveD]

Lammarite, WOW!!
You should become an author....

It sounds like an Edgar Wallace story.... only missing an old Lady being killed in that building.

Anyway, thanks for this great post. For more than one year I tried to find out what was going on there...

Originally Posted by Lammarite

If you're talking about "The Girdle' then it has an interesting past.
It is owned by a mainland company and initially Sir David Foster was commissioned to do the design- something he promptly did. When it came to collecting his fees they basically told him they didn't like the design and weren't going to go to build. They then gave all the plans to plans to a local architect who 'tweaked' it enough that when Sir Foster tried to sue them for design fees it was thrown out.
Unfortunately the architect didn't understand the complexity of the initial design and, combined with poor build quality to save some readies, the building is now inherently unsafe.
It was built as an office block but they never tried to lease it, now they are applying for a license to turn it into serviced apartments- something they know it will not be granted. Basically it is a great big money laundering service! All the above is 'allegedly' by the way.

I remember a typhoon right after they put the glass in- almost all of them came out and the broken glass at the bottom was knee-deep!

[donabel_beltran]

Lammarite, however do you know THAT story? :-) But it's a very informative bit, true. I must regale my friends about that one day when I assume the tour-guide role again.

Hmmm, what other structures, etc. have "legends" like this?

:-D

[nation]

Originally Posted by Lammarite

If you're talking about "The Girdle' then it has an interesting past.
It is owned by a mainland company and initially Sir David Foster was commissioned to do the design- something he promptly did. When it came to collecting his fees they basically told him they didn't like the design and weren't going to go to build. They then gave all the plans to plans to a local architect who 'tweaked' it enough that when Sir Foster tried to sue them for design fees it was thrown out.
!

Do you mean Sir Norman Foster?