L.A. Firm to Plan Mall in Hong Kong

It’s difficult enough to design a 1-million-square-foot shopping mall the size of Orange County’s South Coast Plaza. But try building such a retail complex on top of a busy subway station. Then, just to complicate things further, add 20 or so skyscrapers on the mall roof.

That is the architectural and engineering challenge that lies ahead for Altoon & Porter Architects, the Los Angeles firm that recently was selected to design the mall portion of what will be a massive commercial and residential complex that will sit above the new Kowloon Station in Hong Kong.

The two-level mall and its approximately 200 stores will be located between the new subway station, which will connect Hong Kong with its new airport, and 12 million square feet of office, hotel and residential space. “It’s like the salami in a sandwich,” said James Porter, who will be in charge of the project.

Even by Asian standards, where massive, mixed-use projects are common in crowded cities, the Kowloon project is highly complex, said Porter. Porter should know, because his firm’s portfolio includes a six-story Indonesian shopping center topped by eight high-rise towers.

As a result of sitting between a key subway stop and a giant commercial and residential center, the mall at Kowloon Station is expected to see more customer traffic--about 130,000 people a day--than any other shopping center in the world. The typical American regional shopping mall handles only about a quarter as many customers.

In addition, Porter’s firm must come up with a smooth transition between the subway station--which is expected to open later this year--and skyscrapers that will be designed by other architects and may not be built for a decade after the mall opens. That means everything from escalators to plumbing will have to be carefully designed and positioned to tie together the entire project. The mall itself is expected to be completed in four years.

“There are a number of designers and architects working hand in hand,” said Porter. “So that makes it a challenge.”

Construction Activity Soars: Buoyed by the state’s rebounding economy, the value of commercial and highway construction projects in California in 1997 jumped 18.17% from the previous year to $37.85 billion, according to the Construction Industry Research Board.

Non-highway construction--which includes residential and commercial--rose an even stronger 24.2% to $30.9 billion.

The value of private, commercial construction reached $12.2 billion last year--the highest level since 1990.

Construction activity should continue to rise this year and next but at a slower pace, according to forecasts by Ben Bartolotto, director of the research board. The dollar volume of construction should rise 5.8% this year.