Xinhua News Agency, Hong Kong, 26 October
Xinhua News Agency reporter Lu Min Chen Peiying
In the West Kowloon Cultural District on the banks of Victoria Harbour in Hong Kong, a giant building resembling an ancient vessel square tripod stands proudly facing the sea, with a golden appearance that is particularly eye-catching in the sun.
This is the Hong Kong Palace Museum (hereinafter referred to as the "Hong Kong Palace") established by the Beijing Palace Museum in cooperation with the Hong Kong West Kowloon Cultural District Authority. Brand new landmark.
The reporter interviewed Wang Yong (right), the head of China State Construction International Corporation's Hong Kong Forbidden City project in front of the Hong Kong Forbidden City, which is about to be completed (photographed on October 22). Photo by Xinhua News Agency reporter Wu Xiaochu
The Forbidden City of Hong Kong is surrounded by the sea on three sides, covering an area of about 17,000 square meters, with a total construction area of about 43,000 square meters. The main building is a 7-story museum building. The project officially started on April 24, 2019. At present, the main project has been basically completed. It is expected to be completed and fully delivered by the end of this year, and will be open to the public in the middle of next year.
This means that the northern deep palace national treasure has a new home in the southern country. The two "Forbidden City" in the north and the south, one embodies the wisdom of ancient craftsmen, and the other shows the style of building a great country, looking out from the distance, jointly guarding and inheriting Chinese civilization.
Tribute to tradition
The overall shape of the Forbidden City in Hong Kong draws on the aesthetic characteristics of traditional Chinese artifacts, which are "wide on top and bottom on the bottom, solid on the top", presenting the unique shape of the Fang Ding, creating a stable and heavy sense of history.
How unique the design is, how difficult it is to construct. Speaking of the construction process, Wang Yong, the head of the Hong Kong Forbidden City Project of China State Construction International Group Co., Ltd., used six words: pass five passes and cut six generals.
Wang Yong, head of the Hong Kong Forbidden City Project of China State Construction International Corporation, was interviewed by Xinhua News Agency reporter (photographed on October 22). Photo by Xinhua News Agency reporter Wu Xiaochu
"Big upper and lower gathering" is embodied in the building structure as a high-inclination sloping wall, the slope of the largest sloping wall reaches 1:3. Standing in front of the "Fangding" at close range, the reporter immediately felt the visual impact of the inclined wall. “The entire museum building has 4 groups of combined structural columns supporting up to 4 floors of cantilevered structures. The thickness of the iron plate is 100 mm. The steel material used alone exceeds 480 tons.” Wang Yong said, each connection position requires 4 groups of workers. It takes 12 hours to complete the welding.
It is worth mentioning that the exterior wall of the building uses fair-faced concrete on a large area, that is, the wall is directly shown with concrete, no longer any decorative surface, there is a natural and simple texture of carving. "This process has very high requirements on various aspects, such as flatness, color and density of holes. The concrete itself is very coarse, and it is not easy to achieve particularly smoothness." Wang Yong said.
The Forbidden City of Hong Kong draws on many design elements of the Forbidden City of Beijing, such as the 10 doors of the main entrance, each with 9 rows of door nails in each row; more than 20 light-transmitting glass panels on the ground in front of the door, the layout and curvature are all Simulate the Jinshui River in front of the Forbidden City. "Use these elements to echo the Forbidden City in Beijing." Wang Yong said.
Entering the main building, the biggest surprise is to refer to the central axis concept of the most distinctive space design of the Forbidden City in Beijing. Different floors are connected together.
Technology Empowerment
Every visitor approaching the Forbidden City in Hong Kong is hard not to be attracted by its golden appearance. 4022 golden aluminum plates create a glazed tile-like exterior wall effect. Looking closer, each aluminum plate has a curved surface with holes and different shapes. The holes gradually become larger from bottom to top, from solid to hollow, and the virtual and solid gradually change, creating an interesting contrast.
The reporter was photographing the uniquely crafted facade of the Forbidden City in Hong Kong (photographed on October 22). Photo by Xinhua News Agency reporter Wu Xiaochu
If such an aluminum plate is produced in a traditional way, the processing takes a long time and the installation error is large. "Now we use building information simulation (BIM) technology to assist in the generation of processing drawings for each component, guide the production and installation throughout the process, and greatly improve production efficiency and accuracy." Wang Yong said. In the end, 4022 aluminum plates were successfully produced and installed, achieving a construction accuracy within 3 mm.
For museums that treasure national treasures, safety always comes first. Constant temperature and humidity, wind and disaster resistance, security and theft are all indispensable, and the engineering team guarantees it through a series of complex and sophisticated systems. They adjusted more than 8000 valves and 1224 air nozzles to achieve a temperature control accuracy of ±2℃ and a humidity control accuracy of ±5% relative humidity in the hall.
Hong Kong Forbidden City Smart Site Command Center (photographed on October 22). Photo by Xinhua News Agency reporter Wu Xiaochu
Fire safety is undoubtedly the top priority. Various difficult fire-fighting systems such as the Novec 1230 clean gas fire extinguishing system, pre-acting shower sprinkler system, stair pressurization system, etc. are all in the battle and work together.
“The cultural relics storage room uses Novec 1230 clean gas fire extinguishing system, which can fill 400 square meters of space with inert gas within 30 seconds without spraying water. Once a fire occurs, the cultural relics can be protected to the greatest extent.” Wang Yong said.
A good exhibition experience is also essential. They installed a shock-absorbing slingshot on each ceiling screw to reduce sound and noise, so that the noise requirements of the entire exhibition hall can reach a higher standard.
Moment of glory
The importance of the word "Forbidden City" in the hearts of Chinese people is self-evident.
"When everyone saw that this project was the'Forbidden City', they felt that China Construction should do it." Recalling the original bidding situation, Wang Yong said.
China State Construction International Corporation entered the Hong Kong construction market in 1979 and has successfully completed major construction projects such as the Hong Kong International Airport Passenger Terminal Building and the Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macao Bridge Hong Kong Approach Bridge. "China State Construction has done countless projects in Hong Kong over the past 40 years. First, we really want to do it, and second, we have the ability to do it. In the end, we won this project." Wang Yong said.
After the project started, Wang Yong made a special trip to the Forbidden City in Beijing. He had been to the Forbidden City before, but this time he felt very different. From the perspective of an architect, the Forbidden City in Beijing, which has been built for more than 600 years, has gone through the changes of the times and wars and turmoil, and it is so complete and exquisite so far, which makes him "very shocking."
"The Forbidden City represents our Chinese civilization. The purpose of building a museum is to protect these precious cultural relics and to promote and spread Chinese culture." Wang Yong said, "This is not an ordinary task, but an important mission. It must be built well to reflect our contemporary The spirit of craftsman shows the level of construction of a great country."
After two and a half years of construction, various projects are now progressing as scheduled, and 17 awards including engineering, safety, and environmental protection have been won during the construction process. Not long ago, Hong Kong industry experts and colleagues visited the main building and gave a high evaluation to the project.
Wang Yong and his colleagues are proud to participate in this major project. During the peak period of construction, there are more than 1,000 people participating in the construction every day on the construction site, most of which are local employees in Hong Kong. A Hong Kong worker said that he had been to the Forbidden City in Beijing when he was a child, and he is particularly proud to participate in the construction of the Forbidden City in Hong Kong.