THE 70-story Bank of China(left) was the tallest building in Asia until 1992. TWO International Finance Center(middle), completed in 2003, stands at 415 meters tall and at 88 stories currently stands as Hong Kong’s tallest building. THE 118-story megastructure(right) International Commerce Center located in the heart of West Kowloon.

HONG KONG—Two International Finance Center, The Bank of China Tower and the soon-to-be-finished International Commerce Center are the three most prominent skyscrapers that belong to the top 10 tallest buildings in the world.

These megastructures currently dominate this former British colony’s skylines.

Considered by many as not only on a par in terms of height with other megastructures all over the world, these skyscrapers exceed other more prominent buildings ever made by man  when it comes to aesthetics and design, technology and so-called intelligent features, interior attributes and efficiency.

High modernist architecture and ultra-stylish skyscrapers such as the Bank of China—designed by master Pritzker Prize-winning Chinese-American Architect Ieoh Ming Pei, commonly known by his initials, I.M. Pei, and the Two International Finance Center (IFC), Hong Kong’s tallest building which was completed in 2003 and stands at 415 meters tall and 88 floors—are just two of the more prominent structures that simply described Hong Kong’s phenomenal rise to a first-world category.

Meanwhile, construction of the 118-story megastructure, International Commerce Center (ICC), located in the heart of West Kowloon, remains in full swing. Upon completion, it will become Hong Kong’s tallest building and will have the fourth-highest roof in the world, after the Burj Dubai Complex, Chicago Spire and Shanghai World Financial Center.

Property development, particularly high-rise office and residential condominiums in this side of the world, has tremendously evolved over the past 10 years.

Hong Kong’s property development track has been steadily paced side by side with the necessary infrastructures most of which are already in place, such as an efficient transport system and road network, among others.

Located on the opposite shores of Hong Kong, (ICC and Two IFC), these two skyscrapers will form a stunning gateway across Victoria Harbour and add a fresh dimension to the city’s skyline for the 21st century.

World-renowned designers, architects, developers and builders have made Hong Kong a show window of their enormous talents and creativity in coming up with stylish yet functional and people-friendly megastructures.

Aside from office and residential towers, a new twist in shopping mall development has also begun to evolve. Instead of occupying large areas of land within the city limits, shopping malls have gone upwards. Latest mall developments in Hong Kong and Kowloon side saw the rising of 15- to 20-story shopping and leisure malls. Design specialists from the United States and Europe have made ingenious concept in terms of human traffic flows within these high-rise malls.

These most current scenarios in Hong Kong’s property development front were revealed by Century Properties Group led by its chief operating officer, John Victor R. Antonio, to a group of Manila journalists during a recent trip here.

The visiting journalists were brought to IFC and ICC including Bank of China Tower to personally inspect these megastructures.

Ambassador Jose E.B. Antonio, chairman of Century Properties Inc., has tapped world-famous structural engineering firms led by Ove Arup and Partners. This same company is the structural engineering firm tapped by the Hong Kong’s International Commerce Center (ICC) and Two International Finance Center Tower (IFC).

Incidentally, I.M. Pei, principal designer of China Bank Towers, was also employed by Century Properties in its previous project, the Essensa East Forbes. The condominium development project inside Fort Bonifacio was voted by Asiaweek magazine as the best residential building in the Philippines.

A tour to the Hong Kong headquarters of The Jerde Partnership—a multiawarded architectural and urban planning firm behind numerous global landmarks—provided visiting journalists vital information concerning the actual master-planning of the Century City in the Philippines.

Convergence of the best and the brightest

Century Properties has fully employed Jerde Partnership to take charge, among others, the virtual landscaping—the science and art of combining audio, video and lighting technology with traditional landscaping in areas where people usually couldn’t experience nature because of limited space—in its latest development in Makati, The Century City.

Based in Venice, California, the company is headed by Jon Adams Jerde who pioneered “experience architecture” and the philosophy of “placemaking”.

Jerde Partnership is the lead designer and planner of Bellagio Hotel in Las Vegas, the 2006 winner for best master-planned community—Zlote in Warsaw, Poland, Roppongi Hills in Tokyo and the Universal Citywalk in Los Angeles.

Little Hong Kong

Located in Makati, Century City sits in the former International School (IS) of Manila grounds. Century City is envisioned by Century properties chairman Ambassador Antonio to set the pace and become the model type of mixed-use development in the country.

“Century City will make ‘Little Hong Kong’ in the City of Makati,” Antonio said. High modernist architecture and state-of-the-art megastructures will rise on a portion of the former IS property.

The Gramercy Residences at Century City

Named after a private residential park in New York, the P5-billion Gramercy will have approximately 60 floors. Aside from foreign engineers and designers, Century Properties will likewise utilize Filipino interior designer Chat Fores.  

There are 1,000 residential units that come in flat and loft configurations—from a 26-sq-m studio to a 154-sq-m three-bedroom loft.

Its so-called hyperamenities include the 6,000-square-meter, three-floor SkyPark, an amenity deck with three pools, three gyms, a day-care center, spa, DVD library and THX theater, café, book club, lounge, conference room, yoga and Pilates room set 36 stories above the ground, providing residents with unobstructed views of the Makati skyline.

The Gramercy’s groundbreaking was held last month. The tower’s first phase will be completed in 2011.

Century City will comprise 60-percent residential spaces, 30-percent offices and 10-percent commercial spaces.

Clarification: Century City is a 3.4 hectare development within the former International School of Manila (“Property”) consisting of 4.8 hectares. Picar Holdings Inc. owns 1.3 hectares of the property and has the exclusive right to build a hotel.  

HONG KONG—Two International Finance Center, The Bank of China Tower and the soon-to-be-finished International Commerce Center are the three most prominent skyscrapers that belong to the top 10 tallest buildings in the world.

SAN DIEGO -- The two men stood 50 feet apart, each well aware the other was watching, each, in his own way, a sentinel.

It's all the suburbs' fault. You know, everything—traffic congestion, overweight kids, social alienation. Oh, and lest we forget, global warming and rising energy costs, too.