Union Square (Hong Kong)
Encyclopedia
Hong Kong
Hong Kong is one of two Special Administrative Regions of the People's Republic of China , the other being Macau. A city-state situated on China's south coast and enclosed by the Pearl River Delta and South China Sea, it is renowned for its expansive skyline and deep natural harbour...
on the West Kowloon
West Kowloon
West Kowloon is a part of Kowloon, Hong Kong situated within the Yau Tsim Mong District. It is bounded by Canton Road to the east, Victoria Harbour to the west and the south, and Jordan Road to the north. Further to the north, the area extends to Tai Kok Tsui to the west of the West Kowloon...
reclamation. Covering 13.54 hectares (33.5 acre), the site has a gross floor area of 1090026 sqm, approximately the size of the Canary Wharf
Canary Wharf
Canary Wharf is a major business district located in London, United Kingdom. It is one of London's two main financial centres, alongside the traditional City of London, and contains many of the UK's tallest buildings, including the second-tallest , One Canada Square...
development in London. As of 2011, the development houses some of the tallest buildings in Hong Kong—including the tallest commercial building in Hong Kong, 108-storey International Commerce Centre
International Commerce Centre
The International Commerce Centre is a 108 floor, skyscraper completed in 2010 in West Kowloon, Hong Kong. It is a part of the Union Square project built on top of Kowloon Station. The development is owned and jointly developed by MTR Corporation Limited and Sun Hung Kai Properties, Hong...
—and the loftiest residential tower in Hong Kong, 270 metres (885.8 ft) high Cullinan.
Union Square is located at 1 Austin Road West, Tsim Sha Tsui
Tsim Sha Tsui
Tsim Sha Tsui , often abbreviated as TST, is an urbanized area in southern Kowloon, Hong Kong. The area is administratively part of the Yau Tsim Mong District. Tsim Sha Tsui East is a piece of land reclaimed from the Hung Hom Bay now east of Tsim Sha Tsui...
, Kowloon
Kowloon
Kowloon is an urban area in Hong Kong comprising the Kowloon Peninsula and New Kowloon. It is bordered by the Lei Yue Mun strait in the east, Mei Foo Sun Chuen and Stonecutter's Island in the west, Tate's Cairn and Lion Rock in the north, and Victoria Harbour in the south. It had a population of...
, Hong Kong. It integrates the Kowloon Station
Kowloon Station
Kowloon Station may refer to:*Kowloon Station, a station on the MTR Tung Chung Line and Airport Express, near West Kowloon Cultural district*Kowloon Station , the south terminus of the British Section of the Kowloon-Canton Railway at Tsim Sha Tsui , southmost of Kowloon, demolished in 1974*Former...
of the Hong Kong Mass Transit Railway
MTR
Mass Transit Railway is the rapid transit railway system in Hong Kong. Originally opened in 1979, the system now includes 211.6 km of rail with 155 stations, including 86 railway stations and 69 light rail stops...
. The built area includes 5,866 residential units (totalling 608026 sqm), 2,230 hotel rooms, and 2,490 serviced apartments with 167472 sqm of combined hotel and serviced apartment space and 231778 sqm of office space. This development has a 82750 sqm shopping mall, Elements.
Overview
| Completion | Building | Floors | Height | |
| 2000 | | The Waterfront, Tower 1 | 46 | 142.46 metres (467.4 ft) |
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| 2000 | The Waterfront, Tower 2 | 46 | 142.46 metres (467.4 ft) |
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| 2000 | The Waterfront, Tower 3 | 46 | 142.46 metres (467.4 ft) |
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| 2000 | The Waterfront, Tower 5 | 46 | 142.46 metres (467.4 ft) |
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| 2000 | The Waterfront, Tower 6 | 46 | 142.46 metres (467.4 ft) |
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| 2000 | The Waterfront, Tower 7 | 46 | 142.46 metres (467.4 ft) |
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| 2003 | | Sorrento Tower 1 | 75 | 256.3 metres (840.9 ft) |
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| 2003 | Sorrento Tower 2 | 66 | 236 metres (774.3 ft) |
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| 2003 | Sorrento, Tower 3 | 64 | 218 metres (715.2 ft) |
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| 2003 | Sorrento, Tower 5 | 62 | 212 metres (695.5 ft) |
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| 2003 | Sorrento, Tower 6 | 60 | 206 metres (675.9 ft) |
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| 2003 | > The Harbourside | |||
| 2005 | ||||
| 2007 |  | The Cullinan North Tower | 68 | 269.92 metres (885.6 ft) |
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| 2007 | The Cullinan South Tower | 68 | 269.92 metres (885.6 ft) |
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| 2010 | > |
The Waterfront
The Waterfront (漾日居), phase I of Union Square, was developed by the consortiumConsortium
A consortium is an association of two or more individuals, companies, organizations or governments with the objective of participating in a common activity or pooling their resources for achieving a common goal....
led by Wing Tai Asia, including Temasek Holdings
Temasek Holdings
Temasek Holdings is an investment company owned by the government of Singapore. With an international staff of 380 people, it manages a portfolio of about S$193 billion at end of March 2011, focused primarily in Asia...
, Singapore Land, Keppel Land, Lai Sun Development
Lai Sun Development
Lai Sun Development is a public company listed on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange established in 1987 by the textiles magnate Lim Por-yen. His company, Lai Sun Garment, was founded in 1947, is also listed on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange...
, World-wide Investment and USI Holdings. It consists of 1,288 apartments in 6 residential towers. It was completed in 2000, together with Dickson Cyber Express, a 70000 square feet (6,503.2 m²) cyber
Cyber
Cyber may refer to:* Cyber-, a common prefix* Cybergoth* CDC Cyber, a range of mainframe computers* Cyber Acoustics, a brand of computer hardware* Cyber Missionary* Cybersex * Cyberitis * Cyber...
shopping mall of Dickson Concepts
Dickson Concepts
Dickson Concepts Ltd. is a Bermuda domiciled company listed on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange. It has held the distributorship of Polo and Ralph Lauren products in Asia for in excess of twenty years...
. But Dickson Cyber Express was closed after Internet bubble burst.
Sorrento
Sorrento (擎天半島) is a residential complex occupying the northern edge of the Union Square. The complex was built by The Wharf Estate Development Ltd.The Wharf (Holdings)
The Wharf Limited , or Wharf in short, is a company founded in 1886 in Hong Kong. As its name suggests, the company's original business was in running wharfage and dockside warehousing, and it was originally known as The Hongkong and Kowloon Wharf and Godown Company, Limited...
and MTR Corporation
MTR Corporation
MTR Corporation Limited is a company listed on the Hong Kong Exchange and included in the Hang Seng Index. MTR owns and runs the Hong Kong MTR metro system, and is also a major property developer and landlord in Hong Kong...
. It contains five residential towers completed in 2003, designed by Wong & Ouyang (HK) Ltd.
Wong & Ouyang (HK) Ltd.
Wong & Ouyang Ltd. is a group of architectural and engineering practice with offices in Hong Kong, Shanghai and Guangzhou.-External links:* * Wong & Ouyang Ltd., , September 2009...
.
The towers are named Sorrento 1 through Sorrento 6. As in many buildings in Hong Kong, tower 4 is omitted because the Cantonese number "4"
Tetraphobia
Tetraphobia is an aversion to or fear of the number . It is a superstition most common in East Asian regions such as Mainland China, Taiwan, Japan, Korea and Vietnam....
is a homophone for the Cantonese
Cantonese
Cantonese is a dialect spoken primarily in south China.Cantonese may also refer to:* Yue Chinese, the Chinese language that includes Cantonese* Cantonese cuisine, the cuisine of Guangdong province...
word "death". All five towers follow the same design however reduced in height consecutively with the tallest being Sorrento 1 and the shortest being Sorrento 6. Sorrento 1 is 256 metres (841 feet) tall with 75 floors. It is the tallest residential building of Hong Kong, and fifth-tallest residential building in the world. There is a total of 2,126 units in Sorrento. Between Sorrento 2 and Sorrento 3 is a gap, where a foot bridge connects the Sorrento residential complex to Kowloon Station
Kowloon Station
Kowloon Station may refer to:*Kowloon Station, a station on the MTR Tung Chung Line and Airport Express, near West Kowloon Cultural district*Kowloon Station , the south terminus of the British Section of the Kowloon-Canton Railway at Tsim Sha Tsui , southmost of Kowloon, demolished in 1974*Former...
and the Elements Mall
Elements, Hong Kong
Elements is a large shopping mall located on 1 Austin Road West, Tsim Sha Tsui, Kowloon, Hong Kong. It is developed and managed by MTR Corporation through its subsidiary Premier Management Service.-Description and architectural themes:...
.
The Harbourside
The Harbourside (君臨天下) is a 255 m (836.6 ft) tall residential skyscraper located at 1 Austin Road West, in the Union Square complex. Construction of the 74-storey building began in 2001 and was completed in 2004 under the design by P & T Architects & Engineers.From a distance The Harbourside appears as one wall of a building. However, the building is actually three towers joined at the base, middle and top. The gaps between the towers help relieve the stress caused by the wind since the building has a large surface area, allowing it to act as a sail. It was constructed as part of the Kowloon Station development and was the fourth phase. All floors are used for residential purposes.
The tower is the 91st tallest building in the world when measured up to the highest architectural point.
The Arch
The Arch is an 81-floor 231-metre (758 feet) tall skyscraper completed in 2006 located in Union Square. It is the third-tallest residential building in Hong Kong, consisting of four towers: Sun Tower, Star Tower, Moon Tower, and Sky Tower. The Star Tower is connected to the Moon Tower, while the Sky Tower is connected to the Sun Tower. The Sun and Moon Towers join at the 69th floor and the floors above to form an arch, hence the name "The Arch".The Cullinan
The Cullinan (天璽), also referred to as Kowloon Station Development Package 6 or Union Square Phase 6, is a residential complex developed by Sun Hung Kai Properties. The North Tower and South Tower of the Cullinan are Hong Kong's tallest residential towers, with 68 stories and a height of 270 metres (886 feet). Both were completed in 2008 and 2009.Kowloon Station Development Package 6 was named after the 3,106-carat (621.2 g) Cullinan Diamond
Cullinan Diamond
The Cullinan diamond is the largest rough gem-quality diamond ever found, at .The largest polished gem from the stone is named Cullinan I or the Great Star of Africa, and at was the largest polished diamond in the world until the 1985 discovery of the Golden Jubilee Diamond, , also from the...
, the largest diamond in the world, found in 1905. The Cullinan complex was planned to be 45 stories until the cancellation of Union Square Phase 5. The number of floors was then increased to the current 68.
International Commerce Centre
The International Commerce Centre is a 108-floor, 484-meter (1,588 ft) skyscraper completed in 2010, owned and jointly developed by MTR CorporationMTR Corporation
MTR Corporation Limited is a company listed on the Hong Kong Exchange and included in the Hang Seng Index. MTR owns and runs the Hong Kong MTR metro system, and is also a major property developer and landlord in Hong Kong...
and Sun Hung Kai Properties. It is currently the world's fourth tallest building as well as the tallest building in Hong Kong. The five-star Ritz-Carlton Hong Kong hotel currently occupies floors 102 to 118.
Shopping complex
Elements, the shopping mall in Union Square, occupies 500000 sq ft (46,451.5 m²). As of 2008, it had a total of 123 shops, with an ice rinkIce rink
An ice rink is a frozen body of water and/or hardened chemicals where people can skate or play winter sports. Besides recreational ice skating, some of its uses include ice hockey, figure skating and curling as well as exhibitions, contests and ice shows...
and the 1600-seat multiplex Grand Cinema
The Grand Cinema
The Grand Cinema is a cinema complex in Hong Kong. It is located in the Elements Mall at Kowloon MTR station. Opened in 2007 with 12 screens and 1,600 seats, it is Hong Kong's largest multiplex cinema. It has an "active", "infrasonic" sound system. It has become a notable venue for independent...
, currently the largest cinema complex in Hong Kong.
Access
The buildings of Union Square are can be accessed easily by public transportation, located on the route of both the Tung Chung Line and the Airport Express LineAirport Express (MTR)
The Airport Express is one of the lines of the Mass Transit Railway serving Hong Kong. It links the principal urban areas of Hong Kong to Hong Kong International Airport and the associated AsiaWorld-Expo exhibition and convention centre....
and has a bus terminus.
Public transport
MTRMTR
Mass Transit Railway is the rapid transit railway system in Hong Kong. Originally opened in 1979, the system now includes 211.6 km of rail with 155 stations, including 86 railway stations and 69 light rail stops...
- Tung Chung Line/Airport ExpressAirport ExpressAirport Express can refer to the following:*AirPort Express, a wireless product by Apple Inc.*Several airport rail links are named Airport Express:**Airport Express , the airport transit service in Beijing, China...
Kowloon StationKowloon StationKowloon Station may refer to:*Kowloon Station, a station on the MTR Tung Chung Line and Airport Express, near West Kowloon Cultural district*Kowloon Station , the south terminus of the British Section of the Kowloon-Canton Railway at Tsim Sha Tsui , southmost of Kowloon, demolished in 1974*Former... - West Rail Line Austin Station
KMB
- 8- Kowloon Station ↔ Star Ferry
- 11- Diamond Hill Station ↔ Kowloon Station
- 203E- Choi Hung ↔ Kowloon Station
- 215X- Lam Tin (Kwong Tin Station) ↔ Kowloon Station
- 259B- Tuen Mun Ferry ↔ Kowloon Station
- 261B- Sam Shing → Kowloon Station
- 270A- Sheung Shui ↔ Kowloon Station
- 281A- Kwong Yuen ↔ Kowloon Station
- 296D- Sheung Tak ↔ Kowloon Station
Cross Harbour Tunnel Bus
- 110- Kowloon Station ↔ Shau Kei Wan
Minibus
- 26- Kowloon Station ↔ To Kwa Wan
- 74- Kowloon Station ↺ Mong Kok
- 74S- Kowloon Station ↺ Ho Man Tin Hill
- 77M- Kowloon Station ↔ East Tsim Sha Tsui Station