"London makes me feel homesick"

Author feels very refreshed, after staying in London for 5 nights. Ironically he feels very homesick once he's arrived in UK, after his 6-month stay in Netherlands. Perhaps because of the city life of London, which is really very similar the one in Hong Kong . The funniest thing is that the left-hand traffic and the same type of socket and plug makes him feel homesick also.

Apparently London and Hong Kong share many similar things, such as overcrowded underground metros, congested pedestrian streets, speedy walking pedestrian, glassy tall buildings (especially in Canary Wharf). However, author is in favour of the quality of space in London, since the sense of space is better and feeling more comfortable when comparing with Hong Kong. Also, you can see the juxtaposition of different period of buildings, from neo-classicism to post-modern, which implies the "timelessness" of the city.

However, Hong Kong, as a colony of UK before, got something really similar to London. Like the ex-Hong Kong Club, etc. But now it is rebuilt with glassy, high-tech buildings and becomes a "high-tech" city, a city of future. Except some likely are not destroyed like the legislative council, other then that all the traces have been totally swept out.

Perhaps after several decades, while London continues to be "Timelessness", buildings in Hong Kong will be totally rebuilt again and no more trace of the "present".

Old and new Hong Kong Club (Courtesy 香港誌 and Wikipedia)

"Venice, you are too fake."

The author of the blog has been to Venice for 5 days right after his examination on Rem Koolhaas, Sullivan and South Bank of London. This is the city where is the dream of travelling destination of many ordinary people. Yet, the author, who is totally abnormal, feels that the city is absolutely bored. It is so fortunate that Venice has biennale, which could deceive other non-ordinary people to go here.

The author has a minute of exclaimation when he saw the bridge by Calatrava, but after that, he has whole 4 days of disappointment.

When he travelled through the city, nothing seems to be so unfamiliar - lots of tourists walking along the pedestrian street, where the building is tightly packed with generic shops on the street level, lots of canals where the tourists and habitants travelled by water buses.

The whole Venice is like an expired museum.

The author sees a bridge with stainless steel structure system disguised by wood structure...Italian speaks English...St. Marco Piazza is a place with generic shops and ristoranta, with people coming from all over the world... It is a place solely fulfilled the desire and interest of tourist. Nothing other than that.

Authenticity is no longer valid in here.

Why don't we just go to Macau's Venetian Casino, where you can find the architectural style which mimicking the real one. In terms of the effectiveness of bringing tourist and revenue, it is more real then the real! And you don't need to consider if it is a cloudy day, rainy day or freezing day. It is 24/7 interior.

Extended Information:
Ponte della Costituzione (Designed by Santiago Calatrava)

2 Tage in Deutschland

With intensive workload in TU Delft for nearly 1 and a half month, the author decided to go to Germany for 2 days, after 2 years since he has been there.

The author and his trip partners first took about 3.5 hours of train from Delft to Essen, where we can find the architecture by David Chiperfield, OMA and SANAA.

SUBTLE AND RESTRAIN (Thanks for his tripmate teaching him the latter word.) can be used on the museum by David Chiperfield and the building by SANAA. Both buildings are really clean and tidy, even the details, which totally suit to the urban context in Germany .

In the next day morning they went to the Medienhafen in Dusseldorf. Frank Gehry's works and other neighouring buildings are quite interesting also..


The building he felt most "Tiefgang" is the work by Zumthor in Cologne. Just seeing the brick facade from outside you cannot see anything special. But the most sublime thing is the effect of light penetrating inside through those slits. It makes the interior really a holy place. The author had the first feeling here that architecture can create an admirable space.

Architecturally it is a good trip, but the author felt that german is indifference, same with its weather.

Extended information:
Museum Wolkwang
Zollverein Design School
Zollverein Kohlewäsche