| Langham Place | |||||||||||||||||||
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| Traditional Chinese | 朗豪坊 | ||||||||||||||||||
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| Langham Place | |
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The office and hotel, Langham Place, Hong Kong |
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| General information | |
| Status | Complete |
| Location | Mong Kok, Hong Kong |
| Coordinates | |
| Opening | 2004 |
| Height | |
| Roof | 255.1 m (837 ft) |
| Technical details | |
| Floor count | 59 |
| Floor area | 1,800,000 sq ft (170,000 m2). |
| Design and construction | |
| Owner | Champion REIT |
| Architect | Wong & Ouyang (HK) Ltd. The Jerde Partnership |
| Developer | Great Eagle Group, Urban Renewal Authority |
Langham Place is a business and commercial complex in Hong Kong which opened in the fourth quarter of 2004. Located in the Mong Kok area of Kowloon, the complex occupies two entire blocks defined by Argyle Street, Portland Street, Shantung Street and Reclamation Street. Shanghai Street separates the two portions of the complex which are connected via two overhead walkways. A hotel is on one side of the development while the commercial elements are located on the other side.
The complex was the result of an urban renewal project under Land Development Corporation, later known as Urban Renewal Authority (URA). The project's aim was to upgrade and modernise a dilapidated area of Kowloon by providing a nucleus for renewal for the surrounding area, including the red light district along Portland Street.
Langham Place has a gross floor area of 1,800,000 sq ft (170,000 m2), and comprises a 59 storey office tower, a 15 level shopping mall with 2 basements levels, a 665 room hotel[1] and a car park with 250 parking spaces. The complex is connected to the Mong Kok Station of the MTR via an underground passage (Exit C3).
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The HK$10 billion project started out as a 50:50 joint development between the Great Eagle and the Urban Renewal Authority ("URA") of Hong Kong,[2] to provide a modern and comfortable commercial space in the heart of Mong Kok.
The plan to redevelop part of the Mong Kok landscape was driven by the URA. The joint venture had spent some HK$4.4 billion to acquire the 129,120 sq ft (11,996 m2) site since approximately 1989.[3] Before the completion of the project, Great Eagle purchased the URA's stake, increasing its ownership to 100%. It was the single largest project undertaken by Great Eagle,[4] which had geared up significantly to finance the project.[5] An estimated HK$300 million land premium was paid by Great Eagle to the Government.[3] In 2005, wishing to reduce debt levels, Great Eagle sold 4 individual floors of the Langham Place Office Tower.
In June 2008, Champion REIT acquired the Langham Place Mall and Great Eagle’s remaining portion of the Langham Place Office Tower for HK$12.5 billion. The consideration valued the retail portion at HK$12,519 per square foot and the office portion at about HK$6,815.[6] Great Eagle retains ownership of the hotel.
The office tower is a 837 feet (255 m) tall skyscraper and was the tallest office building on the Kowloon peninsula when it launched.
Construction of the office tower, which contains 770,000 sq ft (72,000 m2) of space,[1] began in 1999 under the design of Wong & Ouyang (HK) Ltd. and The Jerde Partnership and was completed in 2004. The tower has 59 office floors above ground and 5 underground floors which are used as a car park. Each of the floors above ground has a floor plate of approximately 17,000 square feet (1,600 m2).[1]
The Langham Place Office Tower is one of the ten tallest office buildings in Hong Kong when measured up to the highest architectural point, which is the dome. The tower's dome illuminates at night and changes colour slowly in a light show on weekends and holidays. The entire tower is covered in light-reflecting blue glass which is separated at two intervals by grey glass.
Langham Place "Xpresscalators" to the 4th floor |
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| Opening date | November 2004 |
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| Developer | Great Eagle Group, Urban Renewal Authority |
| Owner | Champion REIT |
| Total retail floor area | 60,000 m² |
| No. of floors | 15 |
Due to the high price of land and the higher yield on retail property in Hong Kong, the Langham Place Mall departs from the common Western model of the flat shopping mall. It is the second "vertical mall" in Hong Kong. The exterior of the mall is characterised by an iconic multi-faceted façade of yellow fissured Brazilian granite stretching from street level to the roof. Another distinctive feature is the 9 storey glass atrium which lets in natural lighting and allows passersby to look through the middle of the building.
The Mall’s 600,000 square feet (56,000 m2) of retail space is configured over 15 levels, with 60,000 sq ft (5,600 m2) of space per level from the second basement level to fourth level; and 40,000 sq ft (3,700 m2) of space per level from level 5 upwards.[7] There is a food court on level 4 and a cinema run by UA Cinemas with six screens and 1,122 seats on level 8 and an “indoor alfresco dining” area on the top floor.
The mall opened for business in November 2004.
Happy Man – The 2,700-kilogram sculpture commissioned from American designer Larry Bell, at the front entrance of the arcade.[8]
Xpresscalators – The longest escalators within a shopping mall in the territory. A pair of them is located on the 4th floor leading up to the 8th floor, where another pair leads to the 12th floor. Together they allow shoppers to travel 250 feet (76 m) up to the top of the mall quickly and conveniently, thus reducing the "horizontal drift" of shoppers.
The Spiral – A section of the shopping mall from the 9th to 12th floor of the building, which corkscrews around the upper set of Xpresscalators.
Digital Sky – An architectural feature on level 13 where computerised images are projected onto the ceiling of the mall. The lighting was originally designed and programmed by Jason Saunders of Photonic-Motion in Melbourne Australia, in sequence with video on a Wholehog 2 PC running midi time code.
The Langham Place Hotel is located at 555, Shanghai Street. Managed by the Langham Hotels International, it is the only 5 star hotel located in Mong Kok and has a swimming pool on its roof. Its 42 floors house 280 "deluxe", 284 "executive", and 101 "Langham Hotel Club" guest rooms.
The building was used as the main background for 2 TVB drama series: 2006’s Under the Canopy of Love and 2010's Queen of the Office.
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