Design Process of the Proposed Central Police Station

It is good news to learn that the Jockey Club will soon hold an exhibition to display the early design options for their proposal to revitalise the Central Police Station into a cultural complex. Sketches and design drawings by Herzog and de Meuron Architects would be displayed to show what they had gone through before concluding on the proposed 160m transparent tower design (well, at leaset for now…). Since the government has stated that they have accepted the Jockey Club’s proposal in principle, it becomes more important to know what were the options considered and what were the primary and secondary factors that form the core values of their proposal.

Usually the architects would have gone through many different options before finalising on the best possible solutions. However, different persons would have different perspectives and judgement and hence making  the design process transparent is critical to win the general public support for the particular scheme proposed. Architectural matter which concerns aesthetic, proportions, order and hierachy, spatial arrangement, technical and environmental consideration, and social aspect, and is essentially subjective. To a certain extent, we need to place certain amount of trust to the professionals and believe in their professional judgement.

I welcome the Jockey Club’s decision to hold such an exhibition and I look forward to engaging in this interesting dialogue with the architects.