喘息空間/
轉角唐樓泛指座落於兩條道路交界的唐樓,起源於1930年代。上回提到這年代的唐樓屬第三代的戰前產品,開始由建築師去設計。普通的唐樓牆身都緊近著另外兩側的唐樓,設計局限於面向街的外牆上花心思,但轉角唐樓則能夠運用轉角位伸展更大的臨街外牆,擁有僅餘的喘息空間去演變不一樣的變化。
發水蛋糕樓的那五年/
轉角唐樓的出現源於19世紀中的條例規定,如樓宇的騎樓部份能作遮雨的公共用途則不計算為建築面積。作為精打細算的香港人當然“著數”拿最盡,樓宇跟著行人路的形狀走,於是出現了能為行人遮雨的弧形唐樓。第一代的轉角唐樓特色是它的騎樓多需以柱作支撐,這些大得誇張的騎樓又可以叫做「走馬騎樓」;第二代轉角唐樓出現在二戰後,因人口的膨脹,轉角唐樓的騎樓部份被僭建為室內空間,而當時政府是容忍的;第三代的轉角唐樓則建於1962到66年。因政府在1962提出修例以防止樓宇建得過大和高,但因修例改動太大而推遲到1966先推行。於是發展商紛紛趕著在這五年蓋最高最大的轉角唐樓。
The Breathing Space/
Do you know that corner Tong Lau is most common to be found in the Kowloon district?And it is a mixed-race of Hong Kongese and Belgian ? Corner Tong Lau, occurred in the 1930s, is regarded as the Tong Lau that was situated across two roads. The previous introduction of Tong Lau mentioned that they are the third generation of Tong Lau but were the first to be designed by architects. Ordinary Tong Lau sat side by side and limited the space for design efforts to be delivered, only on the façade facing the street. However, taking advantage of using a stretching façade crossing two roads, the variance could be found from the remaining breathing space.
The Five Year of Cake-formed Tong Lau/
The emergence of corner tong lau originated in the mid-19th century regulations stipulating that if the extended part of a building can be served for public purposes as a shelter from rain, it was not counted as a built area. Of course, smart Hong Kong people did not miss out this chance to maximise their gain, they built an arc-shaped building contours extended along the footpath, formed the corner Tong Lau. The first-generation corner tong lau’s characteristic is the columns that need to be built to support the extended part. These exaggerated verandas could also be called " Horse-crossing Veranda "; the second-generation corner tong lau occurred due to the expansion of the population, the extension of the corner tong lau was illegally built as indoor spaces, tolerated by the government. The third-generation corner tong lau was built during 1962-66. The government proposed amendments in 1962 to prevent buildings from being built too large and tall, but delayed to be established until 1966.