Part 4
Ph: GORK
Geo: Hong Kong, CH
Four years ago, I left a note here about vertical connections (how fast time flies). Now I’ve had the chance to experience this phenomenon in real life.
To begin with, unlike Moscow, where developers clearly separate construction into offices, commercial spaces, and residential areas, in Hong Kong, this separation is not always evident. It often happens that while trying to film a shopping center, you enter through a parking lot in a cliff, and after seven floors, you discover a passage to a closed office block. Bypassing it in the elevator, you notice a ten-story food court, then residential areas, followed by another passage leading to a completely different building, with access to the roof where a tennis court is located, and so on indefinitely.
At first, I was surprised by taxi drivers who navigate without GPS, but then I realized that the real skill lies with the delivery drivers who can quickly orient themselves in these intricate layouts based on the address they receive.
Another consequence of the increased verticality is the loss of the perception that you are actually in a city. Hong Kong feels like one large "inside" from that very picture. The effect is enhanced by urban infrastructure elements like pedestrian tunnel crossings stretching hundreds of meters above or below major roadways and outdoor escalators. (The longest Central Mid-Levels Escalator (last photo) consists of 20 sections, spanning 800 meters and elevating you to a height of 135 meters. It even reverses: going down in the morning and up in the evening.)
Content of the Hong Kong cycle
@gorkjournal
Ph: GORK
Geo: Hong Kong, CH
Four years ago, I left a note here about vertical connections (how fast time flies). Now I’ve had the chance to experience this phenomenon in real life.
To begin with, unlike Moscow, where developers clearly separate construction into offices, commercial spaces, and residential areas, in Hong Kong, this separation is not always evident. It often happens that while trying to film a shopping center, you enter through a parking lot in a cliff, and after seven floors, you discover a passage to a closed office block. Bypassing it in the elevator, you notice a ten-story food court, then residential areas, followed by another passage leading to a completely different building, with access to the roof where a tennis court is located, and so on indefinitely.
At first, I was surprised by taxi drivers who navigate without GPS, but then I realized that the real skill lies with the delivery drivers who can quickly orient themselves in these intricate layouts based on the address they receive.
Another consequence of the increased verticality is the loss of the perception that you are actually in a city. Hong Kong feels like one large "inside" from that very picture. The effect is enhanced by urban infrastructure elements like pedestrian tunnel crossings stretching hundreds of meters above or below major roadways and outdoor escalators. (The longest Central Mid-Levels Escalator (last photo) consists of 20 sections, spanning 800 meters and elevating you to a height of 135 meters. It even reverses: going down in the morning and up in the evening.)
Content of the Hong Kong cycle
@gorkjournal