Rethink the Central Market 重新思考中環街市

Rethink the Central Market 重新思考中環街市

The architect, who provoked a debate over the Tai Tam Reservoir Dam by proposing a new bridge, has published another provocative proposal: To replace the Central Market with a large open space (將中環街市變成一個偌大公共空間). 

There are many good reasons for this. Pavements in Central are narrow and densely packed with people. Open spaces can only be enjoyed in front of HSBC and next to COSCO Tower. By removing the Central Market, a large open space – a Central Oasis – will appear in the middle of Central. 

The design shows a ‘Station’ in a park with escalators and elevators linking the street level and the footbridges which take you to the Mid-levels, ferry piers, train stations, bus stops, and buildings throughout Central. The Station includes food and beverage outlets with seating in the park, and on the roof. 

But what about the heritage value of the Central Market? The truth is that in the scheme of the Urban Renewal Authority, there will be nothing left except for an old stair case (市建局的計劃本身，都打算只拆剩一條舊樓梯). They are unwilling to respect the heritage of the Central Market. Out of the 200 stalls, only 13 will be retained together with parts of the outside walls. There is also no indication that the URA has any clue on how to manage the Central Market. In the absence of a policy to restore and operate the Central Market as a market with all(as many as possible) of its original stalls intact, we may well be better off with a brilliant open space (反正局方無政策復修中環街市，不如索性改成公共空間更理想). So I fully support this provocation to rethink the future of the Central Market.  

For lots of visuals, see: m-codesign.com/central-oasis/

(Above was first published in AM730 on 23 November 2017.)

重新思考中環街市 

提出喺大潭水霸興建一條橋嘅建築師又有新搞作：佢建議將中環街市，變成一個大型嘅公共空間。

現時中環一帶人多路窄，公共空間半隻手數得晒。匯豐銀行對出同中遠大廈隔離嘅公共空間以外，你想搵個地方坐下都難。而將中環街市拆除，變成大型公共空間，就可以為中環帶來一個城市中嘅綠洲。

果位建築師建議用升降機同電梯連接中環街市公共空間同地面以及行人天橋，方便來往中半山、天星小輪、地鐵、巴士站同埋中環各個主要大廈。而個公共空間仲會有埋小食店同座位，俾人享受呢個有瓦遮頭嘅地方。

實有人會話「哦！你唔保育舊建築！」但實情係市建局原先已經打算將成個街市拆淨一條舊樓梯，而現有嘅200個舖位亦只有13個會連同部分街市外牆被保留。加上政府對點樣管理街市亦無咩諗法，我哋都唔敢想像將來街市會變成咩野樣，所以政府倒不如將成個街市改劃成公共空間，咁樣最少可以確保市民可以受惠呀！

圖片： m-codesign.com/central-oasis/

（英文原文於2017年11月23日AM730刊登）