Leaky skyscrapers in Hong Kong (7 photos)

Don't feed architects in Hong Kong bread, let them build a house with a hole. Aerodynamics, you say? Well, a very Western view of the subject, try to think a little more Asian.





Why are there so many big buildings with openings here?

And where - in Hong Kong, where every square meter of housing is literally golden. Yes, in these holes you could put five apartments and with this money you could build a mansion on mainland China.

But no - skyscrapers have holes and that’s it, they say: feng shui. What is feng shui?



No, it's not about planes flying over, as the kids think

And such that a large building that rises above the ground will become an obstacle to the flight of the dragon!

And dragons, as you know, still fly over the Celestial Empire, but if they don’t want to, they don’t have to make themselves visible to people.

And as a sign of respect for the dragons, and also so that they don’t get angry and destroy the building that’s bothering them (under the guise of a cataclysm, of course), the locals helpfully make holes for them.





The Chinese dragon is not European, it is very flexible and narrow, so you can fit through a hole

Sometimes it seems to us that a large building is much more stable when it is solid, without any architectural recesses. But if you ask a Hong Kong resident, he has more confidence in the “leaky house.” And sales of apartments and offices in such houses are excellent, because the dragon will never be angry with him.

And you shouldn’t offend the train either



This is quite a big hole, or is it two houses that were joined together later?

On mainland China, they also build houses with holes, even small ones. This is to run a train through them, I already wrote about this.

The station is located right in a residential building, and the residents themselves say that the vibrations from passing trains are no stronger than the shaking from a washing machine.



When the train passes through the house, you don’t have to stir the tea in the glass yourself.

But, probably, practical Chinese believe that this way they can kill two birds with one stone - leave a hole for the dragon, and sometimes use it for the train themselves.

So more expensive?



They also set up a garden there. Well, very feng shui!

Of course, any complication of the project multiplies the cost of the building by 1.2 even at the drawing stage. Then there are additional expenses for strengthening the crossbars and strength calculations.

Not to mention it's wasted living space. But dragons are more important.



Big hole? A billion Chinese liked it!

Have you seen our “leaky” buildings? What kind of dragons do you think we leave holes for?