All great works start from a blank piece of paper, but seldom do they begin with such daunting and monumental expectations, as in the case of the futuristic edifice sitting restlessly on the harbour front.
When the last of the bamboo scaffolding is shed and the thousands of tradesmen, busying themselves like soldier ants, pack up their tools, the giant spaceship-like extension to the Convention and Exhibition Centre can begin the final countdown for Hong Kong's big night.
For the original architects who sat in front of blank pieces of paper 3.5 years ago, the June 1997 deadline must have seemed daunting. Time has been a scarce commodity, pressure a constant companion.
Although the $4.8 billion complex was only confirmed as the venue for the handover ceremony last November, local architects Wong & Ouyang (HK) Limited and Chicago-based consultants Skidmore, Owings and Merrill (SOM), had more than a sneaking suspicion the building was pre-destined for something special.
During an initial interview, when a shortlist of eight firms were still vying for the conceptual design contract, Wong & Ouyang director Lam Wo-hei was asked by the then Secretary for Works Jim Blake if they could get the project completed by June of this year. The timing was not lost on Mr Lam or his colleagues.
During the early brainstorming sessions, one of Mr Lam's most creative and influential team members was an articulate American, Larry Oltmanns, lead designer for SOM, who moved to Hong Kong in September 1993 to spend one year working alongside Wong & Ouyang.
Mr Oltmanns, who still drops in on the territory to view the building's progress, claims he could not have been more nervous at the outset even if he had been aware it would provide the ceremonial backdrop to one of the closing news events of the 20th Century.