Brian Honda
Who is he? Brian Honda is the Japanese-American virtuoso who designed the newly opened Langham Place entertainment complex (right) in Mongkok. His design is an attempt to transform the frenetic, eclectic business hub into a hip city venue. The ambitious development entailed annexing four blocks and took 15 years to complete. Consisting of a 600,000-square-foot shopping centre, a 665-room hotel and a 59-storey office tower, Langham Place will supposedly be a catalyst for change for Mongkok.
What kind of change? Expect the rise of luxury living embodied by the Langham Place Hotel (tel: 3552 3388). Beyond the hotel's four ballrooms, it has facilities catering to foodies, geeks and health nuts. There is a shopping mall with more than 300 stores and a six-house, 1,200-seat movie theatre. Alternatively, you can gather under the Digital Sky to celebrate such events as the New Year's Eve countdown.
What's the Digital Sky? A rooftop screen that will display 'a continuous medley of entrancing visualisations, from psychedelic swirls to rolling clouds'. There will also be live concerts, art exhibitions and an array of special events. Xpresscalators, unsupported indoor escalators, can transport shoppers around the mall.
Honda designed all this under his own steam? Not exactly. He is the senior vice-president and design principal of the Jerde Partnership, which is based in Venice Beach, California, and run by Jon Jerde, 'the world's most innovative and eccentric designer of retail spaces', according to Time Asia.
How did Honda start out? He excelled at technical drawing at school, received a bachelor of fine arts in environmental design in 1977 from the University of Hawaii, then embarked on a two-year Master of Architecture degree at California State Polytechnic University. During his recent visit to Hong Kong, he said: 'When I got to graduate school I began to understand a higher order, became a little bit enlightened. I realised I could go beyond banal discipline and that opened up a whole new kind of intangible, subjective world.' His thesis won the Richard Neutra Award for professional excellence. In 1981, soon after finishing his studies, he joined Jerde.
Has Honda designed anything else as grand as Langham Place? His seven-million-square-foot Roppongi Hills in Tokyo appears to rival his Kowloon extravagance. Opened in April last year, the project melds offices, homes, hotels, shops and cultural enterprises into a green and inspiring urban complex. Other career highpoints include the Fashion Institute of Design and Merchandise in California and Canal City, a restored industrial site in Fukuoka, Japan. Then there is Palms Resort Casino - one of Sin City's swankiest money-losing enterprises.