IS IT a bird, a bowl, a flying-wok, a temple or an ark? Or is it just another architectural crock destined to last little longer than a lunchtime? For Terry Farrell, the rising star of British architecture, the chance to design the new $400 million Peak Tower was one of the most exciting and difficult of his career.
His brief: 'Make me an Eiffel Tower for Hong Kong,' Michael Kadoorie of Hong Kong and Shanghai Hotels, the owners, had instructed him. 'Make me a building that will become Hong Kong's most recognisable symbol.' To make his task a little tougher, Mr Farrell was given a three-day deadline.
'I was invited to compete against four other architects for the project,' he said. 'We had just 10 days to send in our completed design. The models and scale drawings would take at least a week; that gave me the weekend to come up with the concept.' Mr Farrell cooked up his basic 'flying-wok' design in about the time it took the old Peak Tower restaurant to prepare a two-course dinner. 'I did something I don't often do,' he said. 'I got a huge photograph of The Peak viewed from Central and Tippexed out the existing building.' It was clear the problem with the old Peak Tower was it looked like a blob from a distance. 'I needed something legible, something recognisable from harbour level, something iconic and monumental.' He worked through a variety of shapes from eggs, squares and rectangles but 'kept coming back to the bowl shape'.
'There is a height level on the existing building so that gave me the flat top and then the bowl shape kept suggesting itself because it had a really good silhouette in the sunset,' he said.
About 45 minutes after he began, he had the basic design. 'Actually, I have to admit that given the setting and height limitation, the design really shaped itself.' But to an architect a bowl is rarely just a bowl - especially when it is seven storeys high and contains 112,000 square feet of floor space, a tram station, a restaurant, a museum and offers a view of the city which writer Jan Morris has likened to the one Satan conjured up to tempt Christ.
'The shape is loaded with associations,' Mr Farrell said. 'It reflects the contours of a Chinese temple, a boat, a dove with wings outstretched and even the Peak Tram logo.' The shape is also reflected in the architect's curving, bushy eyebrows. His eyebrows seem to have a life of their own. While Mr Farrell adopts a somewhat restrained exterior, his eyebrows say something else. Tell him his building may well become the establishing shot that film-makers will use to denote Hong Kong, and he coolly replies: 'Yes, that's true.' Meanwhile, those eyebrows are bobbing excitedly as if to say: 'Yes, yes, it's great, this is what being an architect is all about.' Mention his building will spawn millions of plaster souvenirs and become the subject of Hong Kong postcards, and he says: 'Yes, that's the idea.' And those eyebrows are moving like supporters' flags after striker Farrell has put one past the goalie in extra time. 'Two, four, six, eight, who do we appreciate. . .' Intensely involved in all his projects, Mr Farrell admits he is at his most comfortable when working or discussing work. 'I have no problems meeting clients to discuss work. I always enjoy that thoroughly. What I find rather nerve-racking are the cocktailparties and the meet-and-greet situations.' He is not of the tweed jacket and leather elbow patch school of British architecture: he did not attend public school or work within an established firm. But he has always been as keen to build abroad as at home.