Ask Mr. Know-It-All: Why are so many buildings in Hong Kong painted pink?

Dear Mr. Know-It-All,
Why are so many buildings in Hong Kong painted salmon pink? – Rouge Rogue

Cost, naturally. What else?

Traditionally, red paint was the cheapest of all paints. That’s because it’s derived primarily from iron oxides, aka rust. You might know it as red ochre: This compound is readily available in the earth, easy to extract, and provides a lasting red hue. That makes it the cheapest pigment to add to a paint—and unlike the distinctive crimson hue of carmine dye, you don’t even have to squish any cochineal beetles to get to it.

That ferrous oxide pigment is the reason that so many barns in the US are painted red: it’s cheap. But when it comes to painting a residential building, daubing a 30-story tower block in bright red paint might be more horror movie than oasis of urban calm. And so contractors go for a similarly affordable pink instead.

In 1953, a fire in the shantytown of Shek Kip Mei left over 50,000 immigrants homeless. The government threw up the Shek Kip Mei Estate, the very first public housing estate in Hong Kong. The buildings were painted pastel pink and green, setting the tone for public housing ever since. The last surviving building in the estate, Mei Ho House, is now a hostel, although in these days of more affordable paints they’ve gone for a rather stronger orange hue.

At first you might think that Hong Kong’s pink, green, yellow and blue buildings look tacky. But consider: the alternative is a sea of gray-brown concrete set against a gray-brown sky. The city’s pastel paint jobs save us from going through the motions of a monochrome life. Be glad for the pink. It makes the city feel alive.

David Wong/SCMP