Bog standards
Hong Kong's obsession with exterior-wall tiles stems from slippery building practices and the efforts of the Toilet King, writes Jason Wordie
The chances are, as you read this, that you are sitting in a building that is covered with glazed tiles, a result of Hong Kong’s love affair with this type of building exterior.
Early photos show the city’s walls plastered in stucco, rendered in plaster or concrete, or faced with bricks of various kinds. The resultant effect could be pleasing, and this trend continued into the immediate post-war era.
Building maintenance and long-term planning have, sadly, never been Hong Kong’s strong points. The cultural preference for one-off, quick-fix, cheap-aspossible solutions is no more apparent than in the phenomenon of glazed-tile exterior surfaces.
They ensure there is no need to paint the building – one application is usually all that’s needed for the structure’s own fairly short life expectancy.
Shoddy building methods in the 1950s and 60s played a key role in the introduction of tiles.
Plastered over exterior surfaces, tiles helped waterproof substandard buildings.
Because of chronic shortages of fresh water in those years, combined with some of the best building inspectors money could buy, contractors often used salt water when making concrete.