Rubber Duck now available in Lego
Planning and infrastructure gallery updates TST model with the addition of the much-loved duck
The big Rubber Duck that graced Victoria Harbour swam back into Hongkongers' hearts last week, and now there's a land-based version of the city's favourite bird - in Lego.
Fans of the Rubber Duck can catch another glimpse of their 16.5-metre tall yellow friend at City Gallery - the city's first planning and infrastructure gallery. Opened in 2002, the gallery displays Hong Kong's major planning proposals and infrastructure projects.
Models of a past and present Tsim Sha Tsui in the gallery's City Impression @ Tsim Sha Tsui exhibition use Lego to show how the popular shopping district looked in the 1970s, and how it looks today, recreating famous landmarks such as the Clock Tower and the Star Ferry Pier.
The models' designer Andy Hung Chi-kin recently modified the display to keep it up-to-date by adding in a replica of Dutch artist Florentijn Hofman's outsized Rubber Duck. This model has since become a highlight of the City Impression exhibition.
Located at Edinburgh Place, adjacent to City Hall, in Central, the gallery allows visitors to look through a full-height glass panel and see the real Tsim Sha Tsui across the harbour, and compare the Lego model with the real thing.
The gallery also hosts workshops for children, showing them how to make Hong Kong's classic "hot dog" buses out of Lego and teaching them about Hong Kong history.
"We prefer using the bricks as a tool for teaching children, not only about making models, but about their society and surroundings, through the process of playing," Hung said.
The gallery's senior town planner Jane Kwan Wai-ling said busy Hongkongers did not notice the beauty and fascination around them, but the gallery used visual arts to show the city's many different facets to remind them of Hong Kong's wonders.
