It's the alchemy that makes HK possible

To me there is nothing more amazing than the modern engineering magic that can take a piece of water and turn it into a skyscraper. No water bound city would be what it is today if not for the advances that we've seen in our ability to reclaim land over the centuries. While villages used to be built on the water in Mexico, floating on lakes if I remember correctly, today a 50-75 story skyscraper can be built in the matter of months upon a site naturally would be holding thousands of gallons of water.



In HK, there is an offiicial land reclamation plan - a plan for how far the harbor can be whiddled down and still be usable for shipping. In the above picture you can see where the waterline is being pushed out another couple hundred yards for a new downtown building. Amazing. Trucks, dirt, concrete and really big braces are what allow things so tall to be built on sandy soil.

I am not an engineer, but I sure do admire those that can come up with things like this and make it work.


The International Finance Center is a land reclamation monument.