THE SIGHT AND SOUND

of planes landing at Kai Tak Airport provided a cacophonous backdrop to generations of Hongkongers’ lives in East Kowloon between the 1920s and 1990s. Low-flying aircraft meant buildings in the area could be no higher than 13 floors, something that will finally change when Norwegian architectural firm Snøhetta and Vivien Chen’s Nan Fung Development build Airside, a 47-floor office tower and shopping centre complex, at the site of the former airport. In contrast to the site’s polluting past, the new development will be built with sustainability in mind, including public rooftop gardens, a sky farm, an automated waste sorting and storage system, a rainwater retention management plan and the city’s first automatic bicycle parking bay. The HK$32 billion project is due to take flight in 2022—though less noisily this time.