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Completed in 1996, the wok-shaped Peak Tower is a famous tourist destination in Hong Kong. A decade later, the landmark building had a facelift to maintain its attractiveness.
Being the original structural, building services and façade engineer of the project, Arup was appointed to provide one-stop consultancy services for the alteration and additional works including structural, building services, wind, facade and fire engineering design.
The escalators were repositioned and a glass-enclosed atrium was introduced to provide wonderful views for visitors at different levels. The viewing platform was moved up three levels to the rooftop of the bowl where a 686m2 terrace can accommodate up to 500 people at a time. The renovation brought about an additional 30% of retail space to the tower, not only increasing the rentable area but also improving the circulation.
Project Summary
686m² terrace for tourist to view Hong Kong skyline
500 visitor on the deck of the terrace at a time
30%additional retail space in the tower after renovation
A major challenge for the design team was to ensure the safety of the structure during the renovation
In particular to the alteration work inside the bowl structure where some of the massive main beams had to be removed to accommodate the new space.
Through rigorous wind tunnel tests, we were able to accommodate the increased wind load without major strengthening of the main supporting structure or foundation.
A performance-based approach was adopted for the fire engineering design of the new atrium void connecting the podium and the bowl. With this design approach, the fire resistance period can remain as one hour with the addition of spinklers and a mechanical smoke extraction system installed at the bottom of the bowl.
The renovation work reinforces the identity of the tourism icon and greatly improves its usage. The tower remains the hottest tourist destination and a weekend hangout for Hong Kong residents.
