Mid-Level Escalator, Central

In a process of drawing people and activities

The site is located on the elevated escalator, intersects with Hollywood Street and Lyndhurst Street in Central district. There are 5 streets connect together which brings various types of people to the site, such as tourist, office workmen, local people. The Central Mid-Level Escalator system covers over 800 meters in distance and elevates over 135 meters from bottom to top. It plays a big role in transporting people from residential area from up hill down to the lower area which is clustered with office buildings. There are a lot of restaurants along both sides of the escalator, which office workmen will come and have lunch here.

In Zen Buddhism, the objective of ritual ceremonies or activities such as tea ceremony, is to make people pay attention on what they are doing and also appreciate the beauty of nature and each movement. Each activities would do in a calm and peaceful space such as in the temple or forest, but Hong Kong is a chaotic city and it is hard to find a location where it is quiet and peaceful to make people pay attention on the ceremony.

Escalator is the place where people just stand until they are transferred to the upper hill. I find that this could be the opportunity to get people's attention while they just stand on the escalator.

Zen Buddhism also talks about making people to be conscious on what they are doing. So I think that in order to make Hong Kong people to be aware or to be conscious is to create a contrast transition. The escalator will be divided into 3 main parts, which the first and the third part is going to be the place where ceremonies occur. The ceremony will get people's attention on it's precision and beauty. When it comes to the middle part, this is where the escalator and the ceremony ends, and people needs to walk, this is going to be where people becomes alert to the surrounding.