Lippo Centre (), previously known as the Bond Centre (), is a twin tower skyscraper complex completed in 1988 at 89 Queensway, in

Admiralty Admiralty most often refers to: *Admiralty, Hong Kong * Admiralty (United Kingdom), military department in command of the Royal Navy from 1707 to 1964 *The rank of admiral *Admiralty law Admiralty can also refer to: Buildings * Admiralty, Tra ...

Hong Kong Island Hong Kong Island () is an island in the southern part of Hong Kong. The island, known originally and on road signs simply as "Hong Kong", had a population of 1,289,500 and a population density of , . It is the second largest island in Hong Kon ...

Hong Kong Hong Kong)., Legally Hong Kong, China in international treaties and organizations. is a special administrative region of China. With 7.5 million residents in a territory, Hong Kong is the fourth most densely populated region in the wor ...

near Admiralty station. Tower I is with 46 storeys, and Tower II is with 42 storeys.

History

The Lippo Centre is a landmark development located in the heart of Admiralty comprising approximately in two office towers with a retail podium element situated on the ground floors and a small basement car park.Savills: Lippo Centre, Hong Kong
/ref> On completion in late 1987,

Savills Savills plc is a British real estate services company based in London. It is listed on the London Stock Exchange and is a constituent of the FTSE 250 Index. History The business was established by Alfred Savill (1829–1905) in 1855 in London ...

Investment Management began managing the Lippo Centre. Since 1988, the landmark has been riddled with spectacular corporate collapses in its ownership.The Wall Street Journal: Bad Building Vibes Blamed In the Collapse of Peregrine
/ref> Relatives of the Singapore-based Kwee Liong Tek family had a majority consortium interest in the construction from its conception, later selling their majority interest half-way through construction to British-born Australian business tycoon

Alan Bond Alan Bond (22 April 1938 – 5 June 2015) was an English-born Australian businessman noted for his high-profile and often corrupt business dealings. These included his central role in the WA Inc scandals of the 1980s; the biggest corporate co ...

, who went bankrupt four years later with the collapse of the Bond Corporation. It has had several corporate ownership failures since and was eventually taken over by

Peregrine Investments Holdings Peregrine (including Peregrine Investments Holdings Limited and Peregrine Infrastructure Investments Limited) was an investment company based in Hong Kong. It was liquidated following the downturn of the Indonesian economy during the Asian financ ...

who also faced financial collapse, and the Indonesian-backed

Lippo Group Lippo Group is an Indonesian multinational conglomerate company. The company operates internationally providing property development and management services. It was founded by Mochtar Riady. Lippo has a collective presence across Asia and No ...

who are the largest single owner of the building. Local

feng shui Feng shui ( or ), sometimes called Chinese geomancy, is a traditional form of geomancy that originated in ancient China and claims to use energy forces to harmonize individuals with their surrounding environment. The term ''feng shui'' mean ...

consultants have suggested the building has bad feng-shui based on the C-shaped glass-walled extrusions (often referred to locally as resembling

koala The koala (''Phascolarctos cinereus''), sometimes inaccurately called the koala bear, is an arboreal herbivorous marsupial native to Australia. It is the only Extant taxon, extant representative of the Family (biology), family ''Phascolar ...

s clinging to a tree), although Peregrine's own feng-shui consultant gave the towers a clean bill of health. File:HK Lippo Centre Front View.jpg, Lippo Centre front view in June 2008 File:HK Lippo Centre Interior.jpg, Lippo Centre lobby in June 2008

Architecture

The octagonal buildings, clad with a dark blue refractive glass curtain wall, were designed by American architect Paul Rudolph who was working at the time as a design consultant for

Wong & Ouyang Wong & Ouyang (HK) Ltd. () is an architectural and engineering practice based in Hong Kong, with branch offices in Shanghai and Guangzhou. Its head office is in Taikoo Place, Quarry Bay, and it maintains an office in Shanghai. History The comp ...

.Lippo Centre
/ref> The buildings' main construction contractor was Hip Hing Construction. In 1988, Rudolph wrote: "The aesthetic intent is to...give the building 'presence' when seen at a great distance, from the middle distance, and from close distance, and from close hand. At the same time, it is intended that the building inhabit the sky, and become dematerialized by reflecting the ever changing light." The late muralist-artist Gerard D'Alton Henderson, who designed the walls in the Hong Kong Mandarin Oriental Hotel, enriched the lobby with dramatic bas-relief murals.Gerard D'Alton Henderson: Works & Murals
/ref> The Lippo Centre is connected to the

Central Elevated Walkway The Central Elevated Walkway is an extensive footbridge network spanning Admiralty, Central and parts of Sheung Wan, near Victoria Harbour in Hong Kong. The system was built in phases by the Hong Kong Government and various developers, such a ...

network of footbridges.

Tenants

One of the more well known companies registered in the Lippo Centre is the Network of Asia and Pacific Producers (NAPP) which serves and caters to the needs of

Fairtrade A fair trade certification is a product certification within the market-based movement of fair trade. The most widely used fair trade certification is FLO International's, the International Fairtrade Certification Mark, used in Europe, Africa ...

producers in Asia and Pacific and has a membership of over 200 producer organizations. The building also houses the

Taipei Economic and Cultural Office in Hong Kong The Taipei Economic and Cultural Office in Hong Kong (TECO) is the representative office of the Republic of China (Taiwan) in Hong Kong. Its counterpart body in Taiwan is the Hong Kong Economic, Trade and Cultural Office in Taiwan. The de fac ...

and Christian Muhr Global Asset Management, which employs 1,200 staff and occupies six floors of Tower Two of the Lippo Centre. Several foreign

consulates A consulate is the office of a consul. A type of mission, it is usually subordinate to the state's main representation in the capital of that foreign country (host state), usually an embassy (or, only between two Commonwealth countries, a h ...

have also established representative offices in the Lippo Centre, such as Angola, Brunei, Ireland, Mongolia, Romania, Turkey and Taiwan, as well as foreign

chambers of commerce A chamber of commerce, or board of trade, is a form of business network. For example, a local organization of businesses whose goal is to further the interests of businesses. Business owners in towns and cities form these local societies to adv ...

. *

Lippo Limited Lippo Limited () is a Hong Kong incorporated listed company. It is the parent company of Hongkong Chinese Limited (), () and Auric Pacific Group (), all listed companies. Founded by Indonesian Chinese Mochtar Riady, Lippo Limited was majority o ...

* Hongkong Chinese Limited

Popular culture

* The Lippo Centre was seen in the 1991 movie '' Double Impact'' starring

Jean-Claude Van Damme Jean-Claude Camille François Van Varenberg (, ; born 18 October 1960), known professionally as Jean-Claude Van Damme (, ), is a Belgian martial artist and actor. Born and raised in Brussels, his father enrolled him in a Shotokan karate schoo ...

and was used as the headquarters of Nigel Griffith (

Alan Scarfe Alan John Scarfe (8 June 1946 – 28 April 2024) was a British–Canadian actor, stage director and author. He was an Associate Director of the Stratford Festival (1976–77) and the Everyman Theatre in Liverpool (1967–68). Scarfe won the ...

). * Lippo Centre is featured in the Dockside track in ''

Burnout 3 ''Burnout 3: Takedown'' is a 2004 racing video game developed by Criterion Games and published by Electronic Arts. It is the third instalment in the Burnout (series), ''Burnout'' series, which is characterised by fast-paced arcade racing. A st ...

'' * It was seen (with CGI alterations) as the headquarters building of the Hanka Corporation in the 2017 film ''

Ghost in the Shell ''Ghost in the Shell'' is a Japanese cyberpunk media franchise based on the manga series of the same name written and illustrated by Masamune Shirow. The manga, first serialized between 1989 and 1991, is set in mid-21st century Japan and tel ...

''.

References

External links

Paul Rudolph photo pool
at

flickr Flickr ( ) is an image hosting service, image and Online video platform, video hosting service, as well as an online community, founded in Canada and headquartered in the United States. It was created by Ludicorp in 2004 and was previously a co ...

The Paul Rudolph Heritage Foundation
- a non-profit organization representing the Paul Rudolph estate, dedicated to communicating, preserving and extending Paul Rudolph's legacy with an online archive of over 12,000 images in addition to written and biographical materials.
The Lippo Centre Project Page
from the Paul Rudolph Heritage Foundation archives
The Paul Rudolph Foundation
{{Hong Kong Skyscrapers Admiralty, Hong Kong Office buildings completed in 1988 Paul Rudolph buildings Postmodern architecture in China Retail buildings in Hong Kong Sino Group Skyscraper office buildings in Hong Kong Twin towers