We went for dim sum (breakfast) yesterday morning. We wanted an authentic experience and found a place in Monocle’s Hong Kong travel guide called Lin Heung Lau. It’s an “institution” in Central that has been around since 1926. Locals would later tell us that the place is good but they probably would have sent us elsewhere.

It was of course packed when we arrived and we quickly learned that you need to be aggressive in this place if you hope to get any food. There’s no line at the front and nobody is going to seat you. Instead, you circulate around the room and find your own spots. If nothing is available, you simply hover over a communal table until something opens up.

This also means not waiting for the dim sum carts to come around to your table. If you do that, none of the good stuff will be left. Pull out your sharp elbows and go to work as soon as you see one come out of the kitchen. This is how most of Hong Kong seems to work. There’s too many people in too little of a space to be a polite Canadian.

I thought the whole experience was great. Although, I could have probably done without the laundry (underwear included) hanging up in the bathroom.

Take a look at this photo from Central in Hong Kong and note the MEP (mechanical, electrical, and plumbing) systems running up the cutout in the middle of the tower. Also note the bamboo scaffolding next door and the epic terrace on top of the ground floor bank. The building on the opposite side put parking on top of its podium.

I was told that systems are commonly run on the outside of buildings here to maximize interior square footage. Again, space is a precious commodity in this city. But it also speaks to not having to worry about freeze-thaw cycles. Winter in Hong Kong has so far equaled me walking around in a t-shirt.

These exposed systems look ugly as all hell, but I suppose they also mean not having to break open drywall when you have a problem.

I am fascinated by the relationship that buildings have between interior and exterior space. In cold cities like Toronto we are forced to hermetically seal off our buildings from the elements. We have to worry about thermal bridging and about heat tracing cold spots.

But in a city like Hong Kong I would imagine that the greater concern is stifling heat and humidity. All of this comes through in the built form.