A Work of Glamour and Perspectives - Bank of China Tower (2004)
The motion of the bus as it speeds through the street which runs around the building creates a feeling of urgency as the base of the tower flashes past. This essentially reduces the time in which the observer has to take in the whole view of the tower, meaning he or she now only has limited time to take in the surrounding atmosphere. The material in which the building was built with, the details in the architecture and any other small pieces of decoration are all shown to the viewer for a short amount of time only. Therefore, these may not even be grasped in their memory. What they take in is only a mere outline of the tower, its general appearance and the colour, but all detail is omitted.

This difference in time allowed for the observer to look and study the tower and building is even wider for the bus rider and the pedestrian. Where as the person riding the bus could not take hold of how long he or she stares at the building, the pedestrian at the street level is in control of his own time, and so, if he or she desires, could stop and study the architecture and design of the building. This is what separates the perspective, and thus, the understanding of the meaning behind the building between the pedestrian and the commuter riding on the bus.

Given the time, the pedestrian is able to study and further understand the building, and possibly able to unfold the story behind the design. Looking up from the street offers a dominating emotion set down by the building and the company it represents. Speaking from personal experience, one really does feel small, yet not insignificant when standing underneath this piece of modern architecture. The feeling of importance, as if I was part of something much greater, washed down on me from above. This feeling, in my opinion, could only be felt by the pedestrian and not by the bus rider for many reasons. The first one is the simple presence of being underneath the opened sky. Inside the bus, the roof acts as if it was a barrier between the power of the building and the observer, blocking the visual grandness of it. Secondly, it should be noted that the entire building must be observed and no part of it cropped away in order for the tower to work its glamour down onto the observer. This is because one of the factors which contribute towards the Bank of China Tower’s ability to create an influential atmosphere is its height, towering over the observer.

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