Sixty staff, students and alumni including a Council member attended a sharing session on campus development on 29 October.  During the two-hour session, Professor Fung Tung briefed the attendees on the progress of various capital projects including the Two Integrated Teaching Block, the Student Amenity Centre, the Central General Research Lab Complex and the Teaching Building at Chak Cheung Street.  The majority of these are '3+3+4' capital works to accommodate the anticipated upsurge of undergraduate students in 2012.

Among these projects, the extension to the University Library attracted a fair amount of interest among the participants.  Many of them saw for the first time the new design of the extension which entails a glass structure annexed to the north side of the Library building (see picture).  Recommended by experienced architects, the glass-house design provides a fluid continuum to the existing library building without distorting or displacing the central axis of the University Mall which is much cherished by generations of University members past and present.

The audience members were outspoken in voicing their concerns but demonstrated a genuine care for the practical and conservational issues arising from the construction of these capital projects.  Professor Fung was delighted to see such enthusiasm and promised to refer their useful comments to the architects for consideration.  Similar sharing sessions would be held in future to bring the latest of campus development to the doorstep of those who make this campus home.