Hong Kong Coliseum
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Hong Kong Coliseum | |
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General information | |
Architectural style | Minimalism |
Town or city | Hung Hom Bay, Kowloon |
Country | Hong Kong |
Construction started | March 1973 |
Completed | August 1981 |
Cost | HK$ 140 000 000 HK$ 160 000 000 (2008 renovation) |
Client | Urban Council |
Technical details | |
Structural system | reinforced concrete |
Other information | |
Seating capacity | 12,500 |
Hong Kong Coliseum | |||||||||||
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Traditional Chinese | 香港體育館 | ||||||||||
Cantonese Yale | Hēunggóng Táiyuhkgún | ||||||||||
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Hung Hom Coliseum | |||||||||||
Traditional Chinese | 紅磡體育館 | ||||||||||
Cantonese Yale | Hùhngham Táiyuhkgún | ||||||||||
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Second alternative Chinese name | |||||||||||
Traditional Chinese | 紅館 | ||||||||||
Cantonese Yale | Hùhnggún | ||||||||||
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Hong Kong Coliseum (Chinese: 香港體育館), commonly known as the Hung Hom Coliseum (紅磡體育館, 紅館) is a multi-purpose indoor arena, in Hung Hom Bay, Kowloon, Hong Kong.
It was built by the Urban Council and inaugurated on 27 April 1983.
The coliseum has 12,500 seats, which is the second largest among indoor facilities in Hong Kong, only behind the 2005-opened AsiaWorld–Arena.
It is now managed by the Leisure and Cultural Service Department of the Hong Kong Government.
Facilities
The Hong Kong Coliseum consists of a big arena and a number of conference rooms.
Arena
The arena is rectangular with sides 41m each, with a concrete cement flooring.
During performances, the floor may be covered with different overmounted floorings, such as demountable wooden flooring or various rubberized roll-outs, to facilitate the set-up of sporting equipment and the playing of different sporting activities such as futsal, badminton, basketball, volleyball and ice-skating.
Moreover, the floor can hold strong pressures up to 1,800 kg/m2, which cannot even be done by industrial buildings. This facilitates the set up of stages, platforms and sound equipments during concerts and other concert-like performances that requires an elevated stage and good PA systems.
Different technical equipments and a 4-side colour television projection system are also present to project the performer's image onto a screen, so that audience sitting around the rear side of the stadium can also see clearly.
Conference Rooms
The Hong Kong Coliseum offers both open and sheltered areas for holding conventions and conferences. The demountable open stage provides the arena with an excellent forum for public assemblies as well as staging live television broadcasts of opening ceremonies.
Reception Room
The reception room acts as an assistant facility for hirers of the arena and the conference rooms to accommodate visiting VIPs. The room can hold 60 persons.
Purposes
Even though its formal name in Chinese roughly translates to "Sports Arena", the venue often serves as a concert venue for popular singers. In addition, some universities rent it every year for congregation. Some performances like ice-skating also choose Hong Kong Coliseum as their stages. It is also used every year from 1991 to hold the Miss Hong Kong Pageant, except for 2008. It also hosts a part of the FIVB World Grand Prix for volleyball every year. On 3 June 2001, Irish vocal pop band Westlife held a concert for their Where Dreams Come True Tour supporting their album Coast to Coast.
Venue for 2009 East Asian Games
The Hong Kong Coliseum was one of the venues for the 5th East Asian Games that was hosted in Hong Kong in 2009.