Hong Kong Coliseum

Hong Kong Coliseum
Hong Kong Coliseum (May 2022)
Alternative names	Hung Hom Coliseum
General information
Architectural style	Minimalism
Location	Hung Hom Bay, Kowloon, Hong Kong
Address	9 Cheong Wan Road
Coordinates	22°18′5.33″N 114°10′55.23″E
Construction started	March 1973 (1973-03)
Completed	August 1981 (1981-08)
Inaugurated	27 April 1983 (1983-04-27)
Renovated	2008 (2008)
Cost	HK$ 140 000 000 HK$ 168 600 000 (2008-2009 renovation)
Client	Urban Council
Management	Leisure and Cultural Service Department
Technical details
Structural system	reinforced concrete
Design and construction
Main contractor	Urban Council
Other information
Seating capacity	12,500
Website
www.lcsd.gov.hk/en/hkc/index.html

Hong Kong Coliseum
Inside the Hong Kong Coliseum, during the FIVB World Grand Prix
Traditional Chinese	香港體育館
Simplified Chinese	香港体育馆
Cantonese Yale	Hēunggóng Táiyuhkgún
Transcriptions Standard Mandarin Hanyu Pinyin Xiānggǎng Tǐyùguǎn Yue: Cantonese Yale Romanization Hēunggóng Táiyuhkgún Jyutping Hoeng1gong2 Tai2juk6gun2 IPA [hœ̂ːŋkɔ̌ːŋ.tǎːijùːkkʊ̌n]
Hung Hom Coliseum
Traditional Chinese	紅磡體育館
Simplified Chinese	红磡体育馆
Cantonese Yale	Hùhngham Táiyuhkgún
Transcriptions Standard Mandarin Hanyu Pinyin Hóng Kàn Tǐyùguǎn Yue: Cantonese Yale Romanization Hùhngham Táiyuhkgún Jyutping Hung4ham3 Tai2juk6gun2
Second alternative Chinese name
Traditional Chinese	紅館
Simplified Chinese	红馆
Cantonese Yale	Hùhnggún
Transcriptions Standard Mandarin Hanyu Pinyin Hóng Guǎn Yue: Cantonese Yale Romanization Hùhnggún Jyutping Hung4gun2

Hong Kong Coliseum, commonly known as the Hung Hom Coliseum, is a multi-purpose indoor arena, in Hung Hom Bay, Kowloon, Hong Kong near Hung Hom station. It is in Yau Tsim Mong District.

It was built by the Urban Council and inaugurated on 27 April 1983. The opening of the stadium coincided with the 100th anniversary of the Urban Council. 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

Hong Kong Coliseum, the inverted pyramid-like construction, right behind the MTR Hung Hom station.

The arena floor is a rectangular shape with seats surrounding it on all four sides, the highest and farthest rows rising up to 41 metres (134’6”). The entire facility has 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 or the execution of different athletic events, 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 setup of music and performance stages, platforms and large pieces of sound and set equipment for concerts and any other live entertainment that requires an elevated stage and good audio and PA (public address) systems.

Strategically placed speaker systems, among other sound equipment, and a four-sided, colour television screen projector system (suspended from the centre of the arena ceiling) are also available, to project the event's live footage onto a screen, and to allow any member of the audience sitting at the farthest points of the stadium to hear and 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.

Events

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 was also used every year from 1991 to 2010 to hold the Miss Hong Kong Pageant, except for 2008.

It also hosts a part of the FIVB Volleyball Women's Nations League (before: FIVB World Grand Prix) for volleyball every year.

David Bowie played the two final dates of his 1983 Serious Moonlight Tour at the venue. The final date - December 8 - was the third anniversary of John Lennon's death and to signify that, Bowie played Lennon's "Imagine".

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.

In November 1988 it was a venue for three days (18-20th) of Whitney Houston's Moment of Truth World Tour performance. Other performers at the Coliseum in the late eighties/early ninety's included Stevie Wonder, Phil Collins, and Kylie Minogue.

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.

A HK$168.6 million makeover was undergone to ensure that the coliseum would up to international standards for competition. The makeover included:

• The Renovation and refurbishment of all front desk and VIP reception facilities
• The improvement and upgrade of existing support and back office facilities
• The replacement and improvement lighting systems
• The replacement of all approximately 10,500 fixed seats at the performance venue
• The replacement of existing scoreboards
• Provide facilities and decorations for ceremonies
• The re-painting of the seats to four colours and dividing into four zones according to colour

The makeover lasted for 6 months spanning from 1 July 2008 to 27 January 2009, during which the Coliseum had to be closed. It was reopened in 28 January 2009.

Accident

On 28 July 2022, during a concert by a local boy band Mirror, a moving, elevated giant TV-screen fell from the ceiling of the venue and landed directly on a dancer's head, and further collapsed onto a second dancer. Both dancers were immediately taken to hospital, with one being in serious condition admitted to the Intensive Care Unit, and the other being stable. All remaining concerts had to be cancelled and investigations were initiated by the government.

See also

• Hong Kong Esports Festival

External links

• Official website
• Media related to Hong Kong Coliseum at Wikimedia Commons