Southorn Playground
| Southorn Playground | |
|---|---|
Entrance sign
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| Type | Public park |
| Location |
Wan Chai Hong Kong |
| Area | 0.9 ha (approx.) |
| Operated by | Leisure and Cultural Services Department |
| Public transit access | Wan Chai Station |
Southorn Playground (Chinese: 修頓遊樂場) is a sports and recreational facility in Wan Chai, Hong Kong. It comprises a football field, four basketball courts, and a children's playground.
Southorn Playground is surrounded by Hennessy Road in the North, Luard Road (West), Johnston Road (South) and Southorn Centre (East). It has been Wan Chai's main recreational area since the early 1970s. Formerly a thriving night market, it was named in 1934 after Sir Wilfrid Thomas Southorn who was the Colonial Secretary (second highest position of Hong Kong Government) in 1925-1936. Though the site is not big, it is often used for district functions such as fun fairs and sports matches.
The land on which the Southorn Playground sits was reclaimed from Victoria Harbour in the first half of the 20th century. The Government Gazette announced on 11 October 1947 that the Southorn Playground would be allocated to the Children's Playground Association, an organisation founded in 1933 by then-Colonial Secretary Southorn.
The association constructed the War Memorial Centre, a welfare and sports centre, in the eastern portion of Southorn Playground. It was completed in 1950. A new covered basketball court opened at the centre on 5 June 1951. There was also a clinic and a building housing the Family Planning Association located behind the centre.
Wan Chai Station was built underneath the eastern part of the playground in the early 1980s. On top of the station the Southorn Stadium, Southorn Centre, and Southorn Garden were built.
Wan Chai District Council and the British Council invited English designer Thomas Heatherwick and urban renewal specialist Fred Manson to improve the amenity, which is now a concrete rectangle with games courts painted on. The project is about augmenting public spaces via the use of art. Art in public spaces is about making art for the benefit of the citizens, the community who uses it. It is not about putting a sculpture in a public space for people to look at. Instead, it is about establishing relationship with the community and improving the quality of the environment. The project endeavoured to create a public art intervention in Southorn Playground, which will meet the community's needs and address the cultural complexities of Wan Chai. It is hoped that the project will serve as a model of community participatory approach in public art in Hong Kong. In summary, the project's objectives included:
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