Uncorking history(4)
Connected directly to the underground Main Reception Room by a tunnel approximately 12 m, the Conservatory is as airy and atmospheric as the underground space is romantic and ruminative. (The tunnel, by the way, has one turn that could deflect and reduce the impact of a blast should an explosion happen inside the bunker.)
Everything here is painted white, except for the red roses ablaze against the pristine background. The huge pipes used for air ventilation are painted white and deliberately exposed, to convey the same sense of arty edginess.
De'eb has also voted against re-waxing the hard-scratched floor because he doesn't want to "obliterate its past".
On the day of my visit, workers walk gingerly on the Conservatory's one-inch-think glass roof to clean it. From where they stand, The Conservatory must look like a giant jewel box, a carefully-kept contemporary secret.
On January 15 this year, the site was given a UNESCO Asia-Pacific Heritage Award of Merit, which recognizes it as a "vibrant, living project". Mr Arthus Gomes, one of the last surviving foreign soldiers to have defended Hong Kong in 1941, wrote a recommendation letter to UNESCO on March 15, 2007, six days before he died.
"Long after we all die, and the company moves to another place, the building will still be here," De'eb muses. "It will be handed down to the next generation and become part of their shared experience."
It's that acute sense of mortality, viewed through the infinity of time, that permeates the space.
"This place represents Hong Kong perfectly. It keeps our memories alive," he says.
