One Island East

One Island East is top 10 in Hong Kong in terms of height, but almost no cab drivers know this place by its English name, and contrary to its name, it actually isn’t on 1 Island East Road. The correct address is 18 Westlands Road and they will know it by Chinese name ‘Gong Doh Dong Jung Sum’ (港島東中心).
An almost 1000ft (978ft) super-​tall skyscraper owned by Swire, it actually is the tallest building in Hong Kong east, so I guess that’s the reason for the vain naming. The architects are Wong and Ouyang, who you might not know by name, but they are a favorite of Swire’s — they did their headquarters in Pacific Place, and you certainly will know ICC, Lippo Tower, Langham Place offices etc. Besides offices, they also did hotels and residentials like Shangri-​La hotel, and Sorrento. Even one hospital block in Hong Kong Sanitorium & Hospital!
So you can guess this building is pretty A-​grade. It has two Swire-​operated restaurant/​delis inside, which are actually one in the same — Ground Public on G/​F and Public on the viewing deck on 37/​F, which serves decent, slightly overpriced deli food (think SimplyLife with hot food), and is a hit among the working crowd in Taikoo Place; seats are self-​serve and there are almost no empty seats during lunch (Doesn’t open for dinner, closes at 6pm). If you are passing by and looking for washrooms, don’t bother coming, because the whole upscale status means that you’re not allowed to take a leak here unless you are a privileged tenant — you need a registered Octopus card to ‘swipe’ yourself in. And consistent to this theme, there are Executive toilets on each floor for the C-​suites in your companies.
Swire has done well in keeping this place interesting, with the nearby Artistree (
) and periodic events during the area, the most popular being the Autumn outdoor lunch concerts, where they invite musicians to perform near the grassy area behind the building. What’s less cool was that the pieces of windows broke off during a typhoon couple years and and hit neighboring residences. But luckily no injuries. Plus same thing happened to the Government Revenue Building in Wanchai anyway. One Island East has two cleaners go up and down the building twice a day now, to clean and keep check of the building condition. If you work here, chances are you’ve seen them appear in the window behind your boss while he’s talking and totally ignored what he was saying.