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Bruce Lee house design competition winners announced – in January, in Hong Kong

When organizers announced in July that there would be a competition to redesign Bruce Lee’s house in Hong Kong, the news made a global splash.

Tourism and business leaders in this free port are quite savvy. The name Bruce Lee is recognized worldwide. When he was alive, his skills were lightning fast.

I blogged about the competition, since Bruce Lee once lived in Seattle and met his wife in the city and taught some of his first students in the International District.

In fact, his first martial arts studio was in the basement of the red building in this video. And Jesse Glover, a Seattle resident, was his first student.

I kept checking the Hong Kong organizers’ Web site from time to time for the design winners – and just realized the winning drawings have been out since January.

I’ve included two images here, the winning entry and second-place entry from the winning group. It really is better, though, to visit the organizers’ Web site (go to “updates” at the bottom) and see the images directly.

Here are easy links for the professional group winners, which includes the top name from a team:

1. Yuen Gi Tsun Jimmy of Hong Kong
2. Witold Opalinski of Poland
3. Wang Shanxiang of China

 Here are the winners for the open group:

1. Lau Chun Yiu Agnus of Hong Kong
2. Wong Wai Shan of Hong Kong
3. Sum Chi Wai of Hong Kong

 You also can enlarge them to get a better sense of what details might go into a renovation of the martial arts’ star house.

As you can see in Yuen Gi Tsun’s winning entry, visitors would be able to go under the house.

I think Sum Chi Wai’s icons of the martial arts star, who also was a writer and read a great deal of philosophy, are noteworthy.

This time around, though, the January announcement of the winners didn’t seem to make as loud of a media splash. CNN had a short blog post.

AFP move a February story, which pointed out that:

A local design contest ended last month, but the memorial’s final look, building costs, who will pay them and when it opens remain unclear. The tourism board is hoping the attraction can draw visitors from inside and outside the city, and boost Hong Kong’s hard-hit film industry.

The article also noted that the owner of the house, located at No. 41 Cumberland Road Kowloon Tong, had wanted to sell it. People balked.

The owner, Yu-Pang Lin, offered to donate the house – which reportedly is or was a love hotel – in his honor.

From the AFP story:

Yu has said the home should be renovated to include a museum, library, a cinema and martial arts area. Others, including Bruce Lee Club chairman, Wong Yiu-keung, want the original floor plan preserved so visitors can imagine how it looked when the actor lived there. ‘It should be a memorial house. After all it’s his former residence,’ Wong said.

Since it appears that money to support the renovation project is an issue and the direction might have hit an obstacle, that might explain why there wasn’t as much fanfare as compared to the unveiling of the design competition.

It does look like Shannon Lee, the daughter of Bruce Lee, supports the project, according to the AFP story.

On the 35th anniversary of Bruce Lee’s passing, his family traveled to Seattle to mark that date and talk with his supporters.

They also unveiled drawings and more details for a three-story Bruce Lee Action Museum, which they hope would be built in Seattle and cover an entire city block.

As much as $50 million could be devoted to the musem and its construction.

I haven’t heard of any update since I talked with the family at that event in 2008.

But the family’s architect said – at that time – that they looked around for open pieces of property in Seattle. Raising money, certainly, remained a goal.

Given how the country’s hard economic times are still being felt, including in Seattle, I know one thing: If the family does go forward with a Bruce Lee Action Museum in Seattle, secures the money and breaks ground, there will be many smiles in the city.

And just how fast was Bruce Lee?

At one point, he talked with a journalist with the Seattle Post-Intelligencer, my former employer.

Lee asked the journalist to hold out his open palm with a coin in it.

Lee told the journalist to close his fingers and hand as fast as he could. Lee said he would try and swipe that coin out with his hand.

The journalist shut his hand, making a fist as fast as he could.

Lee raised his hand and showed the journalist the coin.

I read about it in an archived story in the P-I.