New students (and faculty!) often ask why there is no LG2 in the Library. The answer is really simple: the Library is part of the main academic building, and LG2 is in between LG1 and LG3 – when viewed from the side. :-)
The initial campus planning guides from 1988 designated every floor in the building by its height above sea level. So the five planned Library floors were Levels 128, 123, 118, 113, and 108. These became 1/F, G/F, LG1, LG3, and LG4. But wait - why is LG2 missing?
Levels 103 and 97 are now LG5 and LG7 below the Library, so LG6 appears to be missing as well.
In actual fact, the car park is part of the same main academic building, and it includes levels in between 113 and 118 meters above sea level (LG2) and between 108 and 113 meters above sea level (LG6). If all the vertical walls were removed, a drone flying above the sea would be able to look through and 'see' LG2 and LG6 even though they are 'behind' the Library building rather than inside it.
This occurs in large part because the parking garage has floors closer together, since they don't need the extra space for A/C ducts and other building services.
Of course, the match is not exact – LG1 in the Library may be at level 118, but LG1 in the parking garage may be a meter or two off from that due to the lower individual floor heights. And then there is the slope of the land and the connections between building sections. There is one stairwell in the building where you need to go up or down 1/2 flight of stairs to continue on the same 'floor' - it's kind of a "Y"-shaped stairwell with branches off in different directions at slightly different levels – you will know it when you encounter it.
From the 1st Edition of the "Planning Guide for the Library" 16 December 1988
But despite this reality, the stories and urban legends will likely remain more interesting, so feel free to keep telling ghost stories and sending people to meetings in the LG2 group study room - so long as it's all done in fun, I hope you enjoy. :-)
Edward Spodick
Associate University Librarian
lbspodic@ust.hk
p.s. In 1991, as we were getting ready to take over the completed building, the issue of the missing LG2 came up for discussion. The University Librarian suggested renaming the lower Library floors as B1, B2, and B3 since the Library was an integrated internal unit. But when we asked the lift company about changing the displays from LG1, LG3, and LG4 to B1, B2, and B3 they quoted such a high figure that we dropped the plan and stayed with the "missing" LG2.
p.p.s. have you wondered why the ceiling is so much lower on 1/F of the Library compared to the other floors? Perhaps that information about connections between building sections is part of the answer …
