Hong Kong is an architects' playground. Against a backdrop of steep hills and framing the city's crown jewel that is Victoria Harbour stand impossibly tall structures, packed as tightly as trees in a jungle - a testament to wealth and power.

Jammed into that narrow band of land between hills and sea, the soaring skyscrapers, glittering with lights come dusk, are seen as the symbol of Hong Kong's success. And behind all the glass and steel are some of Asia's most powerful people, high-rise neighbours in one of the city's most exclusive communities.

But down on the ground, there is a growing determination to preserve the existing skyline.

After the closure of Kai Tak Airport in 1998, developers took advantage of a decade of relaxed height restrictions to raise the city's skyline before new height limits were imposed. By the time the government acted in 2007, a wall of skyscrapers had risen up.

There are now more than 650 buildings that are at least 100 metres tall, and 41 that are over 200 metres tall.

Dubbed the "vertical Wall Street" due to its overwhelming number of banking tenants, the International Commerce Centre (ICC) on the reclaimed land of West Kowloon is the tallest structure in the city - 490 metres above sea level and 118 storeys high.