Architect Adrian Lo shared with us his proposal for the Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macao Bridge Boundary Crossing Facilities Competition. See more images and architect’s description after the break.
Proposal Background The HZMB is an unprecedented important strategic road corridor which links up three regions in the Pearl River Delta, China. The three regions are Hong Kong, Zhuhai and Macao. It provides opportunities for significant social and economic development in these areas for coming decades.
The Facilities accommodates the Customs, Immigration and Quarantine facilities of HKSAR will be located on a reclamation site with about 130 hectares of land at the waters off north-east of Hong Kong International Airport.
It also serves as a strategic multimodal transportation hub for international and domestic traffic for its proximity and connection to the Hong Kong International Airport. It also connects with the strategic highway network connecting Zhuhai/Macao and Western Pearl River Delta.
Design Philosophy Subtle but mindful designs top up the unprecedented infrastructural hub with another layer of meaning: an urban green extension, that reinforce the sense of warm welcome and reachable-nature, and also echoes with the connected Eco-and-Tourism-Important North Lantau area. The “functional structure” is a now morphed into a manifesto of the multi-programmed urbanlandscape.
This will be a new attraction focus for future tourist, and a pleasant welcome point of the extended network towards Mainland and Macau that convey the metropolitan green city image of Hong Kong.
Low Carbon and Eco Design Knowing the Hong Kong Boundary Crossing Facilities will be handling heavy vehicular flow every day, with measurable amount of exhaust gases emitted form automobiles, a simple but elegant way will be used to tackle this: Extensive Greening: Weather-shading woods, evergreen and local species are planted to turn CO2 to fresh air and filter off harmful pollutants. Plantation also serves as efficient noise damper, sitting ground and valuable habitation. All these provide a maximized comfort landmark for public to enjoy.
To Increase the desired green ration, supporting facilities buildings are built to merge with the green land, i.e. the roofs are now part of the landscape, on one hand it creates biotopes and on the other hand it acts as a natural insulation keeping the interior cool and comfortable.
Wind turbine will be installed in top-wind locations to catch prevailing wind for clean energy to power the lighting and other facilities, minimizing the dependence on the grid. Architectures and facilities buildings are designed to maximize the use of natural light with skylight opening to laminate interior spaces.
