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Award-winning global architecture studio Benoy has released a series of conceptual images designed to spur conversation and promote ideas around the future of Hong Kong's New Central Harbourfront Site 3. Encompassing the lands from the iconic Jardine House and past Two International Finance Centre to the Central Ferry Piers, the site is a key part of the government's new Central Harbourfront initiative.
A planning brief concerning the redevelopment of the site, though commercially driven, outlines an opportunity to maximize public benefit for citizens and visitors to Hong Kong. With the brief serving as the overarching guiding document, Benoy identified the site's constraints and existing uses, and conceptualized a number of solutions in collaboration with BuroHappold Engineering. The resulting visionary exercise produced three distinct plans, represented thematically by the code names 'Urban Forest', 'Glacier' and 'Coral Reef'.
Simon Bee, global design director at Benoy, notes that although each concept has different characteristics, they are intertwined in their emphasis on connectivity, activity and a mix of uses. "The concepts offer an early representation of how Site 3 might be transformed to become a new waterfront destination that is an accessible, attractive public place, but also commercially viable," explained Bee. "We hope to encourage the design and development community in Hong Kong to push the planning brief to its full potential."
'Urban Forest' imagines several modules of undulating multi-level structures, connected to one another by verdant terraces and a pedestrian-oriented spine. 'Glacier' envisions an assemblage of variously sized structures erupting out of the ground to form a mountainous peak in the middle of the site. 'Coral Reef' takes inspiration from the ocean by visualizing multiple green-topped and illuminated pods that host circular platforms on the lower levels.
The illustrations were unveiled at an event organized by the Urban Land Institute with support from Benoy, BuroHappold and Designing Hong Kong, a non-profit organization that strives to improve planning in the city.
