AETER Architects Unveils Utopian Eco Island for Hong Kong Border Crossing

Posted By Emily Peckenham On August 5, 2011 @ 12:50 pm In Architecture,carousel showcase,gallery,Sustainable Building | 1 Comment

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Grecian architecture firm AETER has created an innovative and environmentally sensitive vision of what a new passenger terminal building on the China-Hong Kong border could look like. "Eco-Land" was AETER's entry into the recently closed Design Ideas Competition ^[6] for Liantang/Heung Yuen Wai Boundary Control Point Passenger Terminal Building ^[7]. The design of Eco-Land incorporates many native plant species that have been displaced by human development in the highly industrialized Pearl River Delta ^[8] region, which includes both Hong Kong and neighboring Shenzhen. Eco-Land's greenery-covered walls function as a sponge, absorbing pollutants from the air.

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Spanning the Shenzhen River, the Eco-Land island terminal links economic powerhouse Shenzhen and its neighbors in the Guangdong province with the international finance and trade center of Hong Kong. The competition, co-sponsored by both Hong Kong and Shenzhen, seeks a “people-oriented” design that reflects the spirit of collaboration between the two populous and economically interlinked regions. With a population ^[9] of over seven million, and mountainous surroundings dotted with nature preserves, Hong Kong ^[10] is increasingly focused on green building and sustainable development in its remaining space.

With high volume vehicle traffic expected at the border crossing, Eco-Land includes a traffic portal where emissions will be removed via a series of high-tech solar powered turbines that empty into the Eco-Lab. The Eco-Lab comprises the outer portion of the terminal building, where plants and bacteria would function as “bio-filters” ^[11], breaking down and digesting vehicular emissions ^[12] and other pollutants. AETER imagines that the Eco-Lab could provide an outdoor garden for nearby urban dwellers to enjoy, as well as a possible platform for scientific investigations. Eco-Land consists of five layers: a water and air base over the river, a circulation and natural cooling layer, the terminal structure, a pollution-absorbing natural sponge, and the Eco-Lab, where a natural landscape would dominate.

+ AETER Architects ^[13]

Via ArchDaily ^[14]

Article printed from Inhabitat – Sustainable Design Innovation, Eco Architecture, Green Building: http://inhabitat.com

URL to article: http://inhabitat.com/aeter-architects-unveils-utopian-eco-island-for-hong-kong-border-crossing/

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[3] Email: mailto:?subject=http://inhabitat.com/aeter-architects-unveils-utopian-eco-island-for-hong-kong-border-crossing/

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[5]  : http://inhabitat.com/aeter-architects-unveils-utopian-eco-island-for-hong-kong-border-crossing/underground-traffic-537/?extend=1

[6] Design Ideas Competition: http://www.lthywbcp-design.hk/mainpage.asp?M=1&L=E&S=1

[7] Liantang/Heung Yuen Wai Boundary Control Point Passenger Terminal Building: http://inhabitat.com/green-roofed-terminal-building-spans-river-to-connect-shenzen-and-hong-kong/

[8] Pearl River Delta: http://inhabitat.com/china-planning-to-construct-a-mega-city-the-size-of-switzerland/

[9] population: http://www.state.gov/r/pa/ei/bgn/2747.htm

[10] Hong Kong: http://inhabitat.com/airy-chu-hai-college-campus-in-hong-kong-will-be-cooled-by-sea-breezes/

[11] “bio-filters”: http://www.livingwallart.com/air-filter/natural-air-cleaning/

[12] vehicular emissions: http://inhabitat.com/china-launches-trial-clean-e-taxi-program-in-shenzhen/

[13] + AETER Architects: http://www.aeter.gr/index.aspx

[14] ArchDaily: http://www.archdaily.com/155920/international-design-ideas-competition-entry-aeter-architects/02_resize/

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