Green-Roofed Terminal Building Spans River to Connect Shenzen and Hong Kong

Currently in full-effect is an international competition to design a <a href="http://inhabitat.com/wave-shaped-solar-cruise-ship-terminal-envisioned-for-taiwan/">passenger terminal building</a> spanning across the Shenzen River to connect the mainland to <a href="http://inhabitat.com/foster-partners-green-roofed-kai-tak-terminal-breaks-ground-in-hong-kong/">Hong Kong</a>. As we await the jury's decision, one of the proposals caught our eye for the <a href="http://www.lthywbcp-design.hk/mainpage.asp?M=1&amp;L=E&amp;S=1">Liantang / Heung Yuen Wai bound­ary con­trol point pas­sen­ger ter­mi­nal build­ing</a> came from Prague-based <a href="http://edited.cz/?page_id=858" target="_blank">Edit! Architecture</a>. Designed as a <a href="http://inhabitat.com/category/green-roof">green-roofed building</a> that floats over the river, the structure is clad in diamond-shaped multi-colored windows and references traditional Chinese landscapes at its roof. A single building spanning the river to symbolize the unification of the mainland and Hong Kong, Edit!'s terminal building could serve as a visu­ally strik­ing land­mark and a gate for both cities.

The building's soft form contrasts with the rigid struc­ture of the truck park­ing which surrounds it and appears to float over the river.

Organization and design of the building largely hinged on traffic and pedestrian circulation.

Both ends of the building are lifted to greet passengers and a departure hall is located on both sides. Passengers descend a ramp over the bridge to the arrival hall on the other end.

Offices and ser­vice spaces are located beside both the arrival and depar­ture halls and two floors above around the cen­tral atri­ums, which pull light into the inside of the build­ing and allow a visual con­tact between the dif­fer­ent lev­els.

A green roof spans the entire roof of the passenger terminal building and is terraced to create an impres­sion of a typ­i­cal South China land­scape.

The roof also provides thermal and acoustical insulation and reduces energy consumption and temperature fluctuations inside.

The exterior of the building is clad in multi-colored trapezoidal windows to let in diffuse daylight.

Computer controlled windows are designed to open so as to encourage natural ventilation based on the air temperature, wind flow and direction.

Departure hall floorplan.

As lovely as Edit! Architecture's proposal is, unfortunately it doesn't have a chance of winning. Due to a mixup at the post office, the project was never submitted on time, but we liked it anyway.