RSHP unveils Hong Kong Boundary Crossing
15 January 2018
Rogers Stirk Harbour + Partners (RSHP) and Aedas today unveiled their involvement in a boundary crossing which will provide a new entry point into Hong Kong.
The Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macao Bridge Hong Kong Boundary Crossing Facilities (HKBCF) is a joint project between the two architects, working with AECOM, which will provide new connections between Hong Kong, mainland China, and Macao, and which will bring wider benefits across the Pearl River Delta.
The HKBCF will cover 130 hectare on a new 150-hectare artificial island reclaimed from the open waters to the north-east of Hong Kong International Airport (HKIA), and will benefit from the proximity to the HKIA’s transport links, including the SkyPier Ferry Terminal, and the MTR’s Airport Express and Tung Chung line.
It will be the crossing point over the boundary between Hong Kong, Zhuhai and Macao and the facilities will serve as a gateway for all those passing through it, providing a unique opportunity to give Hong Kong an architectural ‘front door’ which celebrates travel, surrounded by water with views to a natural skyline of evergreen mountains and hills.
The HKBCF will be constantly filled with movement; buses arriving and leaving, and cars and lorries waiting to be processed. Careful thought has therefore been put in to how users will move around the site. The simple, clear circulation through the facility is reinforced by the waveform roof, enhancing legibility and providing wayfinding. The movement through the building is punctuated with full height canyons allowing the penetration of natural daylight to all levels of the building and ensuring there is a visual connection to the linear roof form to further reinforce clarity of wayfinding.
The elegant modular roof form ideally lends itself to offsite pre-fabrication and has enabled an efficient construction process achieving a very high level of quality. The project will be environmentally friendly, aiming to meet the highest standards for new developments and utilise innovative green technologies.
RSHP partner Richard Paul is leading RSHP’s architectural team. Discussing the project, he said: “I am delighted to be working on such an innovative project, which brings beauty and elegance to the everyday activity of travel. The new crossing will benefit those living and working in the region greatly, and provide an appropriately visually arresting building for such a beautiful local environment.”
Keith Griffiths, Chairman of Aedas comments, "the bridge will provide essential connectivity to roughly 120 million people who live in the Pearl River region to the south – one of China's three great megapolis’ formed by the conjunction of Hong Kong, Macao, Zhuhai, Shenzhen, Dongguan and Guangzhou. I am humbled and honoured to have been involved in the design of this beautiful gateway to these cities in the world’s largest megapolis."
