SOCIAL AND CULTURAL DELIVERABLES: The Kwun Tong Town Centre is one of the largest urban redevelopment projects in Hong Kong. Occupying a site area of 500,000 square feet, commands a strategic position and enormous potential from the new CBD initiative, the landmarked development revitalizes the Kwun Tong neighborhood by blending old and new, seeks to inherit and exemplify the unique social values of Kwun Tong. Because of the complexity of the project, designers had worked closely with the local community and bring in environmentally friendly elements to an aging neighborhood and promote sustainability culture in an urban scale, from commercial to residential.
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Urban Design & Architecture Design Awards 2023
Grand Central
Urban Planning (Built)
Firm
Wong Tung & Partners Limited
Architect/Designer
John Yuen
Design Team
John Yuen, Philip Chen, Kennis Chan, Ricci Chan, Charles Lam
Location
No. 33 Hip Wo Street, Kwun Tong, Kowloon, Hong Kong
Country
Hong Kong
Photographer/Copyright
©Wong Tung & Partners Limited
Together with smart facilities, the project elevates the environmental consciousness of the established community and educate neighborhoods the sustainable green living and wellness. Furthermore, the urban greening vision of this project set precedent for future redevelopment the awareness of environmental sustainability.
SITE PLANNING AND CONSIDERATIONS
Master Layout Plan of the Main Site (DAs 2 & 3) was approved by the Town Planning Board on 2015. Site accessibility is the key consideration, the project reorganizes the community and government facilities such as the existing bus terminus, street hawkers, refuse collection facility, parks, while solving traffic issues for this rapidly growing community. The project is comprising of four residential towers, a multi-use podium comprising retail, Public Transport Interchange, a Hawker Bazaar to relocate former stall operators, together with a prime landscaped public open space connecting pedestrian from various directions.
AESTHETIC, CREATIVE AND PRACTICAL DESIGN
In planning stage, residential towers were dispositioned with a 36-metre separation, allowing natural ventilation in the north-south direction. Towers with various heights (39-43 storeys) mimicking the skyline of hills to the north of Kwun Tong area. Design with ‘country life, city living’ in mind, this project offers lushly accessible landscaped public open space which over 43,000 square feet on the podium roof, yet tranquil and secluded park for the community to enjoy. The Design of this roof garden is timeless and intends to create a new prototype that combines nature, art and innovative features to build a Green Tank to mitigate the heat island effect and pollution of the city. This Botanic Garden is an extended layer of Yue Man Rest Garden with a variety of plant species. These together demonstrate aesthetic; biodiversity and innovative technology can co-exist in this project.
REFINEMENT IN QUALITY AND BUILDABILITY
Environmental sustainability is a central theme of this project, the project team taking advantage of modular prefabrication and precast concrete façade for reduction of carbon emission in comparison to the traditional cast-in-situ method. Life cycle of the building is highly increased by the quality control of precast facades, achieving the long-term sustainability effect. The project employs a smart building operating system which greatly reduce building operation cost. Such system with MVAC chiller analytics in combination with the all-weather Insulated Glazing Unit which effectively realizes sound insulation, while simultaneously adjusts indoor temperature and reduces heat gain rate.