The HKFYG Tai Po Youth Hostel and Youth S.P.O.T. (Phase 2) offers 78 rooms, creating new short-term accommodation options for young people. Facing growing housing demands from youth, this forward-looking pilot project explores contemporary living models. The building integrates dual functions: the ground to third floors house the youth s.p.o.t. and shared facilities, while the fourth to nineteenth floors provide residential units at affordable rents.

The design concept emphasizes creating neutral but youthful color schemes, allowing young people to freely express their personalities. Connectivity and community atmosphere are core principles, with extensive use of glass between rooms and terraces promoting interaction, extending to the street level to enhance community integration. All function rooms encourage users to create diverse activities that grow with the building. Geometric lines and multifaceted elements permeate the overall design, cleverly bridging different areas such as the ground floor youth space, grand staircase, and first-floor Black Box Theater.

Room designs originate from over 500 user research samples, offering three style options ranging from deep, neutral to bright white tones, accommodating different preferences. Each room emphasizes work functionality with oversized L-shaped desks to inspire creativity, equipped with kitchenettes and independent bathrooms, achieving complete functionality in compact spaces.

With this hostel pioneering sustainable, low-consumption lifestyles, shared facilities will lead future living trends. The project provides shared workspaces and entrepreneurial incubation programs. With support from the Home Affairs Bureau and HKFYG, it transcends mere accommodation to become a platform nurturing youth to overcome economic constraints and realise their potential. We envision the hostel not just as living quarters but as a talent cradle, enabling graduates to contribute to society by guiding new generations, creating a virtuous cycle toward a bright future.

The post HKFYG Tai Po Youth Hostel PH2 appeared first on Architecture - Architecture Commons.

The HKFYG Stanley Outdoor Training Camp at St. Stephen’s Bay is Hong Kong Island’s only facility offering both accommodation and outdoor training. Operating since 1974 and rebuilt with a HK$140 million donation from The Hong Kong Jockey Club Charities Trust, it reopened in July 2023. Located in Stanley’s area with less traffic congestion, alongside the St. Stephen’s Water Sports Centre and Sea Cadet Corps Jubilee Centre.

This reconstruction project is a strategic initiative to activate the quieter side of Stanley, aiming to optimise public resource utilisation. Beyond developing youth’s physical skills, the training camp inspires their passion for sustainable development and responsibility toward precious ecosystems. The comprehensive upgrade comes at a perfect opportunity, addressing Hong Kong Island’s urgent need for high-quality overnight outdoor activity facilities, collaborating with surrounding amenities to fully harness Hong Kong’s rich land and water resource potential.

The design harmoniously coexists with the natural environment, with activity and living spaces arranged along the east, west, and north facades, capturing panoramic bay views. The building mass intentionally inclines to protect the neighbouring Ficus tree, which in turn provides the building with natural shade. Custom-designed double-sided perforated metal facades serve as verdant lacework, blending the building into surrounding greenery while functioning as a second skin, regulating temperature.

The facility accommodates 83 overnight guests and 45 day camp participants, catering to over 20,000 visitors annually. Interior spaces are organized around vertical social areas, promoting interaction, optimising north-south ventilation, with layouts drawing inspiration from the surrounding natural environment to create unique experiences.

The camp offers rich water sports experiences, including stand-up paddle boarding, pedal kayaking, sailing, and windsurfing, complemented by ecological expeditions, guiding youth to explore nature and embrace low-carbon lifestyles.

The post HKFYG Jockey Club Stanley Outdoor Training Camp appeared first on Architecture - Architecture Commons.

25 years into its service, the Hong Kong International Airport Terminal 1 Level 8 Departure Kerb is being revamped with functional and aesthetic upgrades in anticipation of future air travel needs. The entire deck, which includes 4 glass vestibules, paving zones, bollards, valet parking drop-off, and smoking area, totals 4,000 sqm and is revamped in phases over a period of 18 months.

The design first addresses human centric requirements, in which the ease of wayfinding, scale, visibility, transparency, pedestrian flow, trolley manoeuvring radius, and maintenance concerns determined the bounding geometric parameters. For an additional structure, context is crucial where we try to draw parallels with the existing terminal as much as possible. In response to the barrel vault roof of Terminal 1, the roof of the vestibule inverts the arc and the shape is rationalized into a torus to ensure a consistent double curvature and ease of fabrication and installation. The silver top and white underside also echoes the upper roof, and the thin, crisp and continuously lit edge aligns with the ever-contemporary aesthetics of the Airport.

The arc shape, when placed in plan, receives the travellers in a more fluent traffic flow, and it allows the ease of manoeuvring of the luggage trolleys. The use of curved glass eases the corners and plays into the overall continuous geometry of the paving. Similar aesthetic strategies drive the design of the various functional totems, feature barriers, and the smoking area fixtures.

The post Hong Kong International Airport Terminal 1 L8 Departure Kerb Revamp appeared first on Architecture - Architecture Commons.

City’s Playground is an exhibition commissioned by the Planning Department in celebration of the 20th Anniversary of HKSAR. The Pavilion is the front beacon drawing the city’s attention, while the main exhibition content of the various planning initiatives in Hong Kong is distributed in three halls in the City Gallery building.

In light of the temporary nature of the Pavilion, galvanized steel mesh was chosen as the cladding material to give the Pavilion a translucent presence. It also allows the visitor to appreciate the impressive cantilevered ring and the triangulated structure within.

A key design feature of the Pavilion is the four continuous edge lining, which were painstakingly planned to wrap the structure in a continuous manner. They are programmed to give off a pulsating intensity of light, and to trace the profiles in synchronized motion. The effect is dramatic and it impresses upon our visitors the unique form and vibrancy of the Pavilion.

The post Playful Hong Kong Exhibition appeared first on Architecture - Architecture Commons.