Landscape – Great Idea! X-LArch III - Department für Raum ...

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Serveral private sectors initiate connecting green ideas
with commercial projects. For example, the Sino Group’s
Citywalk is a green shopping mall. It presents a Vertical
Garden the size of a standard tennis court and “Citywalk
Piazza” with landscaped water features and a hybrid chiller
system that improves air quality and recycles waste
water. It is the perfect blend of nature and shopping.
Fig. 3: GMP for Tsim Sha Tsui (adapted from: http://www.cedd.gov.
hk/eng/index.htm, 2008)
suitable locations for planting with desirable themes
and species. The GMP first started in two of the busiest
districts of Hong Kong, namely Tsim Sha Tsui and
Central. The short-term greening works were completed
in 2007 [Fig. 3]. Given the constraints of the sites, the
comprehensive improvement with the addition of a
large number of plants achieved a preliminary success.
Although short-term GMPs cannot increase open spaces
immediately, the significance of change is that streets
become safer and greener than ever before. The GMPs
for the remaining districts is underway [Fig. 4].
Besides the GMP, the Architectural Services Department
has conducted a Study on Green Roof Application in
Hong Kong (2007) and in practice has completed 68 projects
between 2001 and 2006. At present, the application
mainly covers government buildings, such as schools,
hospitals, community facilities and government quarters.
At the same time, the Environment and Conservation
Fund will encourage different organisations to integrate
greening and landscape design in suitable buildings.
Vertical greening is the Department‘s next step after roof
greening. A remarkable Vertical Garden as mentioned
above, currently the largest of its kind in Hong Kong,
plays a key role not only in providing aesthetic appeal,
but also in reducing ambient temperature, providing thermal
insulation, acoustical control and air purification.
Slopes and retaining walls can be seen everywhere in
Hong Kong. Based on many years of working experiences,
the Geotechnical Engineering Office (under the
Civil Engineering Development Department) worked
out a Technical Guidelines on Landscape Treatments
and Bio-enigeering for Man-made Slopes and Retaining
Walls. Numerous landscaped slopes have been examined
during raining seasons which are still protecting
residents from landslide, providing visual release, and
contributing to surrounding environment.
In summary, we can draw a three-dimenstional green
space network by putting all the efforts together.
Improvement in urban greenery is evident at multiple
elevation levels - on the ground level along the footpaths
and driveways, on the elevated walkways and under
the fly-overs, on the podium and roof-top level, on the
slopes and vertical structures etc. More green areas
are provided during planning and implementation, and
Fig. 4: Short-term GMPs for
different districts (adapted
and revised from booklet of
GMPs, 2008)
Fig. 5: Different green spaces
at different scales