2014
Hong Kong / PRC $39
Pacific Rim Construction
ISSN 1684-1956
Issue 71
10 PRESS
10 Design’s Vertical Farm Centre exhibited at Biennale
JLL launch Urban Farm atop Bank of America Tower
The Shenzhen Hong Kong Biennale is the first to focus on urbanism as a theme to explore issues of the city as an active agent in contemporary culture. 10 DESIGN’s submission, “RECLAMATION” together with other immensely creative works from around the world has been expansively exhibited. The Vertical Farm Centre provides a vision for Victoria Harbour in Central. The proposal centres on a 420m vertical farm that provides agricultural services and an interactive museum at its base, commercial space enclosed by a hydroponic greenhouse and a luxury hotel with ‘aeroponic’ atrium and observation deck. Beyond the building, the surrounding wetland park reclaims waste water, community gardens allow families to grow their own food, and a farmers market caters to the public. All waste is upcycled, as food waste provides fertilizer or methane for power. In total, the building could generate annually more than 2 billion HKD through agriculture, purify 40 million gallons of water naturally, and cleanse the surrounding air. More information at: www.10design.co.
JLL and owners of the Bank of America Tower recently celebrated the launch of JLL’s first urban farm in the heart of Central. JLL teamed up with local social enterprise, Time to Grow and Sowers Exchange to cultivate the urban farm, which is situated on the roof of the Bank of America Tower.At over 300m2, the roof-top farm is one of the largest in Hong Kong and is unique for the city given its location within the central business district. The aim of the farm, which will grow a variety of vegetables, is to raise awareness about the potential to make Hong Kong a more liveable, healthy and sustainable city. William Lai, Head of Property Management at JLL, Hong Kong, said: “The urban farm will send a very important message to the community in Hong Kong, particularly those working or living in urban areas such as Central. It is always possible to improve how sustainable our food system is. It was a pleasure to see the hard work of the volunteers under the expert supervision of Time to Grow, in support of a greener Hong Kong.”
Construction begins on Jerde-designed Shinsegae mixed-use retail transit hub Known as one of the premier world-class brands in South Korea, Shinsegae has begun construction on the nearly 145,000m2 Kimhae Center located in South Gyeongsang Province, South Korea. Designed by The Jerde Partnership, the new centre integrates outdoor culture and community spaces with five levels of retail and entertainment, along with major transportation facilities. As one of the largest multi-use retail centres in the province, Kimhae Center combines three major project components: an on-site bus terminal, which is directly connected to a Shinsegae shopping centre that includes newto-market tenants and intimate seven-screen cinema; and an adjacent E-Mart discount anchor. The bus terminal has completed construction, and pilings for the commercial centre recently started. The centre’s signature community spaces incorporate a large outdoor public park and entry plaza at street level, terracing café decks along the upper levels, and a rooftop Sky Park garden. Reflecting the elite brand of Shinsegae, Jerde created a modern design that blends with multiple open spaces to enhance connections to the local Kimhae landscape and culture.The multi-level retail centre’s clean, contemporary architecture is sculpted to provide distinct visibility along the main Kimhae-daero highway and parallel metro line. On the opposite side along JEONHA-ro, the project’s main entry is highlighted by a new community park designed with a minimalist aesthetic, including horizontal banding and patterned concrete, floating elements with warm lighting, outdoor seating, and geometric landscape. The park also has a sunken cultural event space composed of a public amphitheatre, performance area and serene water features.
AECOM celebrates opening of the longest bridge in Southeast Asia AECOM Technology Corporation recently celebrated the official opening of Second Penang Bridge in Malaysia – the longest bridge in Southeast Asia. AECOM has played a key role in partnering with the contractor to deliver an innovative structure designed to withstand the severe seismic stress of a once-every-2,500-year earthquake. Second Penang Bridge is a 24km bridge linking the Penang Island and the Malaysia Peninsula and is the largest civil engineering project in the past 20 years in the region. It consists of precast segmental concrete marine viaducts in 55m span modules and a cast in-situ concrete cable-stayed bridge measuring 475m. A special aspect of the project involved applying intelligent construction engineering techniques to enable successful erection of the 240m main span cable-stayed bridge over the main navigation channel. In addition to its large size, this RM4.5-billion project pioneered new construction methods to minimize the risk caused by seismic activity near the Sunda tectonic plate, including the use of 2-meter-diameter bored piles founded to a depth in excess of more than 120m for the cable-stayed bridge, and the use of high-damping rubber bearings for seismic isolation of the marine viaducts. More information at: www.aecom.com.
Atkins wins master planning contract to develop Asia Aerospace City in Malaysia Atkins has won a contract to serve as lead consultant and master planner to help develop Asia Aerospace City (AAC) in Subang, Malaysia, into a world-class facility for the aerospace industry. MARA (Majlis Amanah Rakyat, or People's Trust Council) – the 48-year-old Malaysian government agency responsible for education and entrepreneurship for the Malaysian population – hopes to attract global aerospace engineering business to the region; potentially worth $1 trillion by 2020. The Atkins contract is with Pelaburan MARA Berhad (PMB), MARA’s wholly owned strategic investment and asset-management company. PMB will serve as master developer for AAC, which will incorporate the latest thinking in urban planning and sustainability. Atkins’ CEO for Asia Pacific, Chris Birdsong, recently joined PMB Chief Executive Officer Nazim Rahman in a contract-signing ceremony attended by a number of Malaysian dignitaries – including Malaysian Prime Minister Datuk Seri Mohd Najib Abdul Razak and Rural and Regional Development Minister Datuk Seri Mohd Shafie Apdal. “I am excited about this strategic project,” said Birdsong. “Asia Aerospace City will directly benefit the
local community, and it also lines up with the country’s aggressive Economic Transformation Program – which calls for Malaysia to become a self-sufficient, industrialized nation by the year 2020.” Shaking hands: [left] Atkins CEO of Asia Pacific, Chris Birdsong, and [right] PMB group CEO Nazim Rahman. Centre: Prime Minister of Malaysia, Najib Razak.