New | Plan for a self-sustaining building on Hong Kong’s waterfront

(Corrects list of offices in second paragraph)

When a group of Hong Kong-based architects formed 10 Design in 2010, the original partners sought to achieve something with flair and vision.

Billed as an “international partnership of architectural, urban, landscape and interior designers and Computer Generated Imagery (CGI) specialists,” the firm has since expanded rapidly to include offices in Shanghai, Dubai and even Edinburgh as they expand their visionary reach. But what about Hong Kong, the city where it all began?

Design Partner Ted Givens heads 10 Design’s Environmental Research Group and he reports that, for several years, he and the firm have been working on a concept for a Vertical Farm Centre (VFC); a high-rise tower of a similar height to the IFC2 or ICC buildings that would feature a network of plants, shutters and water recycling technology. This would make the building entirely self-sustaining in terms of electricity and water.

The original concept had the VFC located where the giant observation wheel is now located, on the Central waterfront.

However, as HSBC owns the right to the open space in front of their headquarters, the architects at 10 Design instead moved the VFC concept to an area near the Convention Centre in Wanchai, adding in a man-made beach protected by islets that would use artificial coral reefs to purify the harbour water.