Passenger Clearance Building

RSHP + Aedas

ARCHITECTS
RSHP, Aedas

PHOTOGRAPHS
Kerun Ip

YEAR
2018

LOCTION
Hong Kong

CATEGORY
Port

Text description provided by architect.

The Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macao Bridge provides new strategic connections between Zhuhai, Macao and Hong Kong.

The bridge will foster the flow of people, goods, capital and information and improve the overall connectivity of the Greater Bay Area.

The bridge improves transport connectivity within the Greater Bay Area, and greatly reduces travelling time between Hong Kong and other Greater Bay Area cities.

The PCB is built on a new 150-hectare artificial island reclaimed from the open waters to the north-east of Hong Kong International Airport (HKIA) and will benefit from the proximity to the HKIA’s transport links, including the SkyPier Ferry Terminal, and the MTR’s Airport Express and Tung Chung line.

It is the new crossing point over the boundary between Hong Kong, Zhuhai and Macao and the facilities will serve as a gateway for all those passing through it.

The building provides a unique opportunity to give Hong Kong an architectural ‘front door’ which celebrates travel, surrounded by water with views to a natural skyline of evergreen mountains and hills.

The PCB will be constantly filled with movement; buses arriving and leaving the public transport interchange, and visitors and residents waiting to gain immigration clearance completed. Careful thought has therefore been put into how users will move around the site.

The simple, clear circulation through the facility and the undulating flow of surrounding waters is reinforced by the waveform roof, enhancing legibility and providing intuitive wayfinding.

The movement through the building is punctuated with full height canyons allowing natural daylight to penetrate all levels of the building and ensuring there is a visual connection to the linear roof form to further reinforce clarity of wayfinding.

The elegant modular roof form ideally lent itself to offsite pre-fabrication and has enabled an efficient construction process achieving a very high level of quality.

The project is environmentally friendly, aiming to meet the highest standards for new developments and utilise innovative green technologies. The building opened to the public on 24 October 2018.

RSHP partner Richard Paul is leading RSHP’s architectural team.

Discussing the project, he said: “I am delighted to have worked on such an innovative project which brings beauty and elegance to the everyday activity of travel."

"The new crossing will benefit those living and working in the region greatly with enhanced connectivity as well as highlighting the contextualised sensitive roof form which responds to the undulating mountainous backdrop of such a beautiful local environment.”

Keith Griffiths, Chairman of Aedas comments, "The bridge is a vital project for the Greater Bay Area in southern China, which includes Hong Kong, Macau and nine mainland cities and aims to be a powerhouse of innovation and economic growth like San Francisco, New York and Tokyo."

This building serves as a beautiful gateway to Hong Kong and we are honoured to have worked on it.