The new Heung Yuen Wai Boundary Control Point new passenger terminal building blends in with its rural context through a low-lying silhouette, while vertical sun-shading fins create a clean, modern outlook and mirror Shenzhen Liantang urbanised district directly opposite the building.

Green elements include minimising land take and impacts on the rural surroundings through a multi-level building incorporating a transport interchange, car park, vehicle drop-off and pick-up and clearance and passenger border crossing facilities. Green design has been widely adopted through black water recycling, low-e glazing, green or low emissivity roofs, and more.

The project also creates improvements for the community, with a public transport interchange and car parking facilities accessible to nearby villagers through a subway link. A police base and fire service station also serve both travellers and nearby residents.

Design Concept Statement

Typically, access to border crossings in Hong Kong is restricted, with only designated types of public transportation allowed. The Heung Yuen Wai Boundary Control Point adopts a direct access design approach, allowing travellers to choose their own way of getting to and from the border.

This “people foremost”, human-centric design vision is present throughout the project. Natural ventilation and daylight are plentiful in the coach drop-off and pick-up zones and the entrance portal of the passenger terminal building, allowing travellers to embrace nature during their border crossing experience, while the open, seamless connection ensures smooth transitions from one side to the other.

The design embraces the rural context of the Hong Kong side, while simultaneously echoing the architecture of the Shenzhen side and mirroring its urban context, reflecting the fluidity of the border and the duality of the “rural yet urban” nature of the border zone.

Sustainability Statement

The development has numerous energy-efficient features, including LED lighting, double low-E curtain wall, high-efficiency HVAC equipment, lighting sensors, and lift power regeneration. These significantly lessen energy costs and deliver about 33,000 kWh of renewable energy per year. The use of flow restrictors in all water faucets reduces water consumption by about 36%.

The roof of the Cargo Examination Building is equipped with solar collector panels which store solar heat in a water storage tank. No virgin forest products were used during the construction, and at least 50% of the timber used was purchased from sustainable sources.

The vehicular boundary control point has large, paved roads for vehicle processing and inspection, making regular site greening difficult. Instead, green coverage was optimised through extensive vertical greening, planters and green roofs, yielding a site green coverage of 21%.