Snøhetta designs urban farm in the heart of Hong Kong

Snøhetta has designed three clubhouses for The Pavilia Farm residential development, creating a calming green pocket in the middle of the busy big city life. The three houses will provide a space where people can interact, share experiences, and enjoy urban farming in a common garden. Two of the three clubhouses just opened, while the last house is expected to be completed at the end of 2023.

In 2017, Snøhetta was commissioned by New World Development to design residential clubhouses for The Pavilia Farm development in Tai Wai, Hong Kong. The clubhouses serve different purposes to the local community. The Tea House and the Farm House are completed and just opened, with the Sky House expected for completion by end of 2023.

A sanctuary for calm and simplicity

The site of Pavilia Farm is surrounded by mountains and connected to the Shing Mun River. Snøhetta created the clubhouses to become sanctuaries of calm and simplicity in the heart of buzzing Hong Kong – closely integrated with nature – and as spaces that would bring joy and enhance the life quality of the residents at The Pavilia Farm.

The clubhouses are strategically placed in the development as an “interactive string”, connecting various programs that together form a wholesome and enriching experience for its residents. Pavilia Farm represents the future of the urban neighborhood – a shared area bringing people together and creating a feeling of ownership of the space.

"Pavilia Farm is a project that highlights the importance of creating new green, urban neighborhoods. More people live in cities than ever before - and that trend is likely to continue to increase in the future - so we need to build in a way that can make it sustainable - both environmentally and socially. The Pavilia Farm and the clubhouses are small but perfect examples of how that can be done. At Snøhetta we talk about collective ownership and creating places and spaces that belong to the collective and can bring people together. Spaces that belong to no one and everyone at the same time. With this project, the Tea House and The Farm House represent those ideas and create a green lung in the middle of pulsating Hong Kong. A space where all the residents can find peace and calm, but also interact and connect with each other", says Robert Greenwood, Partner and Managing Director of Snøhetta Asia

Photo by: New World Development

The houses

The Tea House is designed as a point of arrival and as an experience of ascension – to leave the bustling and fast-paced city behind and ascend into calmness. For the Tea House, water is the main element. The building has an indoor pool on one side and a waterfall on the other. The sound of the falling water becomes an inseparable component of the Teahouse, a relaxing backing harmony calming the mind and slowing down the tempo.

Photo by: New World Development

 

 

In contrast to the meditative Tea House, the Farm House is a place for gathering – bringing the farm inside the house and bringing people together. The Farm House is surrounded by the urban farm and its produce – making it the centerpiece of Pavilia Farm. It is built around the rail-bound table system, carefully designed to bring the community together to create shared experiences.

In many ways similar to a dining table in a home, this table is the center point for conversations, laughter, and spending time together. Making the Farm House table the place where residents both prepare and eat the food they have gathered, while conversations flow and experiences are shared. The table is the heart of the Farm House, while the Farm House itself creates a close-knitted community through food and harvesting from nature.

Bringing people together

The two houses are designed differently and to be used in different ways, but they are based on the same philosophy and serve the same purpose; to allow people of various backgrounds and age groups to come together, share experiences, and make memories.

The aim was to create buildings that can be used and loved by all. To create spaces that can improve the resident’s quality of life, provide a sanctuary for peacefulness, and a place that nurtures social contact and shared experiences in the heart of Hong Kong – one of the most densely populated places in the world.

Pavilia Farm and the two clubhouses are now open.

Image by: New World Development
Image by: New World DevelopmentImage by: New World Development
Image by: New World DevelopmentImage by: New World Development
Image by: New World DevelopmentImage by: New World Development

 

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About Snøhetta

For almost 40 years, Snøhetta has designed some of the world’s most notable public and cultural projects. Snøhetta kick-started its career in 1989 with the competition-winning entry for the new library of Alexandria, Egypt. This was later followed by the commission for the Norwegian National Opera and Ballet in Oslo, and the National September 11 Memorial Museum Pavilion at the World Trade Center in New York City, among many others. 

Since its inception, the practice has maintained its original transdisciplinary approach, and often integrates a combination of architecture, landscape architecture, interior architecture, product design and art across its projects. The collaborative nature between Snøhetta's different disciplines is an essential driving force of the practice.

Today, Snøhetta has a global presence, with studios in seven locations spanning from Oslo to Paris, Innsbruck, New York, Hong Kong, Shenzhen, and Melbourne.

Snøhetta is currently working on a wide range of international projects, including the Shanghai Grand Opera House, the Theodore Roosevelt Presidential Library in Dakota, Harbourside redevelopment in Sydney and La Croisette in Cannes, to name a few. 

Recently completed works include Vertikal Nydalen in Oslo, Beijing City Library, the renovation of Musée national de la Marine in Paris, Orionis - the planetarium and observatory of Douai, Airside in Hong Kong, Esbjerg Maritime Center in Denmark, 550 Madison Garden and Revitalization in New York, as well as Volum lamps for Lodes.

Some of Snøhetta's previous projects include Ordrupgaard Art Museum expansion in Denmark, the Cornell University Executive Education Center and Hotel in New York City, Le Monde Group Headquarters in Paris, including the wayfinding and signage, Europe’s first underwater restaurant, Under, the redesign of the public space in Times Square, the expansion to the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, Lascaux IV: The International Centre for Cave Art, Powerhouse Brattørkaia and design for Norway’s new banknotes.

Snøhetta’s working method simultaneously explores traditional handicraft and cutting-edge digital technology. At the heart of all Snøhetta’s work lies a commitment to social and environmental sustainability, shaping the built environment and design in the service of humanism. Every project is designed with strong, meaningful concepts in mind – concepts that can translate the ethos of its users and their context.

Among many recognitions, Snøhetta has been awarded the European Union Prize for Contemporary Architecture – Mies van der Rohe Award for the Norwegian National Opera and Ballet, and the Aga Kahn Prize for Architecture for the Bibliotheca Alexandrina. In 2016, Snøhetta was named Wall Street Journal Magazine's Architecture Innovator of the Year, and the practice has been named one of the world’s most innovative companies by Fast Company two years in a row. In 2020, Snøhetta was awarded the National Design Award for Architecture, bestowed by Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum. In 2021 and 2022, Snøhetta’s Forite tiles won the Sustainable Design of the Year by Dezeen and Best Domestic Design by Wallpaper* in 2022, and the wayfinding system for Le Monde Group Headquarters was acknowledged with Monocle Design Awards. In 2023, Snøhetta won a number of awards for the Esbjerg Maritime Center and was named Architects of the Year at the Monocle Design Awards, in 2024 included a number of awards to Beijing Library and the BIA 2024 Award to Snøhetta and in 2025, Snøhetta was recognized with the OPAL Special Award for Sustainability, among others. 

Disclaimer: All materials provided by Snøhetta are intended exclusively for editorial use to communicate the specified project(s). The use of this material for commercial or third-party purposes is strictly prohibited. No material may be edited or altered from its original state in any manner. Credit must be given for all content used, acknowledging Snøhetta and/or the photographer or creator as the source. By using Snøhetta's press material, you agree to these terms and conditions.

 

Contact

Snøhetta Akershusstranda 21, Skur 39 N-0150 Oslo, Norway

press@snohetta.com

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