The Heritage Discovery Centre was created as a
tribute to sustainable architecture in Hong Kong. Its
establishment not only preserves two historical icons
constructed and once owned by Whitfield Barracks in
the early colonial days from being wiped out forever
in our always evolving society, more importantly, it
serves as an education centre for promoting local
heritage to the general public and our future
generations. The eco-effective elements founded on
the basis of sustainable development are adopted in
the design of the Centre, which reflect the harmony
between the society, the economy and the
environment, to convey the following clear messages:
Humanity and nature can co-exist in harmony;
To eliminate the concept of waste;
To utilise the flow of indoor natural energy; to mirror the continuous
conservation cycle of production, recovery and reuse; and
to seek improvement by sharing knowledge.
Special features include:
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A courtyard planted with two old champion trees has been re-opened by
removing an erected structure when the buildings were used as a History
Museum. Now, these two very old champion trees are thus liberated from
the previous "prison-cell" to echo their seasonal changes with other trees in
Kowloon Park beyond the courtyard.
The preserved brass gate from the former Hong Kong and Shanghai Bank
Building has been now placed at the entrance of the Permanent Exhibition
Gallery in the Centre.
The original buildings are a masterpiece of integrating natural elements into the
design, from site, climate and sun, to the building materials used. The northsouth
alignment creates a fundamental natural cooling effect for the building.
Other features adopted in the original design, including the semi-basements,
pitched Chinese tiled roofs, deep colonnaded verandas on two sides, and high
ceiling, allowed maximum solar heat in winters whilst lowering temperatures in
summers. These natural passive heating and cooling features left from the
original design have been revived.
The spacious and bright environment inside the buildings is re-created by
demolishing the existing walls beneath the arches surrounding the galleries,
and applying glass covered hallways. Such design permits enjoying nature as
part of the education experience for the visitors.
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Shading provided by the two mature trees in the courtyard and the aluminium
screens installed at the glazed roofs further reduce solar heat gain, and the
indoor thermal comfort is enhanced and fine-tuned by the use of air conditioning system with proper temperature and humidity control.
All air conditioning plants use ozone-depleting substance free refrigerant.
As for areas required artificial lighting, high efficiency fluorescent lamps and
energy saving down-lights operated by occupancy sensors are provided to further
optimise the electricity consumed.
Batteries used for the emergency lights are made of environmental friendly
materials.
The existing electrical main panels and emergency power generators that were
used by previous Museum are restored and reused.