Tag Archives: hong kong

McDonald’s Opens Its First LEED Zero Carbon Restaurant in Hong Kong

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Living in a sustainable, conscious, and smart manner has become not only a necessity but our moral obligation and duty toward the planet. Our homes should seamlessly integrate with, and nourish the planet, not drain her resources and reduce her lifespan. Being at one with Planet Earth, while taking rigorous care of her has never been more of a priority. In an effort to encourage an eco-friendly way of life, sustainable architecture has been gaining immense popularity among architects. And, McDonald’s has jumped onto that bandwagon with its outlet in Tai Wo, Hong Kong.

Designer: McDonald’s

McDonald’s Tai Wo outlet in Hong Kong recently underwent a renovation that transformed it into a prime specimen of sustainable design and architecture. The restaurant is a testament to how sustainability can be incorporated almost anywhere with the right direction, effort, and intention. The Tai Wo location is Hong Kong’s first LEED Zero Carbon restaurant certified by the US Green Building Council. The building will save 848.22 metric tons of carbon dioxide which equates to planting more than 36,000 16-foot-tall trees!

The space is defined by twenty commendable sustainability efforts, which are working throughout it. McDonald’s collaborated with eco-social startup HK TIMBERBANK, and designed the exterior facade which is crafted from local trees. These trees fell either due to old age or typhoons. In fact, even the furniture and décor inside are built using recycled materials. McDonald’s also teamed up with CLP Power Hong Kong to set up a solar power system on the rooftop.

The entire building is marked with smart devices to monitor energy consumption and indoor air quality. In fact, the restaurant has also signed a “green lease” with the landlord to share data connected to sustainability and lay down low-carbon operational guidelines. It incorporates an education corner that is packed with sustainability-themed books, providing integral reading material to the next generation. Cool phone-charging bikes that can be ridden by visiting families have been added to the space as well. McDonald’s is also releasing a new line of Happy Meal books and coloring games that encourage children visiting to learn about environmental protection.

The post McDonald’s Opens Its First LEED Zero Carbon Restaurant in Hong Kong first appeared on Yanko Design.

Pantone Lifestyle Gallery opens in Hong Kong, using color to invigorate, motivate and keep you going this 2021!

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Pantone’s authority on colors is acclaimed around the globe, and now the New Jersey-based trend research expert has set foot in Hong Kong. Yes, Pantone has opened their first lifestyle concept store inside the Cityplaza’s Eslite Spectrum bookstore in the Tai Koo district. They call it the Pantone Lifestyle Gallery – and in the true sense – it’s a gallery of hues opened in collaboration with Issho, a lifestyle retailer. Although it’s worth pondering over the timing of Pantone’s decision to open a physical retail store in the current turbulent times of the pandemic-affected the world. Still, Pantone wants to go spread a dash of color in people’s lives who for the most part of the week are stuck in the secure confines of their homes, to truly explore colours and their impact on the human psyche. Maybe a blushing pink would give you faith or illuminating, the Pantone color for 2021 would cheer you up on dark days!

The store is spread across 600 square feet of space – draped in a dash of colors – sexy pink, cool blue, calming green, and refreshing orange – you name it and the store has it. The different displays and islands of the store are marked in blocked patterns – for example, the entrance has a sky blue hue to lure in customers. Inside, the customers will find sections to explore the homeware, loungewear, and home accessories islands. The loungewear section of the lifestyle store has trendy colorful clothes for the young generation – like sweatshirts, fabric slippers, jersey t-shorts, and more. They call it the Funmix collection which, according to Pantone explores the varying emotions and stories with bi-color combos having harmonious or boldly contrasting characters. In the homeware section, the buyers will get to explore the limited edition tableware in striking pinstripes color (four options) which comprises a coffee cup set, bowls, dishes, and more.

Along with the eye-popping retail store that brings a poop of color to the monotony of daily routine, Pantone has plans to stage events in the city this whole year to spread colors in people’s life which has gotten a bit dull lately. Also, they have a strategy in place to open an online store in June with all the updates coming to Issho 46’s social feed.

Designer: Pantone

This first ever nature preserve in Hong Kong brings the beauty of biodiversity to the concrete jungle!

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If you live in a city, nature might sometimes feel further away than it really is – and when you don’t have a car to take you up the coast to the mountains in a matter of hours, that distance feels even longer. Different institutions like museums and zoos are capable of taking us out of that urban haze for the moment, but soon enough, their icy exteriors, contemporary layout, and revolving doors spit us out onto the sidewalks, reminding us that our city ‘jungles’ still mostly consist of concrete. In Hong Kong, however, a nature preserve, built by LAAB Architects and PLandscape cozies up and beneath skyscrapers to change the urbanite’s relationship with nature.

LAAB Architects and PLandscape have teamed up to create The Nature Discovery Park, a rooftop nature conservatory that takes an educational approach to provide city dwellers with a much-needed escape to nature and lessons for younger generations in preserving their own city’s biodiversity. In order to embrace open-air facilities like restaurants and learning centers, the Nature Discovery Park is situated on the roof of Hong Kong’s harbor cultural center K11 MUSEA. Adaptive to unpredictable weather and air quality, the park’s main greenhouse utilizes telescopic sliding glass doors to facilitate naturally ventilated, alfresco learning experiences. The structure’s frame is constructed from steel and aluminum, while the interior attributes its furnishings to wood that was harvested from sustainably managed forests. The nature preserve’s own gardens are dotted and sprawling with plant boxes of Hong Kong’s prevalent biodiversity. Teeming with sweeping branches and long-leafed bushes that seem to overflow onto the grass walkways, guests of The Nature Discovery Park can follow the curated landscape, learning about the city’s natural life along the way. Finding its center between luscious greenery and butterfly gardens, the prefabricated greenhouse was installed on-site to avoid wasteful construction practices and keeps a hydroponic nursery, providing a no-soil means for horticulture.

The main keep of the nature preserve is also home to a farm-to-table dining experience and herbarium museum that showcases Hong Kong’s rich array of natural biodiversity and plant life native to its Victoria Harbor shores. The Nature Discovery Park is Hong Kong’s first biodiversity museum and sustainability-themed education park, offering workshops, tours, and interactive experiences related to both the vibrancy and diversity of Hong Kong’s ecological presence. Much Like The High Line in New York City, Nature Discovery Park’s gardens are curated and maintained to fit their city’s environment and allow guests to physically immerse themselves with the surrounding natural abundance.

Designer: LAAB Architects x PLandscape

Pizza Hut + Ogilvy designed a limited edition pizza-box with a foosball table built into the lid!

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It seems like Pizza Hut and Ogilvy want you to ‘play with your food’, or at least want you to play with the packaging of your food. The two brands collaborated over the launch of a new limited-edition pizza box that comes with an actual foosball table built right into the lid!

The Foosball Pizza Box was created as a warm-up for the Europa League which begins October 22nd (Get it, Warm-up? Pizza?). Wendy Leung, marketing director of Pizza Hut explains, ‘the Pizza Hut Foosball Pizza Box was a great opportunity to remind football fans that pizza goes best with their football. Launched at a time when everyone’s stuck in their houses, the box hopes to drum up enthusiasm, interest, and positivity. While diehard fans are just waiting to go out and support their teams or play their own games of street football, the Pizza Hut Foosball Pizza Box provides a great safe alternative, allowing you to battle it out with your friends in the comfort and safety of your own homes. Winner gets an extra slice, perhaps? And if there’s a tie, just equally divide the pie!

The Foosball Pizza Box is currently only available to pizza-enthusiasts in Hong Kong (although enough enthusiasm could push the companies to roll it out worldwide)… you can shoot your shot at winning your own Foosball Pizza Box by visiting the Pizza Hut app, or leaving a clever comment on Pizza Hut Hong Kong’s Facebook page.

Designers: Pizza Hut & Ogilvy Hong Kong

Twitter removes 170,000 state-backed accounts based in China

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In its latest sweep, Twitter has removed 32,242 state-linked accounts with ties to the People’s Republic of China (PRC), Russia and Turkey. All of the accounts were suspended for violating Twitter’s platform manipulation policies, the company wrote i...