Hong Kong's unique mix of urban and natural landscapes is being creatively showcased through the Hong Kong Garden at the 2019 Beijing International Horticultural Exhibition.

Themed "Live Green, Live Better", the expo is being held in Beijing’s Yanqing District with multiple exhibition areas. The Hong Kong Garden is one of them, with an area of about 2,000 sq m.

Planned and constructed by the Architectural Services Department, the Hong Kong Garden comprises the Architectural Pavilion, the Artistic Feature Wall and the Horticultural Garden.

The Hong Kong Garden’s "City of Contrast" theme not only reflects the city’s contrasting urban and natural environments, but also raises awareness about urban greening.

Edible landscape

Based on the concept of urban farming, the Horticultural Garden groups together edible and medicinal plants as well as other common ornamental landscape plants.

Among the edible plants are mint, green onion, rosemary and Chinese celery, while medicinal plants include osmanthus, calendula, sage and foxglove.

To adapt to Yanqing’s northern climate, the Architectural Services Department team planted apple trees in the garden.

Together with other ornamental and edible flowering trees like apricot and pear trees, they showcase the aesthetic value of edible plants.

“Our idea is an edible landscape. So we have put four apple trees in the middle of the courtyard. They are right now flowering. The visitors, when they find out these flowering trees are apple trees, they will be super excited and surprised by the arrangement,” Architectural Services Department Landscape Architect Benni Pong explained.

He also hoped visitors could appreciate the importance of gardening so people can live in harmony with nature.

Urban greenery

Visitors to the Horticultural Garden will feel like they are walking through a secret garden. The Architectural Pavilion sits right next to it.

The pavilion’s steel-frame architectural feature using materials commonly used on construction sites like bamboo, wood and steel mesh, illustrates the close relationship between Hong Kong's construction industry and urban development.

It also features the famous neon signs of Hong Kong's traditional shops for a unique street view.

Dotted among the pavilion’s neon signs is vertical greening to show that within a limited urban space there is still room to bring greenery to the people.

“In Hong Kong, we find every opportunity to do the greening, especially in this high density environment. Because we do not have enough space, we will go vertical, we will go to the roof of buildings,” Architectural Services Department Architect Yannis Chan noted.

“Forty percent of Hong Kong’s land is country park. And in this 40% you can find the richness of nature in comparison to the high density living environment in the city. The richness, the difference and the proximity of these country parks to the city centre actually gives us a very good chance to get close to nature.”

Unique cityscape

Located in the Chinese Garden Exhibition Zone, the Hong Kong Garden sits between the China Pavilion and the International Pavilion.

At this strategic location, the department set up the seven-metre-tall and 28-metre-wide Artistic Feature Wall next to the entrance of the garden to attract more visitors.

The wall features a map of both sides of Victoria Harbour and expresses Hong Kong’s unique cityscape in an abstract way.

Architectural Services Department Senior Architect Billy Law said the wall illuminates at night to create a stunning view.

“We would like to create an iconic image by using this Artistic Feature Wall, especially the city image of Hong Kong. The day time view and night view are very iconic and significant to the Hong Kong Garden.”

It took a year to develop the Hong Kong Garden, and assembling the unique wall involved some challenges for the architectural team.

“We came across a lot of technical problems. For example, the size, the waterproofing and the lighting effect. Also, how to assemble and transport it from Shenzhen to Beijing,” said Mr Law.

The expo runs until October 7. Chief Executive Carrie Lam attended its opening ceremony and toured the Hong Kong Garden last month.

The Home Affairs Bureau is responsible for co-ordinating the project while planning and construction are led by the Architectural Services Department, and the Leisure & Cultural Services Department provides seasonal flowers for planting and display.