The Hong Kong Wetlands Park visitor attraction has opened alongside Hong Kong’s Deep Bay – an important avian migration route in Asia.
The HK$518m (£35m, US$66.6m, 52m euro) centre – located in 145 acres (59 hectares) of natural and landscaped wetlands – comprises marsh, reedbed, fishpond, wet woodland and wetland agricultural field habitats. It features more than 35 specialist aquatic species, 30 terrestrial trees and shrubs and almost 800,000 plants.
The park’s glass-fronted 90,000sq ft (8,400sq m) visitor centre – semi-submerged beneath a grass canopy roof – comprises galleries and exhibits, a crocodile-filled peat swamp, a 200-seat audio-visual theatre and a café.
Its three exhibits comprise 180-degree film footage of animals in different wetland areas, information on the value of wetlands and an AV show on the world’s Ramsar sites – wetlands of international importance designated under the Ramsar Convention.
Each gallery presents a different wetland habitat from around the world – the frozen north, tropical swamps and Hong Kong’s wetlands – as well as an AV show on the importance of wetlands to the human race.
Additional attractions include play areas, a wetland park and a swamp adventure area equipped with ropes, tunnels and climbing frames for children.
The environmental attraction aims to raise public awareness of and help preserve wetland areas, which are becoming increasingly threatened. It hopes to attract around 500,000 visitors per year.
The centre was also built according to environmentally friendly principles, including recycled materials such as reused timber, granite from a demolished boundary wall of a Hong Kong police headquarters, timber louvers from sustainable sources, reused bricks from razed buildings in China and oyster shells from the local Lau Fau Shan oyster farming area.
Chief executive Donald Tsang Yam-kuen said: “I encourage the public to visit the wetland park and introduce this treasure of nature and world-class green tourism to friends and relatives overseas.”
UK-based agency MET Studio Design and the Hong Kong government’s architectural services department, ArchSD, designed the facility. Details: www.metstudio.com
