Waste Free Loop
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Site Location:
Project Type:
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2025 Spring, Year 4
Olympic Godown, Yau Tong, Hong Kong
Adaptive Reuse, Community Center
8000 sqm
This adaptive reuse project transforms the industrial Olympic Godown in Yau Tong into a dynamic food waste recycling and education centre that also serves as a vibrant social condenser for the community.
Centred around a circular food life cycle and an interwoven program, the facility anchors in fostering community engagement while addressing urban food waste through a holistic approach.
Site Context
Yau Tong is an industrial area alongside public housing estates developed since the 1960s. With the decline of Hong Kong’s industrial sector, it is now transitioning into a highly dense residential area.
It has adequate food supply but lacks sufficient facilities to manage food waste, creating a critical need for waste handling solutions in the community.
There are 3 distinct zones in Yau Tong: Coastal zone, Central zone and Inland Zone. The site is located in the heart of the area, facing a park and surrounded by upcoming large-scale private residential developments.
The building is highly accessible, with a 5-minute walk to Yau Tong MTR and bus terminals, and a 10-minute walk to the ferry pier connecting to Sai Wan Ho.
Beyond its environmental mission, the project provides plenty of accessible communal spaces for the neighborhood, supporting social interaction and community well-being.
The project makes use of existing primary and secondary columns and beams, which were purposed to bear huge storage loads.
Proposing to add a structural frame with trusses and steel rods for the glass tunnel.
Pressing Needs of Food Waste Management
There are 3353 tonnes of food sent to landfill every day, which is equal to 233 double-decker buses. All 3 landfills are full and have no capacity to handle more.
Supermarkets dispose of 29 tonnes, and wet markets waste 14 tonnes of edible food every day. There are an estimated 71kg of food waste per household every year.
Circular Food Life Cycle
This project aims to create a circular life cycle where waste are transformed into useful assets for the community.
Program Organisation
View from composting space
3F Plan
2F Plan
1F Plan
GF Plan
Original Plan
View from cooking library
View from community lobby
By interweaving production and communal spaces and making sustainability visible and participatory, the project aspires to raise environmental awareness, inspire behavioural change and social interaction, foster resilient urban communities and empower the community within a revitalised industrial warehouse.
View from 2F exhibition space
View from 1F central sorting space
The food waste handling process is made visible via a transparent central sorting room and an adjacent exhibition space and public circulation.
A tube-like exhibition corridor passes through the sorting room, allowing visitors to observe the sorting process without direct access.
This arrangement turns the process itself into an educational exhibit, reinforcing the project’s fundamental goal.
