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Architecture is communicating with us in silence. It is an expression of our attitudes and intentions behind.
Tzu Chi Environmental Action Centre’s motto is Common Understanding , Consensus and Collective Action. The Center aims to inspire people to protect the environment by making changes in our actions. The center hopes to gather everyone’s effort, work hand-in-hand to reverse global warming and climate change. Green Architecture can lessen the further damages to our planet and bring benefits to both people and the environment.
‘Transforming Waste to Useful’ is our target. We whole-heartedly put our efforts into transforming this old vacant building into a new Environmental Protection promotion center.
For a sustainable future, Green Architecture appears to be the only choice we have. With this, the Center has made the following Green actions:
Solar panels have been installed on roof to generate not only enough energy for our use, but also with excessive to contribute to the central system.
The center has collected rainwater for cleaning and irrigation purpose. The pipes collecting the rainwater is painted light blue, for the ease of education purpose.
The project has used environmentally friendly materials, such as environmental paint, bamboo instead of wood, environmental palm fiber boards.
The original Architecture in the 50s was in the time with scarcity of resources. The building was designed to support natural cross ventilation and maximise the use of natural lighting. The center has followed this good practice, lessens the use of artificial light, and make use of ceiling fans to lesson the energy consumption of Air-conditioning.
The center has used an environmental external tile called ‘bliss wisdom brick’ that is invented, developed and produced by Tzu Chi Taiwan.
All the internal floor and wall tiles are donations from the ‘New World Development’. These tiles are residues from their various projects, and are used in a mix and match manner to create a good sense of variety.
The building was built in 1954. At that time, building works were very simple and basic. They used mostly indigenous material. Yellow Sand was used as part of the external and internal plastering. In the process of renovation, these yellow sand has been removed. Through the diligent works of the volunteers, this yellow sand has been turned into hand-made bricks which become the outdoor screens and low wall surrounding the existing old well.
The whole renovation was based on the intention of re-connecting Human with Nature. All existing windows are re-opened up, so as to allow for a closer connection between inside & outside. Every window is framed with bamboo. These windows become framed pictures of nature’s beauty.
In the process of construction, we have tried to minimize producing more waste. The window sills of the Jing Si House are residue materials from the construction.
During the process of renovation, we opened up the old false ceiling and discovered an hidden old existing wooden truss. Instead of removing it, we have decided to have it remained and now it stand beautifully as the feature icon of the center.
2021-04 Electricity Generation311.3kWh
2021-05 Electricity Generation1398.7kWh
2021-06 Electricity Generation1667.5kWh
2021-07 Electricity Generation2122.3kWh
2021-08 Electricity Generation1925.5kWh
2021-09 Electricity Generation1916.5kWh
Monthly AverageApprox. 1557kWh
HK$4/kWh=HK$6228/Month