The Shek Mun Columbarium and Garden of Remembrance is Hong Kong’s first smoke-free columbarium. Dedicated to creating a comfortable and warm environment where people can pay their respects, the facility is designed with natural light and landscaped gardens at its core, and harmoniously blends with the surrounding hills and forests. It offers 40,000 niches for ashes and approximately 2,000 memorial plaque spaces within the Garden of Remembrance.
The spatial design prioritises users experience. A tree-lined avenue connected to a pedestrian tunnel welcomes visitors with greenery. The main building’s embracing layout is centred around the Flower Plaza, which integrates architecture, landscaping and the natural environment while effectively blocking noise from the nearby road motorway and evoking a sense of being surrounded by mountains.
The exterior walls of the main building feature vertical wooden-textured aluminium panels, with simple lines, enhancing privacy and fostering a serene and tranquil atmosphere for remembering loved ones.
The Garden of Remembrance is themed around seasonal plants, symbolising the continuity of life and hope and offering peace and solace. The Garden of Forever Love is specifically designed for miscarried foetuses, with resting spaces discreetly placed beneath flower beds and surrounded by greenery, continuing the design philosophy of harmony with nature. The garden, inspired by a cloud-like fairyland, includes stone tablets and message boards for heartfelt tributes, providing a healing space for reflection.
The foyer connects the garden plaza and the main building, and features an eight-metre-high, four-metre-deep glass canopy, introducing natural light and a sense of spaciousness, ensuring comfort even during peak visitation periods in spring and autumn.
The 40,000 niches are distributed across the first and second floors, divided into three main zones with clear, user-friendly signage and accessible pathways. The first floor seamlessly connects to the central garden platform, while the second floor is accessible via stairs or lifts, facilitating ease of access for the elderly or those with mobility issues.
The project actively promotes green funeral and eco-friendly policies through sustainable, low-carbon design elements. Niches, false ceilings, signage, and flower beds utilise prefabricated components, improving quality and simplifying future and maintenance. Several innovative renewable energy technologies are incorporated, including the first use of solar photovoltaic paving bricks in a Buildings Department project, solar glass canopies with air purification functionality in the lift lobby and thin-film solar panels on the roof.
To further reduce energy consumption, the building adopts a fully open layout, oriented to capture prevailing winds and incorporating two ventilation corridors for natural airflow. External shading screens and rooftop greening reduce heat gain from sunlight, while over 520 trees planted around the site regulate the microclimate, allowing visitors to enjoy a cool and comfortable environment, even in hot weather.
