Hir Studio

Hong Kong-based multidisciplinary firm HIR Studio was commissioned to redesign the interiors of Sha Tin Town Hall and to add to its public seating, which came in the form of these sinuous benches produced from plastic waste.

Studio principal Howard Chung, who grew up in Sha Tin, realised that much of the town’s plastic waste wasn’t being recycled, but was in fact ending up in the nearby river. ‘We realised that the soul of Sha Tin, Shing Mun River, was polluted with plastic waste, which drained into the sea and would never be recovered,’ Chung says. ‘So we decided to recycle the plastic waste, processed it and remoulded it in a factory to create a series of benches for the people of Sha Tin.’