Snøhetta completes Sky House, final clubhouse at Hong Kong's Pavilia Farm

Snøhetta has completed Sky House, the last of four clubhouses at its Pavilia Farm residential development in Tai Wai, Hong Kong. The building pairs tunnelling playgrounds with workout areas for senior residents, and its centrepiece is a domed skylight that doubles as a rope-climbing tower.

Sky House was designed as a playground and fitness centre for all ages. An outdoor children's playground draws residents toward the entrance, where slides and platforms at various heights form an undulating landscape that continues into the ground floor. Inside, that floor holds a children's play area, a classroom and a music room, with tunnels running through the hilly terrain for children to explore. The upper floor contains lounge spaces, fitness facilities and outdoor exercise areas designed for senior residents.

The central skylight connects the two storeys and floods the interiors with natural daylight.

"By bringing together spaces for different generations under one roof, Sky House supports meaningful encounters and strengthens community ties through everyday life," said Snøhetta.

Sky House joins the Tea House, Well House and Farm House, which opened in 2022 as shared community spaces for the development, centred on an urban farm. Snøhetta intended Pavilia Farm to introduce a new model of residential living — beyond private apartments in a dense urban environment — that would support residents through all stages of their lives.

"Pavilia Farm began with a simple ambition: to create meaningful connections between residents, nature, and Hong Kong itself," said Richard Wood, managing director of Snøhetta Asia. "In one of the world's densest urban environments, the project provides a shared green sanctuary, the project demonstrates how architecture can shape relationships as much as it shapes space."

The four clubhouses sit along a green farm at the centre of the development, giving residents access to shared gardens, urban farming, wellness facilities, and meeting and recreational spaces. Each building was designed to integrate with nature and respond to the surrounding mountains and the Shing Mun River.

The Tea House is a cantilevered pavilion overlooking the terraced landscape, flanked by two calming water elements: an outdoor pool on one side and a cascading waterfall on the other. The Well House, directly connected to the Tea House, contains a gym, spa, sauna, indoor pool and badminton court behind a glazed facade designed to blur the boundary between architecture and landscape.

The Farm House stands at the heart of the development, with three kitchens and a communal dining table. A bespoke table system, supported by a moving rail in the floor, lets tables be combined or divided depending on the size of a gathering.

According to the studio, the layout of Pavilia Farm was designed to encourage discovery and interaction. "Rather than functioning as isolated amenities, the four clubhouses create a layered neighbourhood within the larger residential development, encouraging discovery, interaction, and participation in community life," said Snøhetta. "Taken together, the four houses form more than a collection of communal facilities. They create a rich network of destinations woven into daily life, supporting residents of different ages, interests, and lifestyles."

The completion of Sky House closes out a project the studio frames as a test case for multigenerational residential design in one of the world's densest cities. Snøhetta's other recent completions include the Theodore Roosevelt Presidential Library in North Dakota and the rippling glass extension of the Queensland Performing Arts Centre in Brisbane.