farmfresh330 | Hong Kong

farmfresh330

farmfresh330 is nestled among the staggering streets of Wan Chai,  located one street away from Bowrington Road Cooked Food Centre at the busy intersection of Sharp Street and Chan Tung Lane. Opened in 2015, it is a food retail chain managed by New Life Psychiatric Rehabilitation Association (NLPRA). The 30sqm store is designed by onebite, in collaboration with CoLAB as the brand concept consultant.

farmfresh330 embodies the vision of New Life Psychiatric Rehabilitation Association, which aims to raise awareness on the importance of mental, physical, and spiritual health and promote greater social inclusion for those with mental and physical disabilities.  The shop is a social enterprise focusing on green living by promoting local organic farm produce, and encouraging its customers to eat healthier food as a way of proactively preventing, rather than curing illnesses.

The name of the project is divided into two parts. farmfresh, as the name suggests, champions the concept of green living and organic products in the shop, with fresh vegetables delivered directly from NLPRA's farms or organic products sourced from community producers. The number 330 is an alliteration of the Cantonese words for physical, mental and spiritual well-being. Apart from focusing on the physical and mental health of the general public, the shop also provides training and employment opportunities for People in Recovery (PIR) from mental illnesses by preparing them for integration into the community and gaining real workplace experience under the guidance of NLPRA staff.

As the shop is located on a prominent street corner, onebite wants the facade design to break away from the common use of dull grey that make the shop indistinguishable from neighbours.  Therefore, onebite has chosen to use a bright and cheerful orange shade for the facade to brighten the faces of every passerby. In addition, CoLAB conceptualised the graffiti mural on the facade walls, using a simple hand-painted line drawing to connect the smiley face pattern to natural elements such as birds, flowers, and of course vegetables!  These elements symbolised the harmony between man and nature, body, mind and soul and represents the vision of farmfresh330 clearly and prominently.  The store signages along the facades of Sharp Street and Chan Tung Lane illuminate the words “farmfresh330” in a soft yellow glow that welcomes and beckons customers to enter.

In addition to the facade design, a blackboard mounted onto the wall left of the main entrance provides a means for shop staff to communicate with customers, writing down any changes to the vegetables on sale, or promoting limited time offers.

To make the best use of a sliver of public space along Chan Tung Lane, onebite incorporated a bench into the recessed bay window which allows customers and passerbys to rest and enjoy a drink. This human-centered feature was designed to offer respite and convenience for the public passing by farmfresh330 which would hopefully foster deeper understanding and awareness between the public and PIR.

The design maximised the interior space by extending shelves as far up as possible, such that every inch of space in the shop is not wasted. Shelf space above a customer’s reachable height are used for the display of farming equipment and produce, which reminds the public that every vegetable and food item in the shop comes from farmfresh330's own farms and involves the hard work of PIR and farmers.

Taking into consideration the retail shop’s prime location in Wan Chai, the short rental time frame and the possibility of relocation due to property prices, onebite proposed a shelf design that is modular and could be easily dismantled and reassembled. This helps to reduce the setup duration for future relocation, reduces the difficulty of dismantling, and more importantly, considers how the material could be reassembled and reused, keeping in mind farmfresh330's spirit of green living and reducing the impact of human actions on the environment.