Mong Kok Creative Community - design process

Weekly development

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comprehensive design project

The “ How can we design vertical architecture that is inherently rooted in its location and which embraces the unique characteristics and tackles the specific urban challenges of site, and place?�

Brief “ How can we make a typology that inherently stands out, also fit in and respond to (and enhance) the existing context?�

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Week

01 Focus

Initial concepts

Reading Yona Friedman - Toward a Scientific Architecture

This design process book for the comprehensive design project records my ideas and progress and will be filled in as I complete each week’s work.

The design development begins as I finish the Mong Kok Site Analysis magazine, pictured opposite, in a small group. The magazine contains a broad range of information about the three possible sites intended to spark concepts and designs, which I will undoubtedly build upon during my design process.

I have selected the Argyle Street site due to its central location near the intersection between Mong Kok’s two main roads, Nathan Road and Argyle Street. Additionally, this area is rich with multiple styles of architecture, activities and industries and is the site with by far the most active street level.

Nearby Langham Place serves as a warning of what has happened to other similar Hong Kong districts, where shop houses and ‘pocket towers’ have been replaced by large glass office blocks, permanently changing the atmosphere of the city.

This week, I will be exploring initial research and concepts, aiming to have several options for programs and initial massings for Tuesday tutorials.

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tion lice Sta Old Po

Week

01 Focus

Initial concepts

Reading Yona Friedman - Toward a Scientific Architecture

reet

Soy St

Site Listed buildings

A catalogue of the past, a vision for the future

An initial idea is to explore the hidden and often lost history of Mong Kok. Listed buildings are few, as can be seen on the previous page, despite intact 2000 year old ceramics and remains of 1500 year old lime kilns being discovered on Soy Street, also highlighted on previous pages. These discoveries were made just two metres below ground level by construction workers with hand tools, so it is likely that the surrounding area may contain many more artefacts. This is a reflection of the wider culture towards history in a city that has been inhabited for 2000 years, yet buildings from the 1950s are considered ‘old’ by locals. This project would aim to propose how density can be increased in Mong Kok, whilst preserving its culture and varied industry.

Langham Place, opposite the site, has imposed an alternative urban scale to the surrounding Mong Kok architecture that may soon envelop the current urban fabric. This far larger floor plan is more efficient for office space, but less ideal for residential use or the many ‘cottage industries’ present throughout Mong Kok that ensure that it is

unique and not simply an extension of the towers on Hong Kong Island.

Urban grids are an interesting way to study how different generations of city development have superceded and overlapped one another (see next spread). The site lies at an interesting intersection between several opposing geometric grids and a diagonal cut formed by an old drainage channel.

Using the geometry of these grids could be a way to refrence the current and past street arangements.

This architectural intervention would aim to preserve and catalogue the past and present of Mong Kok, whilst being a beacon for the possible future direction of urban development.

The program for this concept may include a large proportion of residential space, reflecting the existing urban balance in Mong Kok. It could support cottage industry as a secondary function, and include a museum or other exhibition of Mong Kok’s past, present and future.

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Street Grids

Site

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Mong Kok markets

The markets in Mong Kok are one of its most distinctive and attractive features, and are used by both tourists and locals. The markets run in a north-south allignment apart from the food market, which follows a break in the city grid formed by an old drainage channel.

Nearby Langham Place presents the antithesis of the marketplace; retail run by large buisnesses with stores all over the world. Even coming to

Hong Kong for the first time, few brands and items in this shopping centre were uknown to me. This idea would involve a project that acts as a central hub for the markets - both a beginning point and an organisational centre. The program would have to address the large amount of illegal and irresopnsibly sourced items currently sold in Mong Kok’s markets, and suggest how marketplaces could adapt to changing financial and urban conditions.

Architecture to protect and serve Another initial concept revolves around the recent democracy protests on nearby Nathan Road and on Hong Kong Island. Although remarkable in their duration and organisation, the protests in Mong Kok did not force any concessions from Beijing, and were quickly cleared away as soon as international attention decreased. In some ways the broad, straight streets of Mong Kok echo Haussmann’s militarily designed Paris, almost impossible to effectively barracade and facilitating easy police deployment.

The Old Kowloon Police Headquarters, now Grade II listed, still act as the main headquarters for police in Mong Kok. This colonial-style building, constructed in 1925 during a very different political environment, is surrounded by three metre high walls and gives the impression of the police force in opposition to the rest of the city, working against the population rather than with it. Particularly considering Mong Kok’s reputation for housing the infamous triads and other illicit activity, it is important that this police force are seen as the ‘good’ side in this district.

This proposal would question whether architecture should allow a population to have greater control over its government, perhaps actively facilitating protest and free speech. It would aim to contest the reputation of Mong Kok as an area built on criminal activity.

The site is ideal for a new police building, in a more central location than the current station, near the intersection between Nathan Road and Argyle Street, the two main arteries through Mong Kok. The program could include a new, redesigned police headquarters that would allow greater self-governance by the population. This new police facility would aim to close the divide between the population and the police, whose reputation has become far worse after they have been blamed for Beijing’s influence on Hong Kong politics.

Integrating the police headquarters into the existing framework of Mong Kok, amongst residential and commercial functions, could show this new approach from the police. The functions could all be combined into one entity, contrasting with the current police headquarters, with its isolation from the surrounding city.

Other elements to the scheme could involve rehabilitation for former criminals or triad members, or a facility for students to study with opportunities to have their voices heard.

The housing could be very low cost, aiming to target the people in the population most likely to become involved in organised crime. Industry, too, could reflect areas that are at risk of supporting triads, such as counterfeit items sold at markets that often directly fund criminal groups.

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Week

01 Focus

Initial concepts

Reading Yona Friedman - Toward a Scientific Architecture

Friedman’s ideas about the relationship between the client, architect and finished product are interesting and provide a different perspective to the design process. Friedman suggests that the ‘average’ user does not exist and that this unhelpful generalisation helps no one.

“Any system that does not give the right of choice to those who must bear the consequences of a bad choice is an immoral system.” (Page 13) Friedman’s suggestion of a democratisation of architecture is interesting and relevant to politics in Hong Kong; he suggests that the architect fulfils the role of constructing an architectural repertoire, which allows users to choose their architecture based on individual need and preference. Perhaps this is more plausible now that rapid prototyping and digital apps are making this kind of bespoke design more affordable.

Police Headquarters

15 Market retail

Past and Future

F . A . R

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Mong Kok pocket towers:10-23

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Langham Place hotel: 22

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Massive Blocks: 12-18

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Langham Place office and shopping centre: 16

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Current site: 9.5

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Traditional Shop house: 4

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Police buildings typically follow a similar layout to the Old Kowloon station. Often envisaged as icons in the community, they are frequently set apart both physically and stylistically from their surroundings.

Necessary security features often dominate the designs and create detached, fortress-like buildings.

Provins Police Station in France had the goal of reinventing the typical police station, but this revolution appears to be largely aesthetic. The building is still separated from the road by an expansive car park and high wall, in a similar way to the 1925 Kowloon Station. Adequate car parking, a necessity in any police headquarters, does pose several design challenges due to its size, inflexibility and security risks, so will be a major part of a new, alternative design.

The proposal for the New Sandy Hook Elementary School, due to open September 2016, is perhaps a better precedent. The design uses ‘invisible security’, resulting in a building that is highly secure, but does not feel like a fortress.

Police buildings

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Marketplace Markthal covered market by MVRDV opened in 2014 in Rotterdam. The bold form of the building creates a clear diagram where the vibrant, colourful market is protected by a neutral enclosure. This mixed use building includes parking, a supermarket and retail in the basement, the main market on ground level, further retail on ground and first floor and apartments on levels above.

The market is a semi conditioned space, protected from weather by two huge glass facades at each end, supported by pre-stressed steel cables in a similar system to the main entrance of the Time Warner Centre in New York, but on a larger scale.

The treatment of the ground plane allows a large public space and a building with “no back side� that can be accessed from all directions, since parking and delivery are all handled underground. This strategy will be difficult to replicate on a small site in Hong Kong, but the alternative ways of handling deliveries are interesting, and the way that this project enhances the ground plane by creating a large staircase to an exhibition and further retail below could be a good precedent.

The vibrancy of the market is captured in the colourful mural, printed onto alluminum panels on the inside of the arched structure. Apartment windows look into this space, further increasing its feeling of actvity, refrencing the form of traditional street markets and proving apartments with a double aspect, with two very different views.

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Week

02 Focus

Programme, brief and massing development

Reading Mutations - Rem Koolhaas et al.

After discussing my two main initial concepts in a studio tutorial, I have decided to follow the third idea of an intervention that reflects the recent political situation in Hong Kong and the three opposing groups that have caused conflict on the streets: the police, democracy protestors and the gang members. However, creating a new police station may not be the best approach as it is in danger of becoming too restricted in the time frame, and is perhaps too contrived as a brief.

I will explore how to adapt this brief over the following week, initially focussing on mapping the wider site in a more complete analysis and initial massing studies.

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Initial massing models

1:500

styrofoam

Week

02 Focus

Programme , brief and massing development

Reading Mutations - Rem Koolhaas et al.

Mapping all the police stations shows clearly that the site lies in the most densely policed area in Hong Kong. The police station programme now seems highly questionable, even if it includes the removal of the Old Kowloon Police Station.

These police are increasingly seen as an enemy of the people of Hong Kong, and have even been accused of actively working alongside the Triads during the riots. The solution to recent tension in Mong Kok may lie not in more police stations, but in greater education and self-policing by the people.

If students had a forum to make their voices heard, the protests would have been unnecessary.

Old Kowloon Police Station

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Marine Police Site

HK Police Headquarters

Mong kok Problems Influenced by two contrasting systems and sets of ideals

Beijing’s changes to democratic process

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Young people feel they do not have a voice

Umbrella movement and occupy protests are the only way to get their voices heard

1.

Low income area in a city with massive wealth inequality

Drugs, crime and gang membership are more common in this district

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Markets and casinos provide financial support for gangs

Triads and other organised crime is common around Mong Kok

Mong Kok is the most heavily policed area in Hong Kong, and Police must side with Beijing’s politics

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Police are widely seen as the enemy

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Conflict and protest on the streets

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Negative reputation associated with Mong Kok

Mong kok solutions?

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Provide low cost housing for the least affluent in society

Give students and young people a forum to make their voices heard

Regulate or renovate the marketplaces to move away from illegal goods 27 Encourage ‘self-policing’ by the community

Encourage debate and discussion in an educational environment

Improve the image and reputation of Mong Kok

D Occupy Protests

Police Occupation

September

November Occupy Protests

emocracy protests were extremely active around the site in late 2014. Beginning in September, large areas of Nathan Road, Argyle Street and Sei Yeung Choi Street were occupied, almost up to the site itself. As the protests continued and police began to reduce the protest area, they formed a barracade on Nathan Road to the north of 29 the protests to stop them expanding any further. This stand-off, with Argyle Street as no man’s land at its centre, continued until the democracy occupation was forcably dismantled by police in late November. Over 4000 police officers were later sent to Nathan Road for the next weeks to prevent reoccupation by protestors.

Building programme 1. Habitation Units consisting primarily of small, low cost apartments but with some range in sizes and values, reflecting information from the Hong Kong Census on current rent and wages.

Housing will be the largest element in this scheme, and must provide a viable alternative to the vast estates in the new territories, showing that density and high quality, low cost housing can be achieved in city centres.

2. Education A new facility for the School of Social Sciences at the Chinese University of Hong Kong, incorporating Politics, Journalism, Economics and Architectural Studies, amongst other subjects.

This new university building must provide a forum for students and young people to have their voices heard, which may take the form of a public debating facility. It would also be good to use the precedents of surrounding large scale singange here, It must also be the first vertical university building that ‘gives back’ to its surroundings; facilities for students must be able to be used by the residents of the apartments, perhaps even by the public.

3. Regulation A new entrance to the marketplaces that helps them to compete with nearby Langham Place and brings them all under loose organisation, ensuring that they are not supporting the darker side of Mong Kok. This section of the program would include a new marketplace area, probably at ground level, that will act as a new ‘entrance’ or ‘hub’ for the three nearby markets. This component would also include office space for a new regulatory organisation for the markets, that will ensure that they are protected from new developments and do not sell items that have been smuggled into Hong Kong by criminal gangs.

50% 31

45%

Possible floor area percentages

5%

1 2 3 Household size, Mong Kok 4 5 6+

<$1000 $1000-$1999 Rent (HKD), Mong Kok

$2000-$5999 $6000-$9999 >$10000

1. Habitation The residental component of this project is the largest of the three functions, and is intended to provide a mix of housing types and values. Low cost housing is an important part of this programme, and will have to provide innavotave solutions to high density living.

Data above from Hong Kong Census, 2011

Hong Kong China Russia UK Italy Spain Japan Sweeden

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France Greece Denmark Canada USA Australia Average space per person

Average dwelling size

2. Education

The Chinese University of Hong Kong is the territory’s oldest university, established in 1963.

Although originally formed to teach in Chinese, the majority of courses are now taught in English. The university was formed from three existing colleges: the New Asia College, formed by anti-Communist academics, self exiled from China; the Chung Chi College, formed by protestant churches; and United College, founded by merging several private colleges. The University sits as an amalgamation of these varied political backgrounds.

In May 2010, the Student Union sought to erect a permanent ‘Goddess of Democracy’ statue on the University’s main campus. The application was turned down as the University felt it had to remain ‘politically neutral’, however over 2000 students protested and after a month the University changed its decision and allowed the pro-democracy statue.

This event is an interesting precedent for student

pro-democracy protest that has achieved its goals, although at a far smaller scale than the recent democracy protests.

Student numbers have been increasing in recent years, so the proposal for a new Social Sciences building in the heart of Mong Kok, close to the existing School of Professional Studies, will allow further expansion of student numbers on the campus.

This component of the building programme will require seminar rooms, offices, several lecture theatres with a capacity of 50 students, two with a capacity of 100 and one with a capacity of 200 students. It will require F&B facilities for students and perhaps a small library, as well as recreational facilities such as an open area and gym. Some of these amenities should be shared with the residential aspect of the building, as appropriate.

University 35

Mong Kok

34,377 students (2013)

29,767 students (2013)

The University of Nottingham

The Chinese University of Hong Kong

University buildings

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Schools and other education

3. Regulation 1x

2010

2x

2013

70%

Markets of Hong Kong

42%

Shenzhen

33%

Online

15%

Other mainland Cities

9%

Thailand

8%

Korea

8%

Other

Shipments of counterfeit goods from Hong Kong to Europe and USA have doubled in the past three years

Percentage of Hong Kong residents that have purchaced counterfeit goods from these locations Marketplaces are more than double online sales

73% of Hong Kong residents have bought counterfeit goods...

...and 21% of people who have bought counterfeit items did not initially realise they were fake

61% of residents agree that buying fake products is unethical...

...yet only 26% of residents feel guilty if they buy copy proucts

All data from KPMG survey, available at: h t t p : // w w w. k p m g . c o m /C N /e n / I s s u e s A n d I n s i g h t s /A r t i c l e s P u b l i c a t i o n s / D o c u m e n t s / I n t e l l e c t u a l - P r o p e r t y - R i g h t s - S t u d y - 2 0 1 3 0 9 . p d f

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Buying fake items, although illegal, may seem like a victimless crime. However these items must be smuggled into Hong Kong from mainland China where they are made, usually by criminal gangs such as the infamous Triads. Money spent on these items therefore funds wider organised crime in Mong Kok. Awareness needs to be raised around this issue; currently only 26% of residents would feel guilty about buying fake goods, but undoubtedly more would if they knew where the money was going.

Data shows that 21% of Hong Kongers who purchaced fake goods did not initially realise they were fake - a clear marking or brand for genuine items would help to make this distinction. Stickers or signs could be used in shops and market stalls that sell genuine items so that customers can be sure what they are buying. This could work in a similar way to the â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;fairtradeâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; stamp on UK products that inforce ethical standards.

One of the most striking figures in the report is that more than double the number of Hong Kong residents buy fake items from the markets compared to online.

This reinforces the market regulation inititive as a key component in combating counterfeit items.

A key problem supporting fake items appears to be the availability of genuine items.

If customers could find the real items, they would be far less likely to buy fakes. The report states that sales of fake fashion items have decreased substantially since branded shops have opened in Mong Kok. This clear link between the markets and branded shops needs to be reinforced to further this effect.

Technology can also be used to combat counterfeiting - KPMG cite the example of a beer company that included scannable codes on their bottles in Hong Kong so that customers could check they were genuine using a smartphone. Initatives such as this could be expanded to include competitions on products; when a code is scanned to enter a competition or register an electronic item, it is also checked to make sure it is genuine.

Intelectual property theft is severely damaging Hong Kongâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s creative industries, which the government is keen to promote. Many companies are moving away from the city because they cannot protect their designs. A facility is needed that will support better regulation of the marketplaces in Mong Kok, provide guidance for avoiding fakes online and give courses in useful information such as security measures and copyright trapping.

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Breaking the grid Both of the Langham Place towers break the nearby street grid, turning at 45 degrees. This makes them more prominant amongst surrouding buildings, and combined with their different scale ensure that they do not fit into their surroundings.

However, when analysisng them purely in plan, they reflect the block to the west of the site, each breaking an east-west road and including 45 degree geometry. While the block to the west of the site refrences an old drainage channel, Langham Place has attempted to create a new aspect of the city grid.

The yellow line, pictured, would be an interesting desire line between the old marketplaces and new shopping centre, simultaniously connecting old and new city grids together and helping Langham Place become more a part of the fabric of Mong Kok.

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Initial massing

Below - Reclamation Street, looking north Right - Argyle Street, looking east 1

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3

My initial massing strategies begin with an extension of the Mong Kok â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;pocket towerâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;; splitting my programme into three (massing 1) or four (massing 3) towers at a similar small plan size as surrounding towers. Streets of densely built slender towers give Mong Kok a unique atmosphere, and following this small plan helps to preserve the existing urban fabric, whilst increasing density.

Massing 3 takes the 45 degree geometry developed on the previous page, forming two towers which are triangular in plan. This massing visually resolves the conflicting geometries of Langham Place and the surrounding buildings, being orthogonal to the city grid at the height of surrounding towers, and using the same angle as Langham Place at its height.

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Page 43

Spaces at height The Hong Kong Polytechnic University Community College by Wang Weijen Architecture is another university building that incorporates several social spaces at height between different functions.

Intended as a reinvention of the courtyard typology for a vertical architecture. If spaces like these were used as the boundary between programme elements, they could start to perform one of the key advantages of a mixed use tower; the potential for sharing and augmenting amenities.

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The Columbia University Medical Building by Diller Scofidio + Renfro has a peeled back facade, almost like an illustration from a haynes manual, pictured above. The complex shapes of the interlocking lecture theatres and breakout spaces form a ramp that connects them to the ground.

An initial massing concept involves exaggerating the mandatory refugfe floors in a tall building, making then into triple height, open areas and exaggerating the shape of elements in the building such as lecture theatres and staircases, making landscaped areas. The diagram shares similarities with the 1909 theorem on tall buildings, published in ‘Life’ magazine. Rem Koolhaas argued that, “this indeterminacy means that a particular site can no longer be matched with any predetermined purpose.

From now on each lot accomodates - in theory at

least - an unforseeable and unstable combination of simultanious activities.” These breaks in the mass of the building would aid natural ventilation and expess the structure of the tower. Since there is no fire load on the refuge floor, exposed steel may be acceptable. These open areas could become ‘landscape at height’ perhaps even linking multiple buildings and city blocks together. This proposal would show the changes in programme, whilst providing areas for shared amenities for different programme elements.

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Week

03 Focus

Developing potential relationships between programmatic elements

Reading Urban Acupuncture - Jamie Lerner

My intial massing ideas were discussed in the weekly tutorial, and I have decided to continue developing the 45 degree massing (massing 3 on earlier page).

This week, I will focus on the relationships between the three programme elements of habitation, education and regulation. I will look in particular at how these functions can influence one another and share amenities and space. I plan to work in plan and section to diagram the relationships between key spaces and functions.

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Living + Kitchen + WC + Shower + Store +

Living + Kitchen + WC + Shower +

3m2

5m2

Essential shared facilities

Living + Kitchen + Shower +

Living +

7.5m2

10m2

15m2

Nagagin Capsule Tower

Hong Kong average

Too small

1:200

How small is too small?

Appropriate density for Mong Kok

Drawing possible apartment layouts for different areas allowed me to assess which sizes allow a high density, yet still offer an acceptable quality of habitation.

25m2 50m2

London recommended minimum 51

Density is too low for Mong Kok

Pixel

rules

01 Shared Living Space

Must be on the same floor as

Apartment Type 1

Shared Kitchen + Dining Must be on the same floor as

Must be adjacent to

â&#x2030;&#x2C6;10m2

Apartment Type 2

Must have good views

Apartment Type 4

Must be on corner

Apartment Type 3

Must have good views

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Massi ng

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A New market street

University

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Marketplace

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Residential

Shared

B locks

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Emphasis o n central street

S e pe r ate towe r s w i th s h ar e d ar e a

B Twin towers create a language of two functions, with shared facilities between

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A The diagonal street at ground level unites the marketplaces with Langham Place

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Vertical bl o cks w i th sky pa r k s

alte r nati ng func ti on bloc k s

Open areas on fire floor s

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C Dual fuctions share an open space

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B Refuge floors become large shared outdoor spaces

Thin residential towers border an open shared space

B University functions are allowed a much larger floor plan

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Week

03 Focus

Developing potential relationships between programmatic elements

Reading Urban Acupuncture - Jamie Lerner

Jamie Lerner, a Brazilian architect, planner and politician, was governer of the state of Paraná and mayor of Curitiba. This book reads like a sketchbook, pulling examples from cities all over the world, including Hong Kong.

Lerner catalogues what he calls acts of ‘urban kindness’, from window cleaning gondalas that have been made into moving window boxes to rubbish collectors that sing as they work. He argues that small, catalytic interventions in cities can become ‘urban acupuncture’, redirecting flows of energy in the city and creating a better urban environment.

He goes on to analyse several relevant typologies for my project, including universities and marketplaces.

“ The city isn’t the problem - it’s the solution. The biggest problem we created was moving our livelihoods away from our homes. We separated work from life. The city is an integrated structure of life and work. The city is a melting pot of human activities. The more you blend incomes, ages, and activities, the more human the city becomes.”

Page 63

Interim

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Week

04 Focus

Concept perspectives and sections

Reading Urban Acupuncture - Jamie Lerner

During the first interim review, it was decided that the â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;massing blocksâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; strategy should be put to one side and a more architectural and conceptual approach could be continued.

Over this week, I will work on conceptual perspevtive and sectional drawings, aiming to begin to create spaces and explore how users will interact with the architectural intervention.

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Initial concept market drawings

Original objectives 1.

Low income area in a city with massive wealth inequality

Provide low cost housing

2.

Young people feel they do not have a voice

Give students and young people a forum to make their voices heard

3.

Markets and casinos provide financial support for gangs

Regulate or renovate the marketplaces to move away from illegal goods

4.

Police are widely seen as the enemy

Encourage ‘self-policing’ by the community

5.

Conflict and protest on the streets

Create a new piece of ‘urban acupuncture’ that can encourage collaboration and unite Mong Kok

6.

Negative reputation associated with Mong Kok

Provide a catalyst for new culture and creativity in Mong Kok

Programme revision F

ollowing my review, I have decided to alter my programme slightly. My intial objectives, shon left, remain the same, but two of my general sloutions have been updated. My new proposal is more linked to the marketplaces; to create a catalytic architecture that will contain the functions of habitation, education, regulation, and now also fabrication. Creative industries are being supported heavily by the Hong Kong government, with millions of dollars of funding provided for new creative education and professional initiatives. The new programme stems from the markets, which were previously one of the most interesting parts of my brief yet filled only 5% of the floor area. My brief will be a new ‘urban acupuncture’, aiming to provide a better future for Mong Kok by promoting creativity and cottage industry in this district.

The university finction will now be a new faculty of creative arts for the Chinese University of Hong Kong, and the heart of this new ‘vertical creative quarter’. The university is essential to the success

of this proposal as it will provide all of the necessary amenities for the fabrication functions, such as laser cutters, printers, a library and exhibition spaces. Integrating the university so tightly with the professional creative community will also be hugely benificial for the students, and the opportunity for exhibition and collaboration but be used as widely as possible.

69 The previous regulation function of stopping counterfeitting in Hong Kong now becomes even more important; many creative industries feel that they have to relocate from Hong Kong because their ideas are frequently stolen or copied, so intilectual property will have to be safe if this creative community is to work.

The goal of this new brief is to create a catalyst for Mong Kok culture; to embrace existing and new styles and ideas, and provide students and other residents with a forum to exhibit their ideas and make their voices heard.

Building programme 1. Habitation Housing will remain the largest component of the building, and is the main source of financial income that will support the other functions. The apartments will be a mix of value and size, reflecting the varied demand from Mong Kok, and will include some very low rent apartments.

2. Education The education aspect of the brief is a new faculty for creative arts for the Chinese University of Hong Kong, which will provide many of the amenities for the ‘Fabrication’ function.

3. Fabrication This component of the brief consists of small ‘cottage industry’ scale creative offices, workshops and studios.

They will utilise shared facilities and exhibition spaces, and make items for sale in the markets and elsewhere.

4. Regulation Protecting intellectual property of creative industries is essential if Mong Kok is to become a creative district. This section of the building will include an extension and hub for the marketplaces and small amount of office space to run the new ‘anti counterfeiting’ brand.

40%

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30%

25%

Approximate floor area percentages

5%

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â&#x20AC;&#x153;Getting students into the streets is also hugely important. In too many cities around the world, students are physically severed from the heartbeat of urban life, conficed to distant islands that are conventionally known as campusses...

Town and gown work best not as rivals but as partners.â&#x20AC;?

Jamie Lerner Urban Acupuncture pages 48-49

Learning hub - Heatherwick studio

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Beijing 798 art district

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The Beijing 798 art district is a unique sreative community that has grown in disused 1950â&#x20AC;&#x2122;s weapons factories in an area of the Chinese capital.

The factories were designed in East Germany, in a functional style influenced by Bauhaus designs. These spaces provided large spans, even temperature control and naturally lit spaces,

withsaw-tooth roofs facilitating large north-facing skylights.

The factories were occupied by artists looking for cheap, functional studio spaces to rent in 1995. many more artists joined the area as its reputation spread, eventually forming a large community.

Concept drawings Work in progress

Finished product

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Adaptable ground floor

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1

2

Open - evening marketplace or sports pitch

Stage - theatre production or live music performance

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3

4

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Abstract - form is an artwork, or allows exhibition of one

Closed - live performance, exhibition space

Initial section

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Week

05 Focus

Plan and section development

Reading MVRDV at VPRO

This week, I aim to develop my plan and section, whilst continuing to work on the design in 3D.

Bund Financial Centre Foster + Partners and Heatherwick Studio An intial design for the cultural building of the Bund Financial Centre development in Shanghai has a similar aesthetic to my designs for the ground floor of my proposal. A series of vertical â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;pixelsâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; form an overhead canopy that creates the form of the building and seating on the upper level. This design, however, was soon replaced with a different proposal, currently under construction. The concept could potentially be taken further, with the pixel shapes forming planting areas, tables and stages in a building.

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Typical plan

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Cross section

Cherry Street, facing east

Street perspective

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Reclamation street, facing north

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Argyle Street, facing west

Week

06 Focus

Structural and facade development

Reading The Urbanisation of Injustice Andy Merrifield et al.

In a structural tutorial, I gained a far better understanding of how structure will influence the design of the building, and how it can be used to express the design concepts. I am aiming for a concrete structure with steel bracing, to enable these very slender towers to have adequate lateral support.

Following a design tutorial, I am keeping the general design shown on previous pages, but will be focussing on the shared spaces and initial facade studies.

Reclamation street, facing north

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Considered â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;slenderâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;

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World Trade Center 1973

Bush Tower 1918

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Madison Square Park 2013

Current world record holder

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432 Park Avenue 2015

The Summit and Highcliff (The Chopsticks) 2001, 2003

Mong Kok Creative Community 2018

Hong Kong My proposal allows an extremely high slenderness ratio by using multiple towers for support and services, and bridging larger spaces between towers.

“Unlike supermarkets, markets also tend to breed expertise”

Mong Kok markets

Market culture in Mong Kok, historically a major part of daily life throughout Hong Kong, is in decline after decades of marketplace closures and retraction of seller licences.

“Their decline is often seen as the consequence of changing consumer preferences. But what if it’s the design of the wet markets themselves that turn customers away?”

1 in 7 market stalls are currently unoccupied in Hong Kong

Information taken from ‘Rebuilding the Market Economy’, published in the Hong Kong edition of China Daily, 2012

60% empty

When it was closed in 2009, the Mong Kok market building was only 40% occupied.

“Vendors placed the blame not only on changing consumption habits, but on the market environment: wet, dirty, cluttered and poorly-ventilated.” “ Tai Yuen, which is located near the heart of the Tai Wo shopping district in the suburban town of Tai Po. Thirty years after its construction in 1980, half its stalls stood empty. Customers were so sparse that merchants took the afternoon as an opportunity to nap. There was no natural light, little ventilation and no air conditioning. The roof leaked when it rained.

“The temperature could get as high as 40 degrees,” says Chu Chun-por, who runs a congee stall in the market.

“Nobody wanted to be here — there were so many vacant stalls,” says Chan Ka-lok, whose family has

sold aquariums in the market for more than 20 years.

Now things are different. Tai Yuen has undergone a HK$95-million renovation to improve its ambiance, expand the variety of food stalls and give it an edge against supermarket competitors. The market’s façade was opened up to the street, the interior layout reconfigured, stalls expanded and a new drainage system installed to keep the floors dry.

Stall owners say that business has doubled since the refurbished market opened at the beginning of the year. “There are a lot more people than before, and more diverse customers too,” says Chan.”

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art of the problem is that many of Hong Kong’s wet markets were built in the 1970s and 80s as warehouses for relocated street hawkers. Most market halls are strictly utilitarian, with concrete walls, few sources of natural light and small stalls so as to accommodate as many hawkers as possible.

Their management has often been just as bare-bones. “If you take a look at the wet markets run by the FEHD [Food and Environmental Hygiene Department], they are not designed and run like a business enterprise,” says Liberal Party lawmaker Tommy Cheung, chairman of the Legislative Council’s Food Safety and Environmental Hygiene Committee. “Look at the the size of the stalls, the corridors, the lighting, the ventilation — they’re not good. That’s why you don’t bring in enough people.”

Rents in government-run wet markets have been frozen for years, and many stalls pay far less than an equivalent space on the street or in a shopping mall. The average rent for a stall is $2,700

per month, though some stalls rent for less than $100, such as a dry goods stall in Yuen Long’s Tai Kiu Market whose rent is just $81.70 per month.

Cheung says the low rents are used as an excuse by the government to avoid investing in new market infrastructure. It creates a vicious cycle: rents are low because market conditions are poor, but unless those conditions improve, vendors cannot do enough business to justify increased rent.

“Wet markets provide a lot of jobs,” says Cheung, but the decline in business has hurt their ability to create employment.

“When I was campaigning ten years ago, I went to wet markets and stall owners were able to hire two or three workers. These days, they can’t afford to hire any staff. This is how it’s regressing.”

Unlike supermarkets, says Cheung, profits from a market stall goes directly into its owners’ pockets. If that same person worked for a chain supermarket, he or she would earn the same hourly wage regardless of the store’s overall fortune.

From Hong Kong edition of China Daily, scan the QR code below for the full article.

“It’s a social space, a space where you trade, where you meet people, have a bite and a drink,”

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Analysis

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Education

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Art and design studios

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Metalworkers

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Product designers

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Offices including creative literature or magazines

Architects

Textiles and fashion design

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Regulation Market regulation offices

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Production of small hand made items for slae in the markets Product designers

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Library Rapid prototyping Printing facilities Lecture theatres Cafe Exhibition spaces

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Plan and cladding refinement, ground floor strategy

Reading

The Political Economy of Street Hawkers in Hong Kong Josephine Smart

Smart provides a detailed insight into street sellers and markets in Hong Kong, depicting street hawkers as entrepreneurial individuals who provide a valuable service to the community, aiding formal retail by bringing life, vibrancy and more customers to retail areas, Attempts to rehouse markets in purpose built halls have been largely unsuccessful in Hong Kong, never rivaling the success of the street market. More successful strategies have revolved around the creation of â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;hawker permitted placesâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;, where illegal sellers can become legalised.

Mong Kok market, closed in 2009, is mentioned in this book. It only contained 85 stalls when operating, and by the time of its closure 60% of them were empty due to poor conditions and high rent in the building, yet it s presence brought over 800 stalls on the streets surrounding it. My studio project has the aim of being this kind of catalytic architecture.

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Facing west on Argyle Street

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Facing north on Reclamation street

Markets 2005

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Mong Kok marketplace, a small building with space for just 85 stalls, has attracted over 800 legal and illegal market stalls in the surrounding streets.

The marketplace building itself, however, is small, dark and poorly ventilated - as a result it is only 40% occupied and in need of maintenance.

Markets

Markets 2015

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Mong Kok marketplace has been shut down and market stall numbers are at an all time low.

Langham Place shopping centre and hotel has been built near by, offering a more formal retail experience that has resulted in further losses in sales from the street markets.

Markets

Markets 2020

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The new creative community has been completed, providing a focal point for the markets, as well as a regulatory system that is working to legalise them and their products. The new focus on cottage industry and items made in Mong Kok gives these markets a unique character and makes them a companion, rather than a competitor, to Langham Place.

Markets

Markets 2030

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The street markets have grown, using the new creative community tower as a catalyst for the reinvention of Mong Kok as a creative district in Hong Kong. Langham Place is now the centre of this varied and unique retail area.

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Research and reading

Reading

A critical study of the public space in Hong Kong - Ka Man Lo

Ambiguous space, ambiguous rights -- corporate power and social control in Hong Kong Alexander Cuthbert

Indoor city and Quasi-public Space: A study of the shopping mall systems in Hong Kong Lin Li

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Privately owned public space in Hong Kong and New York: The urban and spatial influence of the policy. - W. Luk

Theatres of accumulation: studies in Asian and Latin American urbanization W. Armstrong and T. G. McGee

The Urban informal sector: critical perspectives on employment and housing policies - R. J. Bromley

Week

09 Focus

Cladding Development

Reading Hybrid Hong Kong Chan Kwok-bun

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