Border X'Change

Border X’Change Literal + Phenomenal

Border X’Change

Literal + Phenomenal {

Patrick Hwang

}

The Chinese University of Hong Kong Blog: borderxchange.blogspot.com Arch 5110 . G2 Option Studio . F2011

The people who first built a path between two places performed one of the greatest human achievements. No matter how often they might have gone back and forth between the two and thus connected them subjectively, so to speak, it was only in visibly impressing the path into the surface of the earth that the places were objectively connected.

Georg Simmel We live in a time and space in which borders, both literal and figurative, exist everywhere....A border maps limits; it keeps people in and out of an area; it marks the ending of a safe zone and the beginning of an unsafe zone. To confront a border and, more so, to cross a border presumes great risk. In general people fear and are afraid to cross borders.....People cling to the dream of utopia and fail to recognize that they create and live in heterotopia.

Alejandro Morales

Borderland n a: territory at or near a border: FRONTIER b: an outlying region Borderline n a line of demarcation Heterotopia n Spaces and places that contains the characteristics of the other

Border is commonly defined as a barrier or a dividing line between two entities. In sociopolitical relationships, border could be the cause for hostile disputes between sovereign nations, from Thailand and Cambodia to Israel and its Arab neighbors and countless other examples.

It could also be the perverse but sometimes opportunistic interdependence between United States and Mexico, where flows of legitimate and illegitimate trade and commerce across the porous border have reshaped their threshold cities, such that they are neither distinctively American nor Mexican, but instead contains the cultural and social characteristics of the other. Depending on the contexts, border can be a barrier, a welcoming entrance or “spaces of debate and productive ambiguity”.

The One Country Two System policy instated in Hong Kong during the 1997 hand-over, created a unique border condition, which over time became more phenomenal and figurative than literal. This ambiguous presence of a boundary with Shenzhen provides a context to examine the history and current state of highly interwoven relationships, and by extension, relationships beyond the context of Hong Kong.

Border X’Change studio aims to explore the latent potentials of Border in both literal and phenomenal terms, and aims to transform from a threshold that demarcates into an In-between space of hosted events and influences.

The indeterminate nature of the border’s future allows different interpretations for what it could become one day.

The restrictive nature of yesterday and the opportunistic future of tomorrow, forces the students to respond to the border issue both literally and phenomenally.

Framework Border X’Change studio aims to explore the latent potentials of bvorder in both literal and phenomenal terms, and aim to transform from a threshold that demarcates into an In-between space of hosted events and influences. We will study a broad range of issues as subjects of inquiry to provide clues for spatial and programmatic interventions.

Studio Border X’Change consists of three interrelated parts. A tectonic exploration in the making of a “Soft Boundary”; a semester long study on topics in and around the Shenzhen Hong Kong border; and a building design on the borderland responding the topic of research and the tectonic exploration.

Top: } Line as symbolic border, Haskell Library between Quebec, Canada and Vermont USA. Right (from top down): } Play time, Volleyball game along the border in Naco USA and Naco Mexico. } Police officers from Shenzhen and Hong Kong patrolling along Chung Ying Street (Sino-British Road).

Site The site is in the small border town of Sha Tau Kok, currently within the Frontier Closed Area (FCA) situated in between Hong Kong and Shenzhen by the eastern shore. Prior to the handover of 1997, Sha Tau Kok was described by many as the “Little Mongkok� of the north, for its bustling trade and commercial activities between the border cities. Where tax free products from the West are exchanged with the exotic goods from China. This characteristic changed after 1997, when the regional border was much dissolved, allowing greater exchanges along the 30 kilometer borderline, bypassing the small township. Today the town of 5000 serve as a small crossing handling about 2300 people daily. The evolving political, economic and cultural dynamics between the two cities makes the project particularly intriguing and opportunistic.

The 8,500 sq meter site is located along the border between HK/ SZ by the Sha Tau Kok sea with an existing pier by the south, Tin Hau Temple to the west and several community amenities such as banks, post office, markets to the north on the HK side. By SZ, there is a museum dedicated to the history of Sha Tau Kok and high rise residential towers. The famous Chung Ying Street which shared

by SZ and HK with storefronts facing each other is about 5 to 10 minutes walk.

Since the site is in FCA, a permit is needed to enter this township.

Right (from top down): } Colorful plastic float acting as symbolic divider between Hong Kong and Shenzhen within the township of Sha Tau Kok. } Shoppers from China lining up to depart the restricted area of Chung Ying Street after making their shopping spree. } Site plan } Picture of adjacent context looking towards southern mountain range } Photo of adjacent context looking towards Shenzhen part of Sha Tau Kok, the river line naturally forms the divide between Hong Kong and Shenzhen.

Research Students will form a team of two to conduct a term long research on a specific subject particularly important to the site.

It will be use to promote and stimulate individuals’ programmatic underpinning and development for your project.

Information gathered will be compared and contrasted analytically in a graphical manner with other borderland nations.

The investigation seeks to uncover both visible and invisible conditions of border morphology.

Sha Tau Kok is within the Frontier Closed Area, which requires visitor’s permit to enter. Due to such regulation, both positive and negative sentiments can be felt by the community. While some advocates more open exchange between the two sides to promote commercial activities to stimulate its respective economies, many are happy with the undisturbed natural scenery due to the limited human contamination.

Since policy of the Frontier Closed Area directly influences the porousness of the borderline, it is critical that individuals establish a position on border policy. I.e. how does the understanding and interpretation of border policies of the past, present and future shaped the design of the project?

Below are excerpts from the five research topics selected: - Transportation - Environment - Tourism - Education - Population

Tectonic Study: Soft Boundary This exercise is the antithesis to the fundamental definition of border, normally relating to the idea of margin, verge, edge, rim, brim, brink and limit. Instead of defining border as such, individuals are encouraged to openly interpret their notion of border. Soft Boundary is guided by the following characteristics and constraints that are never either-or but instead both porous and hermetic; permeable and impermeable; transparent and opaque; light and heavy; luminous and shaded; thick and thin; fluid and stationary; rational and dynamic.

Students will develop iterative designs of Soft Boundary at 1 to 1 scale, to occupy the full extent of your table and to be self-supported or hung without collapsing under its own weight. It may be positioned in no specific orientation (i.e. vertical, horizontal, diagonal or free-form).

Soft Boundary shall be constructed using systematic unit of parts, developing from part to whole. Material of construction is open.

Top: } Interim pin up of Soft Boundary exercise.

Right } Heiman So- Soft Boundary generated from standardized triangle modules with tension strap sandwiched in between to create a self standing system.

Openings of different sizes are create light to allow for communication between inside out.

Left: } Kasia Ku- Repetitive module generated by studying cellular structure of natural specimen. The variabilities in dimension and angle of fold line.

Right: } Marco Tang- A breathable skin generated by two layers of membrane with cuts and score lines. A semi-rigid lattice framework behind controls the surface geometry.

Left: } Thomas Wong- Mirrors pin-mounted on retractable track to create a folding partition allowing the simultaneous viewing of the partition, beyond and the reflected.

Right } Thoms Chong- Standardized panels of squares with different diameters of circular openings generated attractors which are determined by the degree of visibility required between the two sides.

Clockwise: } Yan Chen, Eunice Yeung, Kenneth Hin, Stella Leong

Architectural Proposal Based on the research inspiration gathered from part { B } and the Soft Boundary created in part { A }, students shall develop a design strategy leading to an architectural proposal. It shall aspire to become an architectural intervention with literal and phenomenal importance, triggering a wide range of potential responses from anticipation and optimism, to uncertainty and skepticism, to forming an everyday experience.

The design project involves a proposal with two interrelated components. A border crossing examining issues of freedom and suppression of movement through boundary; and a set of self-proposed programs based on research interests intended to promote exchange and dialogue with the other side. Individuals shall comprehensively incorporate the tectonics of Soft Boundary, together with their research and analysis to create a new frontier architecture responding to the pertinent issues of the border exchange.

Right: } Final review, physical models from Carmen Chan, Marco Tang and Eunice Yeung

Proposal {1} Marco Tang

Proposal {2} Heiman So

Proposal {3} Kenneth Hin

Proposal {4}

Thoms Chong

Proposal {5} Eunice Yeung

Proposal {6} Kasia Ku

Border X’Change Literal + Phenomenal {

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Patrick Hwang

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Contact Information 4B Wing Lee Building 27 Kimberley Road Tsim Sha Tsui Kowloon Hong Kong +852.9857.7515 Phwang@cuhk.edu.hk borderxchange.blogspot.com