Types of Space and Users around Jardine’s Crescent

from Jardine's Arts & Crafts Center 2022/23

by Jenn Chan

渣甸藝創坊

Site Analysis

Jardine’s Crescent is located in the city center of Causeway Bay with large-scale shopping malls nearby, such as Hysan Place, Sogo and Times Square. Although it is located in a favorable location, the pedestrian flow to Jardine’s Crescent is extremely low in compared to its vicinity street like Jardine’s Bazaar. The walkway in the street is extremely tight that only one person can cross at once and wind can barely penetrate in that makes the walkway between stalls very hot and stuffy in summertime.

Moreover, the 4-storey high Tang Lung Chau Market located on the end of the street an underutilized space that has caused problems to the street rather than benefiting the neighborhood. Since 2000s, the vacancy rate of Tang Lung Chau Market was very high with the occupancy rate of less than 30%, making it one of the market buildings with the lowest occupancy rate in Hong Kong. The government has to give an annual subsidy of over 1 million funding to support the operation of 10 stores. Also, the refuse collect point attached to the market at ground level has caused unpleasant odor to the neighborhood, where the trash accumulated outside the refuse collect point has become a breeding ground for rats and cockroaches. Other than that, the restaurant workers placing their food residue in the back alley become the second place for cockroaches to grow.

As the government has been tightening hawker’s policies and strengthening enforcement against unlicensed hawkers over the recent decades and encouraging license hawkers to return their permit to the government with financial compensation. Therefore, the aging population of hawkers in Jardine’s Crescent has create series of issues. Over half of the stalls in the street are operate by elderlies whose children are unwilling to succeed their stalls due to a low profit return rate and many of them has ended up returning their hawker’s license back to the government and it results in number of empty stalls in the street and the stalls had become storage area for the hawkers.

Jardine’sBazaar

Jardine’sCrescent FungUnStreet

FukHingLane

Jardine’sBazaar

Jardine’sCrescent FungUnStreet

Physical

Conditions

in Jardine’s Crescent

PRESENT register as sharing stall

Existing Stalls

STREET INDOOR

Existing Tang Lung Chau Market continue with existing pattern

SHARE STALL

1year partnership

COMING 10 YEARS (TRANSITION)

APPLY FOR EXTENSION (1-3years) working over 3 years are applicable for stall transferral hawker start-uper individual hawker continue on street move indoor sunset indust r y traditional craftsmen transform from market to two arts and crafts center by invitation artists start-upers using low rent as incentives

Arts and Crafts Center hawker start-uper relocate relocate

Future Possibilities Street

remain on the street and decide which zone they want to stay

OPEN FOR APPLICATION/EXTENSION each contract last for 2 years, max. 3 contracts small-sized medium-sized large-sized new stalls restaurant extension portal tree art zone dining zone music zone

*focus on culture, handicrafts, arts apprentice able to rent the craftsman’s store location after their contract ends

Development Timeline of Jardine’s Crescent in the Next Decade

$50-100 operating fee (to commitee for communal events)

2 types 325sqm approximately* stalls or restaurant extensions

10% (to ‘street funding’ for large scale events) types

$4.5k rent government) what’s the options? following hawker’s schedule responsible for manual works, ie. preparation and packing

Sharing

PROTOCOL OF SHARE STALL PROGRAM (共享排承傳計劃) help with stall maintenance participate in communal events once per month

Two Commoning Mechanism in Jardine’s Crescent

Shared Stall Program

There are some obligations and duties for these commoners to fulfill and follow if they have participated in the scheme. For the shared stall programs, the young start-upers could gain a small business area to consign their products with a low cost and they could apprentice from the experience hawkers about the communication skills and the ways to pitch customers. At the same time, they are responsible for the manual works such as opening and closing of the stall, maintenance works during their 5 days of work per week.

Arts and Crafts Centers 渣甸藝術工藝坊

For the commoners in the two Arts & Crafts Centers, including the craftsmen, artists and start-upers, they will need to collaborate with each other for inspiration, using their skills to help with the preparation of communal events and to organize monthly workshop that invite the public as one of the commoners. And of course, they need to participate in the communal events at least once per month. These people could have a 60% off rent discount and have a higher chance to gain more exposure to the public with hysan place, sogo nearby, that make it a good venue to start a small business.

Crescent, the last street ﬁlled with traditional Hong Kong stall culture in Causeway Bay, is facing the same situation. It’s a narrow street stalls that sell womenswear and part of it function an extension of the underutilized Tang Lung Chau Market with only 10 stores still funcin the 4-storeys market. Whilst the refuse collect point connected to the market has caused sanitary problems to the neighborhood, the accumulation of trash became a breeding ground for rats and cockroaches. Even though the street is in a preferable location, the pedestrian ﬂow extremely low in compared to the vicinity area. Over half of the stalls are operated by elderlies whose children are not willing to succeed the stalls, returning the hawker’s license to the government become an ordinary thing in the recent years.

youth. The idea of ‘portal’ is used to linked up the entire street and it can be adopted widely to di erent scales, like furniture, leisure facilities, or structural elements for the buildings or bridge. There are three structural conﬁgurations (circular, squarish and linear) as to give ﬂexibility to space formation to commoners. Whereas the scale and the spacing of the portal is taking reference from the existing hawker stalls by scaling it up for 1.5 to 2 times.

The industrial-style art and crafts-oriented street aims to become a back garden in Causeway Bay that acts as a respite area from the hustle lifestyle of Hong Kong, o ering new programs for young couples and friends to hang around, a resting place for o cers nearby. The need and audience in Causeway Bay have changed, selling womenswear in the street could not attract the younger generation that indirectly causing a low usage rate in Jardine’s Crescent. There is a need to repurpose the street as ﬁts with the modern needs.

to sustain the future identity of the street and prevent the disappearance of stall culture in the next decades, commoning schemes will be to the street that consist of both outdoor and indoor plans, such as the sharing stall program and the transformation of wet market into & crafts centers for young artists and start-upers. The street is divided into 4 major zones, including art, music, dining and crafts with the alley is transformed into a temporary market in the day and bar at night. Each zone will have their own programs to arouse the interest of the The idea of ‘portal’ is used to linked up the entire street and it can be adopted widely to di erent scales, like furniture, leisure facilities, or structural elements for the buildings or bridge. There are three structural conﬁgurations (circular, squarish and linear) as to give ﬂexibility to space formation to commoners. Whereas the scale and the spacing of the portal is taking reference from the existing hawker stalls by scaling it up for 1.5 times.

industrial-style art and crafts-oriented street aims to become a back garden in Causeway Bay that acts as a respite area from the hustle of Hong Kong, o ering new programs for young couples and friends to hang around, a resting place for o cers nearby. The need and audiCauseway Bay have changed, selling womenswear in the street could not attract the younger generation that indirectly causing a low usage Jardine’s Crescent. There is a need to repurpose the street as ﬁts with the modern needs.

base form of the portal types

5 zones in the street portal types among the street

Design Concept: The Portals

The Jardine’s Arts and Crafts Center used ‘the Portal’ as the main design idea. The base form of the portal is having two steel columns with an I-beam connected to it and it can be group together to form structure at different scale. This portal idea will be used to link up the entire street that can be adopted widely to all the zones in different ways, ranging from installations to furniture, furniture to architecture and to structural scale. For instance, it can be used to form the frame structure of the artwork display stands or installations, structure of the small stalls in the back alley, new types of hawker stalls on the street, stores in the Arts and Crafts Centers, the structure of the portal trees in music zone and the structure of the bridge.

Moreover, this portal structure can be used to form 3 structural systems for the buildings in the handicrafts zone, it can be appeared in the form of circular structure for Arts and Crafts Center I, squarish form for Arts and Crafts Center II and linear form for the commoner’s lounge and enclosed café in the dining zone. The three configurations give flexibility in space formation that offer a different travel experience to the visitors.

Portal Typology in Jardine’s

Portal Typology in Jardine’s Crescent

1 hawker stalls

2 temporary back alley stalls

3 arts & crafts center i

4 arts & crafts center ii

5 restaurant portal trees

6 outdoor dining extensions

7 back alley bars (night time)

8 enclosed cafe booth

9 neonlight exhibit area

10 portal performing platforms

11 step seatings for performance

12 waterplay for kids with light installation

13 resting area

14 planter seats

15 sunken functional space

Distribution of Functional Space and Public Space in Jardine’s Crescent

Space Formation and Allocation

The Jardine’s Arts & Crafts Center can be thematized into 4 major zones, including ‘arts’, ‘music’, ‘dining’ and ‘handicrafts’ zone. Each zone will have their corresponding programs and activities to enrich visitors’ experience and to create a different vibe from zone to zone. For instance, the art zone used neon lights to attract people’s eyesight, where the music zone focuses more on hearing sensory. Whereas the back alley in between Fuk Hing Lane and Fung Un Street will be transformed into a temporary market and a resting area in daytime, and the small stalls are open for start-upers who want to hold a pop-up sale for a few days. The mood of the alley would change at night with some small bars open for office workers nearby to relax and chill on the hammock or booth seats.

The entire project can be classified into functional and public space, where the functional space refers to places used by hawkers or store owners to do business and the public space refers to facilities for public enjoyment or leisure purpose. These spaces are scattered around the site so users at each zone will have their own public spaces. As many of the existing hawkers are elderlies, they work and eat (sometimes nap) in the same location within their stall area which is very tight and uncomfortable for elderly. Thus, their motivation to work is to spend time with their hawker friends or returning customers, therefore the provision of public space among the site offers a spacious area for them to eat or social that improves their working environment, and it will be space for commoners to bond with each other.

new stall for light installation new stall for light installation new stall for light installation circular structure outdoor dining outdoor dining outdoor dining bridge structure bridge structure bridge structure

Circular Structure in Arts & Crafts Center I circular structure circular structure squarish structure squarish structure squarish structure

Squarish Structure in Arts & Crafts Center II linear structure linear structure linear structure

Linear Structure in Commoner’s Lounge & Cafe

Rationale between Stalls and Stores

Size Relationship between Existing and New Stores

Portal Scale and Stores Formation

For the scale and distance between portals, they are taking reference from the size of the existing hawker’s stall of 1.2m x 0.9m. As the existing hawkers had complained about the small capacity of their stalls, and hawkers who sell handbags or luggage find it difficult to store their products within the stall. Therefore, the new hawker stall is enlarged about 1.5 times than the existing hawker stall to 1.5m x 1.8m as to accommodate one more partner to co-govern the stall under the shared stall program.

While for the stores in the Arts and Crafts Center I that a single store unit is 2 times bigger than the existing hawker stall that is having a size of 2.8m x 2.0m and it would be the small-size store in the center. The small-sized store can be group together to form a medium or a large-scale store as to cope with the need of the commoners. The store size would increase when it goes upwards regarding its rent. There would be a shared space in between stalls and stores for the commoners to display their collaborative works and for communal uses.

Architectural Drawings

There are 4 entrances to enter the street at different zone, including the entrance facing Hysan Place near the junction of Jardine’s Crescent and Kai Chiu Road, two other entrances along Jardine’s Bazaar to enter the street via Fuk Hing Lane and Fung Un Street and an exit door connecting the street with Lee Garden II that was hidden by the hawker stalls.

The main street area is mainly used as art and dining zones, Fuk Hing Lane as music zone and the largest site area at the end would be the handicraft zone where the Arts and Crafts Centers locate. Whereas the back alley between the music zone and handicrafts will be like a short cut that connect between two places. In art zone, it is shaded by high-rise commercial buildings on both side that it is dimmer than the other part of the street, and a bridge will be constructed there that create a darker environment underneath for neon lights stalls and visitors could attend neon light sign workshops there and display them on the bridge above, and it can give extra floor area to the narrow street that work as a leisure pathways for public. There will be a step seating at the end of the bridge that brings pedestrian to circulate back to ground level and to watch the performance in music zone.