THE PUBLIC INTERIOR: A SOCIAL CONDENSER IN HONG KONG Research

Ho Wai Sum Michelle 4820444

Contents

Introduction 4

1. Why? / Phenomenon 8 Protests and Queering Space A Case Study: Taipo Lennon Tunnel

2. How? / Conditions 14 Hong Kong as a city of Top-down culture Politics, City and Architecture A culture of Bottom-up Re-appropriations

3. Position / Research Questions 34

4. Who? / Generator and Users 36 Mass Media Artist group as the mediator

5. Where? / Site 66 Identity of the place A site of power confrontation Yau Ma Tei Carpark Building

6. How? Feasiblity Study / Economics of the Market 112 Meanwhile use as an act of resistance Reflection

7. What is the outcome? / Program 126 The notion of misuse and intentional openness Occupying the roof Occupying the Street

8. Project Statement/ Brief 162

Friends 164

Bibliography 178 Introduction 4

Introduction

With regards to the current situation in Hong Kong and my personal background, the graduation project places the interest in the relationship between the ongoing public events (i.e. protests) and the built urban fabric. The project wishes to address the role of architecture in reflecting on the ideologies and identity of the people, in the specific social and historical context of Hong Kong.

Research is conducted to understand the political relationships behind the constructs of public life, from colonial era to the recent times. Specific public building typologies will be studied against the background to understand the evolutions of forms and roles of these public infrastructures over time. The understanding derived from the research study is then translated into a proposition for a complex public building in Hong Kong, which aims to provide a free-space for the gathering, shape social lives and offer intimate experience within the building and the particular condition it is set in.

In the particular contextual setting of Hong Kong today, the building mainly serves as a platform for public - people of opposing ideas -, a ground for discussion, debating and interactions. Taking references from informal political spaces, such as coffeehouses and Jewish eruv, I consider architecture as a soft mediator between different power conflicts, I envisioned an architectural outcome of a institutional cultural building, with different programs stacking on top of each other, will address the role of architecture confronting the political issues in Hong Kong. The thesis also attempts to shed light on the discussion on the relationship of architecture with the material culture of the place and time. The design will come across solutions in different scales, from the urban massing study through to the constructional detail, in order to relate the interior with the urban condition it sets in.

In response to the theme of the chair this year, this thesis wishes to reflect on the changing role of architecture against a particular social and political context in the Eastern scope. By comparing the site with the European building environment, the proposal attempts to discuss how different cultural and contextual settings will lead to different solutions to sustainability, labour practices and public relations problems.

To quote, German philsopher Jürgen Habermas defines “the public sphere as a realm of our social life in which something approaching public opinion can be formed.”1 Where access is guaranteed to all citizens. At the end, this project attempts to offer a framework of design for a public interior to be adopted in future urban developments to engaging social life and collective activities against the contemporary controversies and contexts of Hong Kong. 5 A Social condenser in Hong Kong

The analogy of Hong Kong as a floating city.

“The floating city is a stable city that neither rises nor falls. It is also an illusion. The story of the floating city is not a fairy tale after all.” - Hsi Hsi, Marvels of A Floating City fictions Renditions, 1988.

René Magritte, The Castle of the Pyrenees, 1959 Introduction 6

This is an old photograph of a street established as centre of commerce in early colonial days. Buildings are built with architectural languages brought from European cities.

Pedder Street, 1870s. 7 A Social condenser in Hong Kong

In the setting of the contemporary, the street becomes a shopping district for tourists for luxurious brand-named products. It is a street of consumerism. During the Water Revolution recently, protesters occupied this street as it is the major thoroughfare in Central district, that could obstruct the normal functioning of a business core of the city.

Pedder Street, June 2019. Phenomenon 8

Protests and Queering Space

Since the outburst the Water Revolution in June 2019, protesters in Hong Kong have been actively engaged in realizing a set of ideologies for public life and events.

They have been transforming public spaces in the city into grounds for accommodating political activities and vibrant public life. People creates space of encouragement and solidarity, by posting posters and memo notes with messages on walls of public elevated walkways, footbridges and underground tunnels. These public places becomes a public gallery, where people stop and read the messages, express their thought and exchange ideas.

These phenomenological examples illustrates the transformation of a city to a ground of social engagement and participation, where public lives occupy spaces disregard of ownership. In David Harvey’s words, this is an act of “Creative Destruction”. The city is transforming itself to accommodate various modes of encounters and social interactions. With regard to the specific social events and background, local traditions and public life of the city is changing, and their various ways of appropriation argue the need to reconsider existing social structures and public interiors, where the city needs public rooms to cater the new modes of public life. The public interior should contain not only people, but also contain the idea and imageries of the contemporary, speaks for the city with its materiality and urban responses.

This chapter illustrates a study of the fluidity in the use of urban spaces during the social movement, and how this notion could be adopted into constructing a public building/spaces. 9 A Social condenser in Hong Kong

The city of social engagement.

The painting expressed a similar idea: where people took over the large building that dominates the square with important civic buildings like town halls.

Pieter Bruegel the Elder, Children’s Games, 1560. Phenomenon 10

A Case Study | Lennon Tunnel at Tai Po

A underground pedestrian tunnel was transformed into a public gallery, where people are invited to post memo stickers on the wall to express their thoughts towards to society and particular towards the social movement.

An analytical study is done with an axonometric drawing of the space, to understand its contexts, spatial quality and what allowed them to appropriate the space.

A short conclusion could be drawn from this study exercise, that they chose a strategic spot for gathering people by choosing this counterpoint of different modes of public transports. Everyday citizens will pass by this transitional space and therefore given the chance to encounter with the appropriated interior and its information on the wall. It is a successful “propaganda” in my opinion, as the posters made by the protesters themselves, and the means of inviting everyone to join their “appropriation” attracted citizens to engage with each other, and “political debate” with another. 11 A Social condenser in Hong Kong

Appropriated public spaces of encouragement and solidarity, where the wall is composed of self-printed posters and memo stickers written with messages about protests and the city at the public tunnel.

Lennon Tunnel, near Tai Po Market Station. 7 July, 2019. Phenomenon 12

Axonometric Drawing A Strategic location | intersection point between different modes of public transport 13 A Social condenser in Hong Kong

Perspective Drawing

Art as a medium for people to express / make culture together Conditions 14

Hong Kong as a Threshold

Before China open up, Europeans had a difficult time to trade with China, and the United Kingdom saw Hong Kong as an valuable spot due to its deep harbour in the middle, as well as its location at the periphery of China. It claimed Hong Kong as a colony since 1842. Since then Hong Kong is developed into a free-port, and further developed into a financial centre today.

With this notion of developing it as a colony, the spaces are always given with the priority to business and commercial benefits, rather than the good living of the residents. 15 A Social condenser in Hong Kong

United Kingdom

PRC

Hong Kong

A Threshold as a Value to be established as a free port since 1841. Conditions 16

Photograph of Cheung Chau Anchourage of Hong Kong, early 1900s. from Hong Kong as it Was

Pre-Colonial: Hong Kong as rural communities 17 A Social condenser in Hong Kong

Pre-1869 painting, E. L. Watling

Since 1841: Hong Kong as a port of commerce Conditions 18

Victoria Harbour, 1950.

Since 1841: Hong Kong as a port of commerce 19 A Social condenser in Hong Kong

Victoria Harbour, 2019.

Today: Rise of Hong Kong as a Financial Centre Conditions 20

Politics, City and Architecture

From a Western perspective, the meaning of ‘politics’ could be traced back to the emergence of the first democratic systems of government, following the conception of the Greek term polis, meaning cities. The word politics now could be interpreted as management of a city, where people in the city who gather and make decisions together for the place.

Hong Kong is known as the Special administrative region of China, under “one country, two systems”, which indicates that the city-state adopts a separate legal system from China—and an independent judiciary—based on British common law.

However, Hongkongers do not have the right to vote for their own leaders. The actual governance of the region falls to a small group of oligarchs elected by a business association and supported by Beijing. In 2017, only 777 people from the election committee, which was considered a majority, voted for the current Chief Executive, Carrie Lam.

The city is dominated by market economy, as the tax structure is almost non-existent. The government highly rely on the income derived from land sales to business tycoons at an inflated price—who then passes that cost onto the consumers through extreme high property prices. From the digram on the right bottom, one could see how weak is the relationship between the government and the people.

People’s social needs are not fulfilled and addressed in welfare or policies, at the same time, people do not have a voice over how they are governed. Consequently, Hong Kong has one of the highest income inequality and second highest property price in the world. 21 A Social condenser in Hong Kong

Election Committee State Council over 7,475,822 Hong Kong Citizens (2020, Feb) People's Republic of China

nominates appoints

Chief Executive, 2017 | Carrie Lam

Chief Secretary for Financial Secretary Secretary for Justice Administration

Diagram showing the political structure of Hong Kong Conditions 22

Policies/ rules/ regulations Tycoons Government

Inflated land price

Tax Welfare

Wages Property price

People

Diagram showing the social relationships between different parties of Hong Kong 23 A Social condenser in Hong Kong

Extreme income inequality and dense living environment.

Photograph showing a family living in a subdivided unit of less than 10 m2 171,000 people in Hong Kong are living in subdivided flat, which is with an area of 10m2 or below. Conditions 24

2.19 m2 average open space /person

(The size of a toilet cubicle)

The lack of open space in Hong Kong is a “famous” condition, that everyone could only enjoy a size of open public space of a toilet cubilce 25 A Social condenser in Hong Kong

An example of “pocket parks” in Hong Kong, that are packed space, without quality of publicity due to the condensed situation and the environment surrounded by high-rise buildings. Conditions 26

The city of commodity

Hong Kong, as one of the world’s fastest-growing cities and an international financial hub,should be regarded as a city of commodity. Its urban development and spatial transformation has much to do with subjectivity as with economics. Market formulas – resultant of local land-use patterns, municipal codes, and zoning – has produced characteristic urban forms. Market competitions also lead to the constant transformation of the city’s urban fabric. This also brings in an urban landscape of corporate aesthetics, of capitalist ideologies, something strongly criticised in, for instance, the works of Jacque Tati. Those working or living in such districts are deprived of their character and autonomy. Social lives are forced in interiors, where living work and leisure activates are integrative parts in a indoor space dominated by commerce. 27 A Social condenser in Hong Kong

Interiorized City A study showing how one person could have 24 hours in the interiorized city Conditions 28

A culture of Bottom-up Re-appropriations

Like many American cities and neighbouring Asian cities, many public spaces in the city are privately owned with limited public use. Craftsmen, workshops, kitchen extensions, small shops and many others began to reveal to us how the city functions and how people overcome their spatial restrictions by finding “the in-between” in the rules and spaces of the city.

According to Mitchell’s, “When private spaces replace public gathering space, the opportunities for political conversation are diminished.” He points out that struggle, actions and purposeful occupation of a space “is the only way that the right to public space can be maintained and only way that social justice can be advanced.”

Hence, the social movement could be considered as an action to “reclaim” public spaces in the city for political conversations and social engagement.

In words of Jeffery Hou, a landscape architect, these political spaces created during the protests are insurgent public spaces, where “citizens and activists are reclaiming and creating places for temporary, informal gathering in urban sites across the globe.”

The creative act of re-appropriating the urban spaces into “political spaces” is arguably a long strived struggle among Hongkongers as a resistant act towards the top-down political and urban conditions. 29 A Social condenser in Hong Kong

Social life at “in-between” Spaces. Géraldine Borio and Caroline Wüthrich. Hong Kong In-Between. 2015. Conditions 30

Ground floor plaza of Hong Kong and Shanghai Bank designed by Norman Foster. Weekday, 2019. 31 A Social condenser in Hong Kong

Re-appropriation of spaces by household nannies into “public-plaza”. Sunday afternoon, 2019. Conditions 32

A domed- shape building of the Hong Kong Space Museum, Before the protests, 2019. 33 A Social condenser in Hong Kong

Public building used for projection of thoughts. Hong Kong Space Museum, during a protest, 7 August, 2019. Position 34

Project Statement

Since the transfer of sovereignty over Hong Kong in 1997, the opportunities for political conversation are diminishing, censorship has been gradually imposed on different means of mass media. In the face of the gradual loss of freedoms, the people of Hong Kong have demonstrated an atmosphere of solidarity through social movements and physical engagement with the city in 2019.

Disregarding the political stance, the freedom of speech is going to be further discouraged under the control of Beijing government in upcoming years. I wonder how could the physical means of communication and social gathering be sustained in that circumstances with the aid of architecture? Could architecture act as a mediator of different power relationships? And if yes, who will offer this place? and how will it be offered under the political and economic circumstances?

Inspired by the act of queering spaces in the protests, the thesis also places its interests in the appropriation of spaces. How could an existing structure be utilized and re- purposed into a social structure in the city? 35 A Social condenser in Hong Kong

Research Questions

- Under the contexts of top-down political and urban conditions, how can architecture, enable a democratic space that favours political discussions and effective communication between different parties?

- Can “meanwhile use” be an act of resistance affecting the further course of urban redevelopment?

- What kind of spaces could enable a notion of misuse? Generator 36

Mass media as a bridge/agency between government and people

“Modern democracy and the mass media are intrinsically related.”

From a normative perspective, the media have three specific democratic functions to carry out: 1. safeguarding the flow of information; 2. providing a forum for public discussion about diverse, political ideas 3. acting as a public watchdog against the abuse of power (Strömbäck, 2005: 332).

Since the transfer of sovereignty over Hong Kong in 1997, there is a trend of increasing threats to press freedom in the territory, including physical attacks on journalists, acts targeted at liberal media and against their owners, withdrawal of advertising revenues, and appointment of compliant pro-Beijing chief editors.

The decline in Hong Kong’s ranking on the Press Freedom Index published annually by Reporters Without Borders has been vertiginous: it stood at 78th in 2019; having lost seventeenth places compared to 2014; it ranked 18th place in 2002.

The situation has been drastically worsened in 2019, where police brutality have been shown particularly against journalists during protest scenes. Selective information have been broadcasted on television for the broadcasting company’s apparent pro-establishment bias. It is highly doubtful if Hong Kong in the near future would still be able to access politically sensitive information online, where control over media is pervasive in China.

A physical means that could help the general public to orient themselves critically in the overflow of information is needed. Artists groups have long been the active mediator that provoke political discussions through visual communicational means. 37 A Social condenser in Hong Kong

Monitor/ public opinion

People Mass Media Government

Policies, information

Diagram showing the mediating role mass media plays between different powers.

Hong Kong TV channels no longer required to air programmes from public broadcaster RTHK

hongkongfp.com/2020/03/05/hong-kong-tv-broadcasters-no-longer-required-air-rthks-programmes/

Kelly Ho March 5, 2020

Hong Kong television broadcasters who hold free TV licences will no longer be required to air RTHK’s programmes, the Communications Authority announced on Wednesday.

The authority lifted the requirements on commercial broadcasters TVB and HK Television Entertainment Company Limited (HKTVE) following a revocation request submitted by TVB on January 9.

RTHK. File photo: Tom Grundy/HKFP.

TVB and HKTVE were obliged to broadcast 3.5 hours and 2.5 hours of RTHK programmes per week respectively on their integrated Chinese channels. Censorship in Hong Kong The authority said after consIssuesulting the Cregardingommerce and E ctheonom freedomic Developmen oft Bu rspeecheau being raised since the handover. (CEDB), they agreed to lift the requirements because they were first introduced in 1990 when RTHK did not have its own channels.

The public broadcasting service started operating three digital television channels in 2014. They has since been a gradual increase in the number of transmitting stations, with the proportion of the population reached hitting 99 per cent last year. The authority said it was proof that RTHK’s programmes were on par with other commercial broadcasters.

1/3 Generator 38

Artist Group as the Mediator

Who could be the mediator/mass media in the future? The question comes when the government wishes to tighten their control over the freedom of speech and freedom of press in recent years.

A physical means that could help the general public to orient themselves critically in the overflow of information is needed.

In an essay by Lawrence Alloway, he mentioned the new role of fine arts as being “one of the possible forms of communication in an expanding framework that also includes the mass arts.” 1 I concur with his comment as the Artists groups have long been the active mediator that provoke political discussions through visual communicational means. The messages they wish to convey as often hidden in the artworks they create or the events they organize for a fair discussion among different people with a variety of stances and opinions.

On one hand, the artists nowadays wishes to explore ways to reach the public, to create interactions with them and exchange ideas of the community; in the other hand, the people need these artists, to sort help visually document their memories of the places or make artifacts that represents the time and space of the contemporary. Today, artists in Hong Kong are often neglected in the society, who did not get enough support from the government, (financially and socially). They had no choice but to find places that are spacious enough for their daily production of artworks, but at the same time, affordable (in terms of rent). They are often forced to rent places in remote industrial buildings where reaching the public is almost impossible, and residence in these places are illegal and not ideal. Sanitary services are not up to standard, and neighboring industries may produce pollutants that threaten their health. Hence, they are physically distant from the general public, not allowed to interact with the community due to the limitations.

1. Architectural Design, London, February, 1958 39 A Social condenser in Hong Kong

Carrie Lam met 150 randomly selected citizens for a ‘community dialogue’ on political crisis on 26th September, 2019.

Public event held in one of the artist studios in Foo Tak Building.

Generator 40

Client: Green Wave Art (碧波押) A previous community art hub | political censorship?

The ground floor premises of 404 Shanghai Street has its own curious history. Since 1999, the government has taken over ownership and leased it out to the Hong Kong Arts Development Council (ADC) for a nominal annual rent. The ADC dubbed it the “Shanghai Street Artspace Exhibition Hall” and would seek bids on how to manage the space.

Chan serves as curator and, since 2016, Green Wave Art has gained a reputation for being one of the most versatile and unorthodox spaces in Hong Kong. Every week there was something new: it has hosted exhibitions, concerts, screenings, poetry readings, performances, talks, workshops.

Trouble arrived at Green Wave Art on December 3, 2018 in the form of a letter from the ADC. The government-appointed body said the art space would be shut down by the end of April, because someone complained that it lacked a license to be a “place of public entertainment.”

The decision was met with immediate outcry from Hong Kong’s artist community, with some accusing the ADC of imposing political censorship. Chan and artists that frequent Green Wave Art have always been outspoken on political issues. 41 A Social condenser in Hong Kong

Shopfront and interior view of the gallery Generator 42

Axonometric and Plan View 43 A Social condenser in Hong Kong

Workshop Generator 44

Music Performance

Workshop 45 A Social condenser in Hong Kong

Film Screening

Exhibition Generator 46

Q: Can you describe the nature of artwork your institution creates?

A: I(Chan) am the curator of Green Wave Art. Every week there was something new: it has hosted exhibitions, concerts, screenings, poetry readings, performances, talks, workshops. I’d call our nature of art a “community art”. We create artwork that sets in the community.”

This bench we created here is an example. There are people sitting on it around the clock. In the morning, it is students and people who get off working night shifts. At 8am, the delivery guy is there to distribute his wares. Later it’s a certain type of older men discussing sex workers. At 4pm, it is the Filipino domestic workers and the moms. Much of the time, there are also mainland travellers getting off tour buses.

Sometimes there would even be “emergency exhibitions” to respond to current affairs. For example, lately, the art space has been screening four documentary films that deal with protests in Hong Kong and overseas.

Q: Why and how did you find this place?

A: In 2016, an old friend of mine, Augustine Mok, (a leading figure in Hong Kong’s theatre scene) asked me if I would want to take over the place. I accepted her invitation as I thought it was a great chance to experiment. Instead of being a solitary artist, I assume the role of a community organizer – bringing together artists of different stripes and amplifying their work.

Performance art usually takes place in the community, but it is difficult to have a deep connection. I used to create work on my own, and there weren’t many opportunities to interact with a community’s dynamics. How do things happen here, and what is the role of art? It takes time to collect one’s thoughts and explore, so I wanted to settle into a place.

Q: In your opinion, what is the role of artists today?

A: A lot of performance artists in Hong Kong are concerned with social movements, including myself. I have been long involved in Hong Kong’s local affairs, and took part in protests opposing the 2007 Queen’s Pier demolition and the 2011 Occupy Central protests. A lot of performance artists in Hong Kong are concerned with social movements, I think they see the need to address problems in this cultural environment. 47 A Social condenser in Hong Kong

Q: How did this place allow you to reach the community like nowhere else did?

A: For a long time now, we have had a banner showing Joseph Beuys holding a pole with a crowd behind him. Beuys is certainly a great influence and we are guided by his famous quote, ‘Every human being is an artist, a freedom being called to participate in transforming and reshaping the conditions, thinking and structures that inform our lives.’ We believe that the residents [around Shanghai Street] are not only consumers of art activity, but also creators of various arts. So we believe accessibility and dialogue are key to make ‘community art’.

Another thing is to get people involved. With one favourite example was a family portrait project. We once offered a photography salon every Sunday, and a lot of people came once we said it’s free. The project was considered an astute response to two social trends: first, family portraits were popular keepsakes for Hong Kong’s elderly, and Yau Ma Tei had an ageing population. Second, there were no places families could go for traditional-style portraits because the old studios had all closed down.

Q: How do you feel about the forced close-down of the gallery?

A: It was “absurd” to use licencing as an excuse. Why would it be a problem now, when previous tenants had run similar projects since 1999 without issue? Why was it necessary to close down the art space so urgently instead of just letting the lease run out? At first I felt bad. Now I tell people, as long as we are around, we will find a space. We had no other way. A hunger strike was too old-fashioned, and I didn’t dare to commit seppuku [ Japanese ritualistic suicide], so the only way was to close up the shop.

Q: Do you have plans to find a new place for your art institution? If yes, what kind of spaces you are looking for?

A: It is very important for it to be on the street level. If it’s upstairs, or in an industrial building, then it becomes just another artists’ commune.

(Interview Extracted from Hong Kong Free Press. The final days of Hong Kong’s Green Wave Art space – a community arts hub like no other. Holmes Chan, 28th April,2019.) Generator 48

“Every human being is an artist, a freedom being called to participate in transforming and reshaping the conditions, thinking and structures that inform our lives.” -Joseph Beuys, German Performance Artists 49 A Social condenser in Hong Kong

“Every human being is an artist, a freedom being called to participate in transforming and reshaping the conditions, thinking and structures that inform our lives.” -Joseph Beuys, German Performance Artists Generator 50

Current artist and cultural “institution” A camouflage building

Foo Tak Building looks traditional and ordinary. It is a typical commercial/residential building having 14 floors with two units on each floor. It is a vertical artist village owned by a private institution called Art and Culture Outreach.

Since 2003, there have been 18 units leased to art and cultural entities at a sponsored rate through ACO; the rental is much lower than the market price. The entities includes artist studios, independent bookstores and civil research units.

Just as important, ACO exercises low degree of management to leave more room for self-discipline being exercised by the sponsored art and culture entities. ACO has stipulated only a few rules and allowed all kinds of ideas / creations / experiments / plans / actions / organizations to seed, grow, practice and perform here.

Restrictions of an old residential building.

Given that the art institution is reusing the residential building as artist studios, there are some restrictions in providing an interior of “publicness”. As seen from the plan, each studio flat has a small entry from the cramped lift lobby. Each studio has a very clear defined threshold that indicates the “private” zone of the flats.

The long corridor and tiny that lead from the entrance to the main space of a studio did not really fit in the scale for a large audience in the space. The character of the existing layout somehow still defines the “private” and introvert character of the flats, even the program now has been transformed into a semi-public one.

Moreover, due to the restrictions and easier management of the tenants, people are not allowed to live and stay overnight in the building. It is an artist office building. 51 A Social condenser in Hong Kong

Foo Tak Building, Wan Chai Generator 52

The building acts as a collection of independentart and cultural entities with a camouflaged outlook of a resdiential building. 53 A Social condenser in Hong Kong

Interior of Foo Tak Building. Lift as a 'public wall' Generator 54

Plan of an artist studio in Foo Tak Building. 55 A Social condenser in Hong Kong

Restricted private public threshold.

Interior of an artist studio Generator 56

Precedent study

I. Art Museum as the roof of residential tower - The Times Museum (2005)

Location: Guangzhou, China Type: Art Museum Architect: OMA

The Times Museum was established in 2005, in conjunction with the Guangzhou Triennial of that same year curated by Hou Hanru. Hou invited Rem Koolhaas to participate in the Triennial and his project was to design a museum in a residential complex owned by the real estate company Times Property, one of the sponsors of the Triennial. The management of Times Property felt that building a museum in their residential complex corresponded well with their marketing campaign, as reflected in their corporate slogan ‘to bridge art and life.’

It is a private museum owned by the Times Property, the museum is registered as an independent non-profit organization, which is very unusual. Times Museum is funded solely by Times Property. In China, most private museums are registered as for-profit companies. In terms of programming, the museum staff makes all the decisions and does not need to get approval from Times Property.

Besides exhibitions, Times Museum organizes an artist residency program called Open Studio. These artists, whose stays will range from one month to 40 days, will be invited to create projects that are difficult to execute alone. Each artist will receive 25000 Yuan (about US$4000) for production costs, a stipend of US$1500, a round-trip ticket to Guangzhou, and two assistants. The museum will also provide assistance in other ways. For example, through an agreement with the Guangzhou Academy of Arts, one of the top art schools in China, they can arrange contact with scholars when needed, to allow artists use their wood and metal shops and engage assistants at the school. At the same time Ruijun Shen will conduct interviews with the artists once a week to document the process of their projects. At the end of each residency, there will be a small publication about each project, as well as a panel discussion with the artists about the process of making the piece. According to Ruijun Shen, ‘The idea is to support production, to help artists to finish projects which they would otherwise be unable to complete in their own studios.’

As the museum is located in a residential building, its connection to the community is very close. The educational department of the museum organizes programs, arranges guided tours every weekend, and involves the community in exhibitions. Koolhaas created a 19th floor which serves as the exhibition hall of the museum. Three apartments on the 14th floor, which were originally designed as artists’ studios, are now used as the museum’s offices. The lobby on the ground floor is used as a multi-purpose space, for lectures and sometimes to exhibit artwork. 57 A Social condenser in Hong Kong

Times Museum and its surrounding environment.

Diagram showing Structural supporting Times Museum on top of Residences. Generator 58

Plan of Times Museum.

Possession of the roof

Similar to the idea of Pompidou Centre, ‘looking out’ over the city was allowed in the building, as if it was citizens’ possession. The gesture of occupying the top of a residential building is an intervention to trigger interactions between “commercial, cultural and social contents in urban life”.

The integration is both structural and social: the museum has its elevators installed within the tower, and its windows opening to residential units. The Times Museum questions the “white-box” type of “modern art” museums (popular from the 20th century) and explores new relationships between art and public through creating a type of museum space. 59 A Social condenser in Hong Kong

View from the outdoor space to the city

Public and independent entrance for the museum Generator 60

Precedent study

II. Car park as creating co-working hub - Peckham Levels

Location: London, UK Type: Artist and communal workplace Architect: Turner Architects

Peckham Levels is an innovative workplace campus delivered by Turner Architects and the social enterprise, Make Shift. This space is designed to support and inspire a new community of artists, makers and entrepreneurs.

Occupying seven of the previously ‘empty levels’ of the existing multi-storey car park the project delivers specialist facilities including creative studios, shared workshops, co-working, kiln rooms, 3D printing, among other uses and will be home to a diverse community of tenants, ranging from individual start-ups to organizations working in arts & culture. Communal areas on levels 05/06 will encourage visitors to mix with artists in a place of interaction and exchange, to build an identity and sense of place. Conceived as an ‘art house’ the project will act as a social space in the heart of Peckham with free event space, children’s play area, music venue, gallery, bars, restaurants, cafe, yoga studios and even a hair salon.

Peckham Levels offers much needed creative workspace, designed to inspire and support a new community of artists, makers and entrepreneurs, as well as providing benefits to the wider community. 61 A Social condenser in Hong Kong

Existing situation of the Car park.

Existing situation of the Car park. Generator 62

Reuse: A Platform for art and local community

Peckham Levels was designed to act as a platform to help creative and ambitious local people get their ideas off the ground.

• A place for creative people to work • A platform for small businesses to grow • A venue for the community to come together

Creative people need the right environment to work. Small businesses need a platform to grow. Communities need a venue to come together This project seeks to use a creative approach to interim development to provide affordable and inspiring space for independent businesses, artists and local entrepreneurs to work, grow, trade and learn. Although the project is temporary in nature, it aspires to create a lasting legacy of impact in the local community.

The project takes advantage of an underused and undervalued urban space to provide affordable working premises for small businesses, something which is in short supply across London and specifically in Peckham. But beyond offering space and support to talented local people, at the heart of the project is an ambition to share the amazing local skills & ideas and with the community around it.

The program are as follows: • 50 studios • 7 food kiosks • Larger open-access workshops • 2 bars • A 70-desk coworking space • 1 wine bar and restaurant • A screen-printing studio • 1 vegetarian café and canteen • A ceramics studio with a kiln • Children’s play areas • A dark room and photography studio • Exhibition space • Music rehearsal studios • Market space • Yoga studios • Open public spaces for community events 63 A Social condenser in Hong Kong

Adaptation of the existing windows of the building as the interior character of the bar and restaurant

Workshop for artists and Artist studios Generator 64

Conclusion

THe artists group in Hong Kong are a group of people who are marginalized in the society. Existing artist institutions created a lot of restrictions in use of their spaces, while affording their own studios have been a huge financial burden for most of them.

In the recent demonstrations in Hong Kong, art has functioned as an important medium for information sharing and political discussions. Today, art is not considered the entertainment dedicated to the higher class in society, but everyone could create their own propaganda, and artists are not only visual communicators, but also the “mass media” in the movement.

Today, artists not only wish to find a place for working and living, but they also wishes to establish a new platform to engage with the public. The nature of their work offered them the ability to communicate between different powers and parties.

Under “One country, two systems”, it is arguable that in the near future, artists group, that speaks with the medium of art and cultural products, might be the last resort to “freedom of speech”, whereas the political discussions among people would have to be camouflaged under the name of art and cultural means. Individual artists groups like Green Wave Art would fund themselves and to takeover some undervalued spaces in the city, and transform them into artists hub. It is also a place with intentional openness, where public enlightenment, leisure and information to public; a physical platform for informal, political debates. 65 A Social condenser in Hong Kong

Carrie Lam met 150 randomly selected citizens for a ‘community dialogue’ on political crisis on 26th September, 2019.

Public event held in one of the artist studios in Foo Tak Building.

Site 66

Site Yau Ma Tei, a site of power confrontation

There are several criteria for the social condenser to be placed. It is wished to be highly accessible to a large variety of users by means of walking or by transportation. It is a place where power confrontation between bottom-up and top-down parties is present and a mediator is needed. It is also favorable to be a site where extension of activities to the exterior spaces is likely to happen, where activities are not bounded within the boundary of the building but flexibility is available.

Based on the above criteria, some demographic studies have been carried out to locate a district in Hong Kong where the most diverse range of inhabitants could be found. It is also one of the most dense and populated area in Hong Kong. The inhabitants include youngsters, elderly and new inhabitants It is also the district where people inhabiting here belong to the lowest income groups, meanwhile living in the densest urban setting.

Yau Ma Tei was a thinly scattered settlement before the to the concession of Kowloon to the British in 1860. It was once a safe shelter for the anchorage of sampan due to a long-reclaimed creek running in two branches in the inland.

As the population of Yau Ma Tei grew rapidly in the late 19th century. Public facilities were built to cope with the needs of an emerging community, such as a police station at the junction of Station Street and Public Square Street, markets, schools, a small reservoir and a pumping station, etc. At the same time, tension between the government and the people began to develop, as the public works built in the area, such as infrastructure and government offices, appeared as a political tool and power structures for the government to monitor over the people and taking up spaces that were meant to be for public lives. 67 A Social condenser in Hong Kong

Yau Ma Tei, Kowloon Site 68

Demographic Map studies

© Thomas Brinkhoff, https://www.citypopulation.de/php/hongkong-admin.php Color Density 0/km² 0.10/km² 1.0/km² 5.0/km² 10/km² 25/km² 50/km² 100/km² 250/km² 500/km² 1,000/km² 2,500/km² 5,000/km² 10,000/km² 25,000/km² 50,000/km² 75,000/km² 69 A Social condenser in Hong Kong

c Site

HKSAR headquarters

Photographic Map Showing location of site and Government headquarter Site 70

Historical development of the area

Yau Ma Tei can be interpreted to “oil and jute ground.” Tung oil and jute are two common materials associated with Hong Kong’s fishing community. Tung oil was a traditional material used in the construction and repair of local fishing boats, especially as a sealant for joints, cracks and holes on timber boat hulls to render them watertight. Jute was the traditional material for mooring ropes and fishing nets used by local fishermen.2 The coastal waters of Yau Ma Tei had been an anchorage for the Tanka3 fishing community, and its shores a repair ground for fishing boats (Fig. 1), well before the British arrived.

Before 1860

Yau Ma Tei was originally known as Ma Tei and was uninhabited. However, there was a sizable floating population along its shores, due to the existence of a large shallow-water creek, which provided anchorage for fishing vessels and the boat- houses of Boat Dwellers (formerly known as the Tanka). From about 1800, an imperial Chinese military post was established in Ma Tei to protect the anchorage. A Tin Hau Temple, a smaller predecessor of the current temple, had long existed on the banks (in a different location from the existing temple). 71 A Social condenser in Hong Kong

Map of Yau Ma Tei in 1860 Yau Ma Tei is the coastal area to the south of Kowloon Bay, where the fort is. Uninhabited, sizable floating population along its shores. Site 72

1860-1890s Development into a flourishing town

Kowloon was ceded to Britain in accordance with the Convention of Peking signed between Britain and the Imperial Chinese Government. As the British occupied Kowloon, the land in the Tsim Sha Tsui area was evacuated and cleared for military use. The inhabitants from the area, particularly from the village of Tsim Sha Tau, were resettled in Ma Tei, which was uninhabited at this time. in 1864, Yau Ma Tei as a flourishing market town, shops mainly deal with marine trades. Reclamation to fill in the old anchorage began. Construction began on a system of eight traverse streets that ran perpendicularly from the waterfront in the area between present-day Kansu Street and Bowring Street. Local merchants and shopkeepers decided to raise money to rebuild the Tin Hau Temple. Public facilities such as plumping station and police station began to be built. In 1890, a street grid was applied to the district. The British government started to introduce organizational structures to the area to manage the lives of the people. 73 A Social condenser in Hong Kong

Photo of Yau Ma Tei in 1880. Yau Ma Tei had developed into a small town with a busy anchorage for local fishing boats, which means that it was a place of tung oil, mooring ropes and fishing nets. (Source: HKBRAS)

Tin Hau Temple, Yau Ma Tei, c. 1925. Site 74

Temple Police station

Site

Map of Yau Ma Tei in 1887. Power Confrontation. olice station and Temple are facing the same public square. 75 A Social condenser in Hong Kong

Power Confrontation

As the population of Yau Ma Tei grew rapidly in the late 19th century. public facilities were built to cope with the needs of an emerging community, such as a police station at the junction of Station Street.

The police station was built right opposite the Temple where the inhabitants funded to build. The temple is a place where disputes among the community is discussed and resolved. It is like a political space for the inhabitants. Police station is a authority building from the colonial government which represents the power of the British government. The public square in between the two buildings became a site of confrontation and tension where the police could supervise the activities of the people, who normally gather around the temple and the market in front of it. Site 76

Map of Yau Ma Tei in 1875 Yau Ma Tei as a flourishing market town, shops mainly deal with marine trades. 77 A Social condenser in Hong Kong

Map of Yau Ma Tei in 1890 Street Grid applied, Reclamation started Oldest market in Kowloon was present at the site, in front of the temple Site 78

1950s - late 20th century A vibrant life across streets and buildings

A large number of immigrants flooded into Hong Kong due to the political and social unrest caused by warlords in Mainland China. Yau Ma Tei was one of the places where these new comers settled, and therefore, a lot of tenement houses were constructed along Shanghai Street, Reclamation Street and Temple Street. Commercial activities happened in different levels. At a typical address, there is a flat on each side of the stair case on the five upper floors. Most of the flats have cubicles, and one is a dormitory with bed spaces in a two-tier bunks. A Chinese-style doctor has consulting rooms in a flat on the first floor. Apart from residence, hotels, factories, school, dentist, dispensary, photographer and fortune-teller could occupy the same building at the same time. Along with the population growth and industrialization in 1970s, both public and private sectors sought to provide housing solutions to accommodate local need.

In 1957, The new Gansu Street Market was completed and the old market site was redeveloped as the present Yau Ma Tei Government Office and the Yau Ma Tei Carpark Building. 79 A Social condenser in Hong Kong

Public Life at busy Canton Road,1956. Site 80

Tenement houses in Temple Street, 1930.

Typical Tenement House as the unit of basic unit of public lives, with commercial and residential uses mixed over the floors. Commerical uses are not limited to ground floor only. 81 A Social condenser in Hong Kong

Assemblages of uses in Ground Floor Property, Canton Road,1974. Site 82

Today

Yau Ma Tei remains a popular place of local culture. It retains a number of heritage sites, with some of them under preservation and revitalization schemes, for example the Prince Edward Road West and Yuen Ngai Street Project and the Shanghai Street Argyle Street project. Among the 310,000 people currently living in Yau Tsim Mong district can be found a rich mixture of ethnic groups. New arrivals from mainland China live alongside minority groups from southern Asia in a relatively dense environment.

Yet, the local culture is under threat due to rapid redevelopment in the area. Large infrastructures such as highways, are present in the area. Shopping malls and high- rise residential buildings start to replace the tenement houses. Public spaces such as sports ground and markets are forgone for the sake of commercial buildings and infrastructures.

Ackbar Abbas, a scholar who researches on the interrelationship between Hong Kong culture, architecture and cinema described the architectural development of this stage of time under a “culture of disappearance”. In his book, Hong Kong: Culture and the politics of disappearance, he explained the extreme condition that buildings are bare profit-making commodities, that

“buildings suffer the fate of any other commodity.”

This resembles with the insight Walter Benjamin arrived at more than half a century ago:

“In the convulsions of the commodity economy, we begin to recognize monuments of the bourgeoisie as ruins even before they have crumbled.’”

It is time to reflect how the local community of the area could be safeguarded and re-consolidated in the culture of disappearances. 83 A Social condenser in Hong Kong

Public Square at 1960s, Yau Ma Tei.

Public Square at present, Yau Ma Tei. Historical Evolution at the site

Site 84

1860s 1890s 1920s Yau Ma tei was a flourishing town. A street grid was applied to the area Reclamation took place in 1900s. The site was a market place where of Yau Ma Tei. A new police station was built in Shops in the streets mainly deal Market Street, named after the old 1922. with marine trades. Hawkers appear market had already been developed in streets that sells groceries. by this time. It is one of the oldest streets in Kowloon.

The site is located two streets away from the coast, and the block was composed of a market, and 2 row of tenement buildings.

HARBOUR/ FISHERMAN PORT LOCAL BUSINESS

Yau Ma Tei as fishing village in 1880s Shanghai Street (1900s) 85 A Social condenser in Hong Kong

1950s 1970s 2020

Reclamation took place in 1900s. Change in Plot size. In 1975, the West Kowloon Corridor A new police station was built in highway was constructed. 1922. The new Gansu Street Market was completed and the old market site Since re-routing the flyover was redeveloped as the present Yau cause even more impact to the Ma Tei Government Office and the surroundings, Gascoigne Road Yau Ma Tei Carpark Building. Flyover was built to bypass existing surface road and go right through the building.

LOCAL BUSINESS INDUSTRIALIZATION COMMERCIAL DEVELOPMENT

Shanghai Street (1960s) Shanghai Street (1990s) Site 86

Occupying the Structure: Yau Ma Tei Carpark Building

Before the Carpark building was built, the site was initially where an old market was developed in 1887. It was one of the oldest markets in Hong Kong. The presence of a market is also a sign that prosperity and population was condensed in the area, as hawkers in the market,selling daily necessities such as clothes and groceries, were mainly people who live and work in the district.

In 1957, the old market site was redeveloped as the present Yau Ma Tei Government Office and Yau Ma Tei Car Park Building. When West Kowloon Corridor was planned to be constructed in 1970s, since re-routing the flyover cause even more impact to the surroundings, the flyover was built to bypass existing surface road and go right through the building. The unique urban scene created is also a top-down appropriation over a building.

With a modernist outlook, the 11-storey carpark building also serve as public library, government office and immigration service office. It is typical model that is integrated with functions of parking, public uses, working and even transportation. 87 A Social condenser in Hong Kong

View of car park building from Temple Street.

A ‘powerful’ appearance expressed by a different scale and different grid from the tenement streets dominating the area. Site 88

22.309132, 114.170594

Yau Ma Tei Carpark Building (Highway Penetrating Building), 2019. 89 A Social condenser in Hong Kong

22.309132, 114.170594

Yau Ma Tei Carpark Building (Highway Penetrating Building), 2019. Site 90

Yau Ma Tei Car Park Building Exterior view(top); Interior view (bottom) 91 A Social condenser in Hong Kong

Infrastructure as a resistant tool

In 2011, the new Central Government Complex was built in Admiralty, the original government offices moved out of the car park building. Now the top of the building, where the offices are originally located remains vacant.

Currently, the building, is considered “under-used” by the government. As the site was highly accessible to transportation and situated in the centre of the city, there are plans of demolishing the building and rebuild a new building for commercial uses. The existing library is planned to be moved to another temporary location. Controversies have been raised, not only due to the fact that the unique scene in the city will be lost, but also that the new proposal of another monotonous commercial tower in the area will only speed up the gentrification process and bring more harm to the existing community.

Also, the solution of having the highway punching through the building in the past suggested the “resistance” of the building in terms of cost saving and sustainability. Now, the infrastructure of highway, Gascoigne Road Flyover, passing through it, offers an even stronger “resistance power” today, as the highway is of frequent daily use, that links the New Territories West (Yuen Long, Tuen Mun, Tsuen Wan or Kwai Chung) and Kowloon South (Mong Kok or Jordan Road) or Hong Kong Island. Site 92

Axonometric Drawing 93 A Social condenser in Hong Kong

Axonometric View of the Site Mezzanine Floor Plan

Plan Drawing of the building Architectural Services Department Mezzanine Floor Plan

Plan Drawing of the building Architectural Services Department Typical Floor of Carpark

Plan Drawing of the building Architectural Services Department Typical Floor of Carpark

Plan Drawing of the building Architectural Services Department Section of Carpark

Drawing of the building Architectural Services Department Section of Carpark Private Public Drawing of the building Architectural Services Department Distribution/Circulation (parking) Site 100

Flexibility | Allow extension of programs from interior to exterior during public events 101 A Social condenser in Hong Kong

Accessibility - Road System / Open Site Building Blocks/Ground Space Street/Open Space Site 102

Accessibility | Vehicle Main Vehicle Route Bus Stop Metro 103 A Social condenser in Hong Kong

Diverse Neighbourhood | Multiple users in the area Site Residential Mixed Use Commercial Government Institution Community Open Space Site 104

2

4

1

3

(Bottom-up) Neighbourhood/ Community Hub/ Public sphere

1. Jade Bazaar Market (1891 - ) 2. Mido Cafe (1950 - ) 3. Temple Street Night Market (1887 - ) 4. Tin Hau Temple Complex (1876 - ) 105 A Social condenser in Hong Kong

1

2

3

4 Site 106

1

3

2

(Top-down power) Government Buildings

1. Police Station (Top); 2. Lands Tribunal (Middle); 3. Kowloon City Government Offices (Bottom) 107 A Social condenser in Hong Kong

1

2

3 Site 108

Street Market

Temple Public Square

Police Station

Possible view references in the neighbourhood 109 A Social condenser in Hong Kong

Government Office Building

Lands Tribunal

Street Market

Possible view references in the neighbourhood Site 110

Isometric Drawing of the Site 111 A Social condenser in Hong Kong

Isometric Drawing of the Site Feasibility Study 112

Meanwhile use as an Act of Resistance

In this part, the role of meanwhile use as an act of resistance is examined with a case study by 51n4e.

Can temporal reuse of buildings awaiting redevelopment affect the decisions of architects, policymakers and developers over plans for adaptation or demolition?

In recent years, we have seen an increase in practices of meanwhile use in this context.

Examples can be found in many European and American cities: relict spaces temporarily turned into bars or co-working environments, vacant offices into galleries, wastelands into vegetable gardens, etc. Important differences surface in terms of process, ideology, politics of space, activism and power relations. The ultimate beneficiary of meanwhile use is often unclear and diverse over cases. Different authors highlighted its catalyst role in processes of gentrification and displacement and identified it as placemaking tool for developers or public authorities. Others thought it a useful method in the adaptive re-use of buildings, learning from every-day uses when imagining future adaptations. This paper scrutinises the role of meanwhile use, operating critically from within redevelopment projects. The analysis draws on practical experiences in a project of meanwhile use in the CIAM-inspired Brussels North District. Alongside interviews with diverse agents, some of the tactical and inter-personal dimensions are being revealed. Using literature from critical urbanism, post-colonial theory, and actor-network theory and findings from the paper’s case study, five conditions are crystallised for meanwhile use to be an act of resistance, affecting the outcome of redevelopment projects.

(Article extract by Dieter Leyssen (51N4E) from Joelho, n. 9: ‘Reuse of Modernist Buildings: pedagogy and profession’.) 113 A Social condenser in Hong Kong

Case study: Lab North Brussels Rethinking ‘the Manhattan plan’ in Centre of Brussels Feasibility Study 114

The Brussels North District

The Brussels North District is a 53 ha office district in the centre of Brussels. Its utopian modernist masterplan, infamously called ‘the Manhattan-plan’, imagined an international business district that would attract large multinationals to the city of Brussels. Several multi-story office towers would come to articulate the crossroad of two highways — connecting London to Istanbul and Stockholm to Lisbon — in the centre of the district. The construction of the district caused the eviction of 3000 families of two working class neighbourhoods (Martens 2009). Ultimately, the new highways never got build and the arrival of international corporations lingered on. For years, the area became a large wasteland in the middle of the city. Finally, the government salvaged the developers by taking long-term leases on the majority of offices in the district. Today, these leases are gradually ending, leaving the district with a prospect vacancy rate of 20% (Bogdan et al. 2013; Binst 2016). The North District ranks as one of Brussels most ‘traumatic’ developments that shaped the city since the late 19th century (Doucet 2015, pp. 39). At daytime, commuters rush from their office to the train station. At night, it is characterised by petty criminality and prostitution. Joris Sleebus, a former city guide, saw the deconstruction happening: ‘12,000 evicted, for which alternative housing facilities got delivered only 7 years later? (…) Until now I still feel the anger and outrage’ (Interview 2017). 115 A Social condenser in Hong Kong

Case study: Lab North Brussels Rethinking ‘the Manhattan plan’ in Centre of Brussels Feasibility Study 116

Five Conditions for resistance

Any conclusions on the impact of the meanwhile use in the Brussels North District on the long term are impossible to draw. However, we can analyse the agency of the above-described practices. Using Actor- Network theory, I argued that meanwhile use can be an act of resistance since it can influence choices made during the ‘unstable’ period of redevelopment. Five conditions can be distinguished that increase probability for this type of influencing. They represent the ‘seed beds’ for a meanwhile use that affects the future of the site (Tonkiss 2013, pp. 316).

1. Use as a design process

Meanwhile use entails testing out uses, different from those a building was designed for, as well as building new relations between the users and other stakeholders. For this testing to have impact on the result a design approach is required. A process in which design is central ensures that intentions and dreams for the future site can be expressed, negotiated and resisted, without being boxed by fixed expectations (Gieryn 2002). It also implies flexibility amongst the users: meanwhile use is unstable and changes rapidly. Such approach can be recognised in the voluntary haphazardness of Joris’ lunches, as well as in the ephemeral structures set up in public space by the students. Both show, in a ‘learning-by-doing’ approach, how things could be organised different without proposing a final solution.

2. A symbiotic relationship between agents

Those involved in the meanwhile use and those deciding over the development should establish interdependency. In the architecture studio, this interdependency is most clear. Architects using the building today ‘in the meanwhile’ are at the same time producing the design of the future development. This creates dependencies between the ‘now’ and the future, between the informal and the formal. Partnerships like Lab North can enable and sustain such relation. As intermediary agent, Lab North translates and ‘rewires’ stakes from one milieu to the other. In that way, everyday concerns of users can reach the ear of developing parties and policy makers. These new interdependencies might give rise to a ‘symbiotic relationship’ between the formal and informal as called for by Mehrotra (2011), or an ‘informalization’ of formal institutions as presented by Boudreau (2017). 117 A Social condenser in Hong Kong

3. Urban Futures of juxtaposed realities

Today’s tensions between meanwhile and permanent use, between formal and informal, also need to be represented in the future redevelopment plans. For this, inconsistencies should be allowed; paradoxes should be part of, even stimulated in, the imagined future (Holston 2008). Today however, many redevelopment projects tend to imagine utopian futures in which all inconsistencies are being erased. This is also the case for some projects in the North District proposed by developers. The studio by the architecture students involved in meanwhile use hint towards another approach. The visions produced for the long terms should themselves contain ‘cracks’ for future resistance. As rightly put by architecture student Parys, the existing contradictions in the district, call for ‘a more responsible’ design approach (Interview 2017). This condition can be summarised as imagining a radically urban future: a collection of juxtaposed everyday realities of different identities.

4. Critical mass

Meanwhile use can expand its agency when it reaches a critical mass of simultaneous practices. In our case, several practices are stacked in one building, resulting in an outreach to different networks of actors and stakes in the city. This condition recalls Howard Zinn’s defence for the ‘countless small actions of unknown people’ that could provoke structural change. An idea Noam Chomsky (2011) repeated in the wake of the Occupy Wall Street Movement. A multitude of simultaneous experiments on new forms production and consumption, on learning and working, might spawn other experiments increases the chances to impact the future development.

5. Slowing down

Redevelopment projects are often bound to strict planning, phasing and investment schemes that eliminate the time necessary for any of the previous conditions to develop. The conditio sine qua non would thus be to ‘slow down’ (Stengers 2015). This condition calls in no way for indulging the status quo, but rather to take time to reach out, change mind-sets, evaluate results and measure impacts. In the case of the North District, this time was created by an adverse office real estate market; supply exceeds demand, resulting in a slow pace of redevelopment of existing offices. Redevelopment into housing, a safer sector, would require re-zoning the area. Development has thus been slowed down. Feasibility Study 118

Users

redesign cheaper rent for forms new partnership occupants

free to use Architects Land Developer (also a user) free proposal

Diagram showing the symbiotic relation between agents 119 A Social condenser in Hong Kong

A floor designed by the client as a “return” to the land developer Feasibility Study 120

The testing out progress is considered as design of this scheme. 121 A Social condenser in Hong Kong

A comparison between past and future program Feasibility Study 122

Reflection

Can this notion also be applied to my case? That the car park that is underused to be meanwhile transformed for other alternative programs, to see what makes the best outcome for the long run?

This could be a good opportunity to redesign the relationship between the client and the designer, and also the users, that the activists: users and designer, are the source the owner relies on for future outcomes and do free experiments for the land developers?

Government o ces

Parking Spaces

Government o ces Library

Diagram of the vacancy of the car park. 123 A Social condenser in Hong Kong

28%Vacant

Daytime (0700 - 1900)

52%Vacant

Night time (1900 - 0700)

Parking Statistics Statistics from Government Multi-storey Car Park Statistics (May 2017)

Feasibility Study 124

Users

redesign for audeince/ participant

free to use Artist/Architects (also a user) free proposal, solve problems

A new Brief | Symbiotic relationship between activists and government 125 A Social condenser in Hong Kong

Users

cheaper rent

new occupants free to use

Government free proposal, solve problems

A new Brief | Symbiotic relationship between activists and government Program 126

On 2nd September, 2019, journalists Financial Times describes Hong Kong’s recent pro- democracy demonstrations as “water revolution”.

The notion of misuse and intentional openness

On 2nd September, 2019, journalists Financial Times describes Hong Kong’s recent pro-democracy demonstrations as “water revolution”. The map on the right, showing where tear gas was deployed throughout the protests, supports the fluidity nature of the protests, that the movement is not confined to one specific location, but literally happening all around the city.

The city as an “affordance” From my observation, the protesters are fully aware of the resources provided by the city and the spatial features of different places that allow insurgent public spaces to appear. For instance, the protesters developed their own “material culture” of roadblock during protests, utilizing mainly with the readily-available elements from streets, such as balustrades, bamboo sticks for construction. It is a matter of convenience but also conveying an idea of ‘locality’.

On the other hand, the protesters gathered in privately owned shopping mall atria and sang the unofficial anthem, fully utilized the advantage of their visual connectivity and sense of openness for gathering people for public forums and rallies. The act also contrasts greatly with the imagery of blissful consumerism in this mall atria. 127 A Social condenser in Hong Kong

HKSAR Government Headquarter

Map of Tear Gas Deployed in Hong Kong (Aug 5 - Nov 15, 2019)

The local “materiality” of road barricades obtained from streets. Program 128

Frame as a Guide

The idea of the notion of reuse also provokes the question of what initiates that notion? What could be the initiator for a free-space?

One of the pioneer examples one could call on would be Le Corbusier’s Maison Dom-ino, the system is conceived as columns imposed on a multipliable 4x4 meter grid, while holding up horizontal slabs that functioned as either floor or roof. The result was a neutral, physical framework that could be filled in with prefabricated non-structural walls, partitions, doors, and windows.

In this model, architecture was reduced to a mere skeletal and mechanical structure. The skeletal frame provides the condition and initiates the restriction and guide for activities to occur within its rules. The system provides the freedom and guidance of spatial layout at the same time. In addition, the importance of the grid lies in its inherent logic, that is, it can act as an agency for organizational principles. This logic provides a degree of freedom for the product of the Dom-ino structure in a specific direction, so It can be used in different configurations and is suitable for various (economic) situations. The grid is the basis for placing, arranging and defining the actual material structure. Therefore, the relationship between the grid, the conceptual structure and the frame (i.e., the mechanical structure) is the generated relationship: the grid literally defines the plan to borrow the Le Corbusier concept of the frame as the generator.

Mies van der Rohe’s approach of placing a frame are in form of planes, which was well illustrated in his collages of the Museum for a Small City (1942-1943 ) . The two planes of the floor (gridded) and ceiling, enables the subsequent disposition of walls and elements upon the free-space. These planes provide and frame the initial conditions for what may be called ‘freedom’.

Similarly, the renowned Barcelona Pavilion Mies created expresses the idea of “free plan” by adopting glass walls and non-enclosing walls to define rooms. The walls lower than ceiling height to express their non-structural property as well as the fluidity of space within these planes. Mies casts the logic of openness, ambiguity, and freedom onto the ground with the plane as an enabling frame. 129 A Social condenser in Hong Kong

Le Corbusier:Maison Dom-ino (1914)

Mies van der Rohe. Museum for a Small City (1942-1943 ) Program 130

Column free social condenser - Centre Pompidou

Under the lead of curator Pontus Hulten, who consider museums as a place where culture was made with the involvement of the people from the society, Centre Pompidou was designed with the notion of intentional openness and high flexibility, with open floors that may accommodate any kind of internal arrangement and hence artistic and cultural activity.

This notion of free space was achieved by adopting a “column-free”interior, which is enabled with the aid of technology improvements in the field during 1970s. Richard Rogers and Renzo Piano came up with the architectural solution of liberates the interior spaces from the permanent accommodation of circulation and servicing and columns with flat tubular section trusses, that enables a large span of 44.80m. The servant programs such as circulation and mechanical servicing are placed on the facades as tubes.

The experience of entering the museum areas is not from the escalator tubes, as the building exterior seems to suggest, but from doors located centrally at the lower edge of the plaza, suggesting the double-height interior forum as part of the street and the inclined plaza.

Corresponding to the image of the facade of the museum, which appears like a huge shelf stacked with objects on the frame, the art centre functions well as a social condenser, that invites constant reinterpretation and rearrangement of the interior spaces. 131 A Social condenser in Hong Kong

The column free spaces achieved by the use of deep trusses, allowed free movement and constant free arrangement of internal spaces and rooms. Program 132

The image of the building illustrated as a public container, with the use of transparent materials, and the idea of a stacked frame with shelves.

A sunken plaza makes the transition from the street to the building more naturally suggestive. 133 A Social condenser in Hong Kong

The possibility to lookout to the city from the sculpture outdoor garden on elevated levels is another example of possessing the city from the people. Program 134

A Shed/Canopy

A canopy is understood universally as somewhere safe and favorable for things to happen, for instance, education was first conducted under the canopy of trees. According to the definition from the book The Public Interior as Idea and Project, a shed is meant to be “a kind of shelter where things are kepy from being wet” and “ all contents and people within were visible and conceptually unified.”2

Under this notion, the shed is generally designed as a generic form for accommodating any kind of activity within a sheltered environment. The empty space underneath are inviting various programs to happen.

An example of such would be the new municipal Town Hall at a new public square in Ghent. The structure, rather monumental and huge in scale, adapts similarities with the covered markets in Dutch culture. The shed was supported on four legs, which one of them was also an open hearth, which adds another layer of meaning for gathering of social lives, as if its an outdoor living room. The choice of material of timber and the deep covering effect of the market hall suggests a city room in the public square, where citizens are allowed to enter and engage with each other.

Another example from the Asian context may be the Luodong Cultural Working House, which resembles the form of a washing shed in the agricultural environment of Luodong in the past and neighbouring contexts. The canopy is also oriented towards the mountains and the main road next to the site, suggesting a mediator between rural and urban settings. Despite the presence of columns in the space, the coverage of 4860 meter squares beneath and height of 18 meters help the site adapts to the city as a huge shed for public amenities, while the columns might further help define the spaces into groups of spaces for individuals to cater themselves with.

2. Pimlott. Public Interior, p.149, 135 A Social condenser in Hong Kong

Ghent Market Hall Marie-José van Hee

Luodong Cultural Working House, Field office architects Program 136

The Occupation of the Rooftop (as secret political spaces)

Rooftop spaces today are commonly known as mechanical or residual spaces for placing mechanical plants for a building. But for some people, the rooftop is a place where informal activities may happen for some time in both Hong Kong and Europe, due to their hidden nature and unclear ownership, but also the idea of possession of the city from an elevated position, which one may not normally experience on streets and other public sectors.

This part wishes to list out some notable examples that may serve as reference point for the project in the later stages. The first half is a brief study of collective behavior of queering roof spaces for social gathering or private lives in Hong Kong, whereas the later part are examples in Eruope.

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Rooftop as illegal education site

Location: Shek Kip Mei, Hong Kong Type: Illegal rooftop schools on top of public housing blocks Architect: N/A

In 1953, the fire at Shek Kip Mei caused more than 50,000 people to lose their homes, forcing the British Hong Kong government, who had previously ignored the housing problem, to start building immigration buildings.

In the 1950s and 1960s, the British Hong Kong government still did not promote universal education. Some non-profit organizations, often religious groups, suggested setting up classrooms on the rooftop of the building. These schools were not well facilitated as they had no government subsidies, but was highly popular among the local communities.

The rooftop was an important place for basic education at that time. Ordinary families could only choose to go to rooftop schools run by these charities. Most of these rooftop charities are churches. At that time, the rooftops of Hong Kong were able to bear the needs of various communities and blossomed. 137 A Social condenser in Hong Kong

A primary class on the rooftop of a public housing block (1954) Program 138

Rooftop as Living Place

Location: Kwun Tong, Hong Kong Type: Illegal Housing on top of old tenement buildings Architect: N/A

In Hong Kong, some poor people are unable to afford traditional apartments and are forced to wait years for affordable public housing. They are forced to seek alternatives, like living in illegal huts on top of buildings.

According to the Hong Kong Population Census, there were about 3,982 rooftop dwellers in 2006,and are now estimated in the tens of thousands, most of whom were found in the old Kowloon districts.

The cubicle dwellings, generally built atop tenement buildings of the 1950s and 1960s, range from 9 to 28 square metres (97 to 301 sq ft) may be built with concrete and brick walls, while others are built like shanties out of wood and tin. Between the shanties are narrow passageways. Some may have an area for growing plants or vegetables. There may be a common area to dry laundry. The sturdier buildings may have air conditioning units. 139 A Social condenser in Hong Kong

Plan drawing of rooftop houses on a tenement building

Typical rooftop slum on top of tenement buildings. Program 140

Plan drawing of rooftop house on a tenement building 141 A Social condenser in Hong Kong

Interior view of the living room of the rooftop cubicle. Program 142

Man having physical training on top of the roof. 1962.

Rooftop as Gymnasiums of Martial Arts

Location: Kwun Tong, Hong Kong Type: Unregistered gymnasium or schools of martial arts on top of old tenement buildings Architect: N/A

In the 1960s in Hong Kong, public order was unsatisfactory, social unrest, lack of material boring, and not much entertainment. Many young people, especially the grass-roots youth associations, went to the martial arts hall to learn about their skills. Health, and increase opportunities for migrant workers.

Because rooftops are cheaper and have more space, some refugees with martial arts skills have opened martial arts gymnasiums on rooftops, and rooftop martial arts are gradually becoming famous. It is indeed an unique scenery of old Hong Kong. 143 A Social condenser in Hong Kong

Challenge Fight on top of a building. 1956. Program 144

Rooftop as Independent Market Place

Location: Kwun Tong, Hong Kong Type: Illegal Market on top of industrial buildings Architect: N/A

This is a recent example from the recent Lunar New Year. The Hong Kong Government holds a Lunar New Year Fair every year to facilitate the purchase of New Year's goods such as flowers and Chinese New Year food. But in addition to these traditional Lunar New Year's markets this year, some demonstrators and pan-democracy lawmakers have also organized some markets called "Market with You" to sell New Year's products related to recent demonstrations. These markets are considered illegal and are held as private functions by different private shops and tenants in the industrial buildings. Some of them are allocated on the rooftop of these buildings, as there is not clear definition on the ownership of these roofs. 145 A Social condenser in Hong Kong

An “illegal” independent new year market organized on top of an industrial building. January 2020.

New Year’s products related to recent demonstrations. Program 146

Frank’s Café, on the car park roof, with its view over London

Rooftop as cafe | Frank’s Cafe

Location: London, UK Type: Cafe Architect: Turner Architects

First constructed in 2009 on the rooftop of Peckham’s multistory carpark, Frank’s Cafe has opened every summer since.

The timber structure is lashed to the rooftop with twelve 50m-long ratchet straps, which support the red canopy. Built using reclaimed scaffolding boards and a roof constructed from lorry-siding, which such materiality fits with the “identity of the parking lot”.

The cafe acts as a modest shed on top of the building, a shelter that keep things out of the rain, but also a public interior where all people and contents in the cafe are visible with each other. Under this tent, people are unified and equal. It suggests the containment of various activities under the vibrant red colour of the tent, which indeed night parties and casual talks happen under this same “roof”. 147 A Social condenser in Hong Kong

Timber structure and a tent stretched over the roof of the carpark

Materiality of the “transportation” industry. Program 148

Rooftop as Park | Le Corbusier’s Cité Radieuse rooftop

Location: Marseille, France Type: garden terrace, gym, pool, club, kindergarten Architect: Le Corbusier

The roof terrace of Le Corbusier’s Cité Radieuse apartment building, completed in 1953, has long been the symbol of the sun-drenched ideal of Mediterranean modernism – a park in the sky for the residents of this brave new vertical city. The roof is a garden terrace that has a running track, a club, a kindergarten, a gym, and a shallow pool for the inhabitants to have their own private spaces, but outside of that private sector they would eat, exercise, and gather together. It is the largest communal space within the entire building,

It stretches out like the deck of an ocean liner, with rocky mountain peaks to one side, the open sea to the other, a landscape of collective leisure suspended 18 storeys up in the air.

The idea of placing the communal area on top of the building not only adheres to Le Corbusier’s idea of a “vertical garden city”, but also that unobstructed views of the Mediterranean and Marseille is also a notion for the public to lookover the city, as if they could be empowered through this “looking” process. 149 A Social condenser in Hong Kong

L’Unité d’Habitation, Marseille. Rooftop, 1958 Program 150

Rooftop as a collection of the city | Beistegui Apartment (1929-1931)

Location: Paris, France Type: Apartment, roof garden Architect: Le Corbusier

The project was described as a “machine à amuse”, which was functionally a penthouse, not necessarily for living, but for hosting parties. While the garden was located on a rooftop with wonderful views of well-known Parisian monuments,

The roof garden was comparable in size to a living room, and the walls were approximately five feet tall. The particular height of these garden walls restrict the views from the garden, and suggests the perspective that monuments in the background of Paris would become tiny pieces of art sitting on the shelves of his outdoor living room.

Carpeted with grass, the sun deck featured a false rococo fireplace and was photographed as furnished with a mirror, garden seating and a parrot on a stand. The irrational living room, featuring indoor furniture in an outdoor settings without ceiling, suggesting a surrealistic image. 151 A Social condenser in Hong Kong

Axonometric drawing showing the spiral circulation that reaches the pavilion on top.

Le corbusier Beistegui Apartment (1929-1931) was located in the centre of Paris. Program 152

Manipulation of views to the city, allow collection of the Image of the City within one place. 153 A Social condenser in Hong Kong

View of the fireplace in the chambre à ciel ouvert, with the Arc de Triomphe in the background Program 154

Rooftop as Pool | Sesc 24 de Maio Cultural centre

Location: São Paulo, Brazil Type: Swimming pool Architect: Paulo Mendes da Rocha

The building has vertically aggregated programs usually not found together, including a theatre in the basement, a library, climbing wall as well as a rooftop swimming pool, which overlooks the immense expansed of the city of S.Paulo. It is built for a non-profit institution, and it is open to the community. The discovery of the top of the building for public, wishes to foster and intensify meeting and sharing among people.

The rooftop swimming pool area comprises, in addition to a pool measuring 25 metres a side, a solarium and play areas for children. A new reinforced-concrete structure, standing on four circular pillars, extends the full height of the building and supports the swimming pool on the roof. It is not enclosed with façades at all.

The project addresses the public programs as a set of covered piazzas stacked on top of each other. With its free corners and urban views, the serial stacking of different programs and vertical circulation through ramps offer an ever-changing relationship with the city, which culminates in discovering the top of the building. 155 A Social condenser in Hong Kong

Piscina with panaromic view to the city of Sao Paulo. Program 156

Occupying the street

A brief study in done on the night market nearby the site, as it has also applied the notion of misuse in the community level, and further succeeded to pursuade the government to legitimize it and let it survive, despite it was illegal at the beginning.

Temple Street is a street located in the areas of Jordan and Yau Ma Tei in Kowloon, Hong Kong. It is known for its night market and as one of the busiest flea markets at night in the territory. The night market lies in the Yau Ma Tei, Jordan part of the street. Popular with tourists and locals alike in the evening, it is also common to see the place crowded at dusk. It sells cheap merchandise and food items. The place is sometimes known as “the Night Fair for the Poor”.

The Temple Street Night Market is sometimes known as Men’s Street as it is popular for men’s fashion. The market starts at 2 p.m., but is lively at dusk daily. Traffic is closed on the street at that time as visitors swarm into the street. There are more than a hundred stalls with colourful lights in the market. There are carts bulging with goods from clothing to mobile phones and watches. Stalls have items mainly for men, jeans, t-shirts, pants, lighters, shoes, condoms and men’s accessories. Low-priced merchandise is common in the night market. Cheap second hand goods such as cassettes, video tapes, old newspapers, antiques are also sold there. Like in other night markets in South East Asia, prices can always be negotiated by bargaining.

When buying merchandise in Temple Street, it is advised that one hunt for shops hidden in the streets behind the stalls. This is one of the unique characteristics of Temple Street Night Market. 157 A Social condenser in Hong Kong

Site plan showing the relationship between the Site and the night market (in red) Program 158

Axonometric of Street Market 159 A Social condenser in Hong Kong

Night street market, 1972. Program 160

Bouquinistes, Paris

Devices to suggest Vibrancy 161 A Social condenser in Hong Kong

Dai Pai Dong, Hong Kong

Devices to suggest Vibrancy Statement 162

Project Statement

Queering space

Inspired by the act of queering spaces in the protest, the project speculates a new public building typology that take-over of an undervalued urban space, which was formerly a carpark building, at the fringe and center of a city, Yaumatei. Due to the high accessibility of the site, it is a place where frequent power confrontation and massive changes were experienced throughout history. While the government now sees the structure as an outdated building that is underutilized, yet technically difficult to tear down due to the presence of a highway through it, my brief suggests an alternative future of the building: to be kept and appropriated into a mixed-use complex to fulfill the contemporary social needs around the neighborhood, meanwhile to save government from extra costs in demolition and rebuilding for the future.

Artists as a mediating agent and project initiator

An independent art institution, Green Wave Art, is looking for a new physical platform to gather the artists and expand their ways of working with the social scope. The art corporate wishes to fund a place, with intentional openness that provides public enlightenment and entertainment, and involves the community in their making of art. As they have always been outspoken on political issues, they also act as the agency to initiate political discussions in a city, with making community art with the citizens as the means of doing so. Community as the users and activists The community living in the district of Yaumatei are characterized with the low income and living in one of the highest concentrated places. They have the demands to extend their living and social area to the streets and public sphere, often found in places of cheap local business, such as teahouses and street markets. These are the “public spaces” initiated by the citizens themselves. These places are political like coffeehouses, that serves as an intimate ground for political discussions that involves with everyday life scenery, that is eating and entertainment.

163 A Social condenser in Hong Kong

Proposal

In my proposal, the government forgoes rent from the occupants and receive a future proposal in return for free, as citizens and artists are allowed to misuse the carpark building in the “meanwhile”, and at the same time, produce design for the future development of the building. In this case, the involved agents are bonded with a symbiotic relationship. By involving the daily life scenography in the building, different users can encounter and interact with each other, and start involving with profane everyday-life conversations. This marks the beginning of a political debate, a conversation based on everyday life chatting. These conversations are further encouraged through participation in creating art and culture together. In here, different user parties are involved in deciding how to manage and make decisions for a building together, that could be understood as a “political” way of making spaces. At the end, I envision a social condenser that is mix-used: it involves reusing part of the building as garage spaces, while the rests re-adapted as public functions and artist studio spaces. Friends 164

Friends

To be critical over the setting of the brief, a set of references and persons have been reached, to provide valuable judgment and sometimes physical knowledge to my understanding of the places, community, and political relationships in Hong Kong.

Here, I would like to briefly list out the persons and archival materials that I have tried to reach out, which offers critical advice in the setting up of my proposal and guided me with points of reference. There are categorized as follows:

I. Archival Materials

Archival Materials have been an important source of historical references and building records in my project, not only to provide me the access to the original drawings of the Car park building I am intervening with, but also with historical sources of information, ranging from reports to photographs that I found relevant about the site’s present and the past.

II. Interviews

Several Interview has been conducted with some potential users: Artists and Community in the area of Yau ma Tei. Due to the restrictions imposed by COVID, Interview with the interviewee in person has been difficult, and fieldwork to their studios/ homes are not possible. Therefore, also the oral historical records provided my an idea of the community before even visiting, which I consider a really important tool during the COVID period.

III. Public Lectures

Public Lectures held by different institutions have been sources of cross- referencing, mainly focusing on the ones provided online by Hong Kong Institutions, and TU Delft.

165 A Social condenser in Hong Kong Friends 166

I. Archival Materials

BRAVO - online building records

The Buildings Department’s BRAVO system enables the public to inspect and place orders for copies of private buildings and minor works records over the Internet (https://bravo.bd.gov.hk). It also facilitates simultaneous access to the same building or minor works record by multiple users. Link: https://bravo.bd.gov.hk/home 167 A Social condenser in Hong Kong

Gwulo: Old Hong Kong 古老) ‘Gwu lo’ is the Cantonese pronunciation of ( ‘old-fashioned’. It is a website that collects over 30,000 pages about old Hong Kong, mainly with diaries, photos and maps about old Hong Kong and its development. It was founded by David Bellis who arrived in Hong Kong from the UK in 1989. Link: https://gwulo.com/ Friends 168

Governmental Records Service (GRS)

This website has been facelifted to enable the public to easily access our archival collections and holdings. It complements the wealth of information available for research and review at the Hong Kong Public Records Building in Kwun Tong. Link: https://www.grs.gov.hk/en/ 169 A Social condenser in Hong Kong

Hong Kong Historic Map

This website is dedicated to the discovery and display of historic maps of Hong Kong, with provision a collection of these maps along with overlays of key features and the comparison with modern mapping. Details of the maps sources are provided under the map detail section. Link: http://www.hkmaps.hk/ Friends 170

II. Interviews

Interview with The Potential client Founder of Green Wave Art, Sammu Chan

Chan serves as curator and, since 2016, Green Wave Art has gained a reputation for being one of the most versatile and unorthodox spaces in Hong Kong. Every week there was something new: it has hosted exhibitions, concerts, screenings, poetry readings, performances, talks, workshops. Sometimes there would even be “emergency exhibitions” to respond to current affairs.

He explains his wishes to find a place near the current neighbourhood, as he established close relations with the locals already.

Another relevant interview record from Hong Kong Free Press, Link: https://hongkongfp.com/2019/04/28/final-days-hong- kongs-green-wave-art-space-community-arts-hub-like- no/ 171 A Social condenser in Hong Kong

Interview with some artists friends Pak Hang Wong (Tenant of artist workspace provided by the government)

Wong Pak Hang, Samson was born in Hong Kong in 1995. He obtains his Bachelor’s degree in Fine Arts from the Department of Fine Arts at the Chinese University of Hong Kong in 2018. Wong expresses himself through digital and 2D mixed media, including photography, video, painting, and installation. The content of works is related to modern life and habitation. He believes that humanistic care is more important than artistic poetics. Recently, he has been shortlisted for the 24th ifva Awards (Media Arts category) and young talent of the Affordable Art Fair. His work, Screenslaver (void) is included in the Archive.

He shared his experience about renting a place from ADC, a government funded places for artists to work. https://www.wongpakhangs.com/about.html Friends 172

Hong Kong Memory. Oral History Record.

Hong Kong Memory (HKM) is a multi-media web site that gives free and open access to digitized materials on Hong Kong’s history, culture and heritage. The materials include text documents, photographs, posters, sound recordings, motion pictures and videos.

Link: https://www.hkmemory.hk/collections/oral_history/ index.html 173 A Social condenser in Hong Kong

Interview with some locals in Yau Ma Tei

Owner of a Temple street market stall

Ms Tam has been operating this stall in Temple street night market for 10 years, while being a resident of the neighborhood about the evolutions of the site throughout history, and her feelings about the urban redevelopment in the area.

She explained me with the logistics of the night market, like how they store their settings up for the stall at the neighboring tenement houses staircase. She also explained me the government’s intervention of the markets, that made the site more ordered but less attractive to locals recently. Friends 174

III. Public Lectures

Berlage Keynotes

The Berlage keynotes is an ongoing series of evening lectures by internationally prominent practitioners, designers, and thinkers. Lecturers this spring include Barry Bergdoll, Frida Escobedo, Gigon/Guyer, Anupama Kundoo, Bernard Tschumi, Vector Architects, and Alejandro Zaera-Polo.

Link: http://www.theberlage.nl/events/lectures 175 A Social condenser in Hong Kong

100 Day Studio, The Architecture Foundation

The 100 Day Studio is a new initiative devised by The Architecture Foundation that adapts this model to our current health crisis. For 100 weekdays from Monday April 6th to Thursday August 27th, the 100 Day Studio brings you a daily diet of online lectures, interviews, building tours, panel discussions and quizzes. Each Friday we will publish the curriculum for the week ahead. It is a new way to gather at the COVID times.

Link: https://www.architecturefoundation.org.uk/news/100-day-studio Friends 176

Conference: Architecture and democracy 1965-1989

In light of the current crises in liberal democracies around the world, the conference probes the complicated relationship between architecture and democracy during the 1965-1989 period. At what intersections was architecture able to propose a new, if precarious, balance between planning and citizens’ empowerment? How did this impact the disciplinary institutions of architecture and its epistemologies? And perhaps more speculatively, where do these shifting conditions leave architecture today, considering questions of democratic values, a ruthless market logic that penetrates all sectors of society, and a divisive populism dominating the public debate? Text from Link: https://jaap-bakema-study-centre.hetnieuweinstituut.nl/en/ architecture-and-democracy-call-for-papers Jaap Bakema Study Centre ARCHITECTURE AND DEMOCRACY 1965–1989: Urban Renewal, Populism and the Welfare State

Sixth Annual Conference November 2019 177 A Social condenser in Hong Kong

Public Lecture Series,Fall 2019. University of Hong Kong, The Faculty of Architecture

The Fall 2019 Public Lecture Series of will highlight the theme “The City and Its Public Space.” Through dialogues, forums and presentations by invited architects, artists and scholars, the series aims to examine the urgent issues of urban public space through both local and global lenses.

Link: https://www.arch.hku.hk/events_index/public-lecture-series/?cat=public- lecture-series Bibliography/ Key references

Abbas, Ackbar. Hong Kong: Culture and the Politics of Disappearance. Hong Kong: Hong Kong University Press, 1997.

Attlee, James. ‘Towards Anarchitecture: Gordon Matta-Clark and Le Corbusier’, in Tate Papers, no.7, Spring 2007, https://www.tate.org.uk/research/publications/ tate-papers/07/towards-anarchitecture-gordon-matta-clark-and-le-corbusier, accessed 19 April 2020.

Bergevoet, Tom, Maarten van Tuijl, Auke van den. Berg, Vivien Reid, and Clare Wilkinson. The Flexible City: Sustainable Solutions for a Europe in Transition. Rotterdam: Nai010 Publishers, 2016.

Bonnemaison, Sarah, and Christine Macy. Festival Architecture. London: Routledge, 2008.

Bruno, Marco, Simone Carena, and Minji Kim. Borrowed City: Private Use of Public Space in Seoul. Seoul: Damdi Publishing, 2015.

Dovey, Kim. Framing Places: Mediating Power in Built Form. London: Routledge, 2008.

Fitz, Angelika, and Katharina Ritter. Assemble: How We Build = Wie Wir Bauen. Zurich: Park Books, 2017.

Hou, and Jeffrey Hou. Insurgent Public Space: Guerrilla Urbanism and the Remaking of Contemporary Cities. Hoboken: Taylor & Francis, 2010.

Leyssen, Dieter. “Meanwhile Use as an Act of Resistance.” Joelho, n. 9: ‘Reuse of Modernist Buildings: pedagogy and profession,’ 2018.

Marquito, Angela, and Anton Stark. Power / Architecture. Zurich, Switzerland: Lars Müller Publishers, 2017.

Mitchell, Don. The Right to the City Social Justice and the Fight for Public Space. New York, NY: Guilford, 2014.

Pimlott, Mark. The Public Interior as Idea and Project. Heijningen: Jap Sam Books, 2016.

Scott, J. C. Domination and the Arts of Resistance: Hidden Transcripts. Yale Univ. Press, 1990.

Smithson, Robert. “A provisional theory of nonsites.” Robert Smithson: The collected Writings, Jack Flam. University of California Press, 1996.

Vale, Lawrence J. Architecture, Power And National Identity. Routledge, 2008.