Architecture
(Very)
Dense
Hong Kong(香港); Asia’s once-reveled city of design, culture, and architecture has fallen way off its pedestalhaving grown up there, I must talk about the housing crisis.
Subdivided flats(劏房), colloquially coined “Coffin” homes, along with decreases in usable land for construction, and the exponentially declining economy present a reminder to the people of Hong Kong that the housing crisis was never meaningfully addressed by the government, or any of its respective departments since the 90s after British rule and handover back to China. Even then with plans to improve the quality of living for the majority through extensive construction programs of housing schemes offered by the Housing Authority, 30 years later, the issue is still present - if not worse. Population has increased by more than 2 million in Hong Kong alone, and land is only decreasing with the city's continuing despair via its pursuit of more and more housing apartments that never meet the population's needs. Of course, it is not simply an issue in Hong Kong but a global issue; however, with Hong Kong being no more significant than an island and a half and with 7.5million in population, infinite fillings, and the demolishing of its remaining countryside greenery is not the solution, but merely a delaying of the inevitable; one day there will be no land to build on.
This housing crisis is now more than ever at its lowest point, bringing out the pit for all the property gladiators to duke it out before restoring the economy. The Henderson, designed by Zaha Hadid Architects, is the latest large-scale development in Hong Kong recently completed and it also marks the end of decades of a booming construction business and property development.
“Hong Kong’s “big four” property dynasties have been viewed as cash-rich bastions of stability. A crisis of confidence at New World Development is now putting that notion to the test”¹ - the first of many markers that the Hong Kong Property market, along with its longstanding reliability as a financial bastion in Asia is crumbling. All this goes to show how seemingly impossible it is to wait for a miracle to happen, where residents in caged homes could ever have better homes, for themselves, and their children. “Hundreds of idle spaces can be converted for use as public housing, says Hong Kong Ombudsman”² - yet 7 years later, no significant developments to aid the minority, and with bankruptcy at a high and property prices dropping along with salary, the light gets further from the end of the tunnel for those unfortunate enough to be caught in the jaws of the decades-long housing crisis.
政府 (Government)
發展商 (Developer)
here* (Government) (Landlord) (Tenant )
(Architects)
租戶 (Tenant) 租戶租戶租戶 不分割股份 (Flatowners)
Born from inaction and greed, Subdivided flats symbolize the struggles of living in a fast-developing city. All land is owned by the government, and then by leasehold leased off to various developers, with many flat owners backing them. Upon completion of projects, flat owners can then lease the flat(s) to people, along with the option of subdividing their flat space into multiple, livable spaces for multiple tenants. This by definition is not illegal and could be deemed as “encouraged” as legislation enables these minuscule spaces as long as the very basic human needs are met on a planning levellegislation that is scarcely enforced and often overlooked; making this vicious cycle a very lucrative business indeed, extensively feeding into the salary and standard of living disparities that have haunted Hong Kong below the waters since the handover. Many of these tenants have no choiceproperty prices are heavily monopolized. Many average families can only afford these choices, with considerations of bills, mortgages, and expenses for their children. Hence, it goes without further need for explanation that this is one of the root societal problems that needs to be addressed before the overall welfare can improve. Maintenance for these units is often measly at best too, with profit at the forefront for flat owners coupled with difficult negotiations for improvement. The current generation of subdivided flats is simply a horrific sight, albeit there are even worse conditions, and caged homes are out of the discussion. During my time in Hong Kong last December of 2024, I joined a government initiative provided by the Urban Renewal Authority (URA), where volunteer designers with backgrounds in architectural studies and sociology meet to survey the needs of various tenants of sub-divided units. Some families had one or no children, while the family I was working with had 3 children, along with the parents, made it a 5 person family, living in half of a 2 person flat with “normal” misconceptions. Although there will be a further section of this specific case study - just by this statistic alone, how is this even possible? The average government-offered housing flat is around “20 sq meters per person, with plans to regulate it to 22 sq meters”³ . 1 square meter in Hong Kong costs $23,579HKD4 or roughly 2360 GBP. The population has increased to over 8 million in the past half-decade and continues to increase - solidifying the urgency of this brief.
There’s simply not enough progress on the public housing shortage and crisis. The corrupted systems within society have benefited. Land developers and respective flat owners continue to monopolize housing markets, creating unwanted precedents in inflation and widening an already impossible salary gap. Many families have at least one child, making it often difficult to elevate lifestyle when the developers only care about the niceties and not the humanities. This is precisely why as an emerging spatial practitioner, it is not important to think about the way I can situate myself, and position my future work philosophy in a way that can intervene with such a corrupted system. Architects, in this case, should have a stronger, and more informed perspective on the costs and quality of living through decision decisions and negotiations that can lead to real collaboration and change. It is no doubt a challenging issue to tackle, and there’s only so much design can do to create real change, even with ideals of policy-making in conjunction with careful, slow design. Hong Kong’s incredibly heinous reputation for density is already a forecast of what it will become if this journey toward a dystopia is to continue. The government, by law and order, owns all land and subsequent property by leasehold; which makes it hard for architects to intervene and directly address. However, this brief doesn’t, or rather, shouldn’t try to ‘solve’ the issue rather, it aims to spark discussions about the quality of life in public housing and offer an architectural approach, broadening consciousness through a proposal that ironically looks to the past for answers, and perhaps may even begin to pivot the very function of a spatial designer working with architectural solutions.
Density in Hong Kong and its people have a weird relationship. To the foreign eye, it’s the evil progenitor of unsanitary elements within the society; The loudness of the language, the dripping air-conditioning units that make the sidewalk an inevitable trap for any white shoe, the impression of it that makes you reject the older, poorer parts of Hong Kong that have yet to be transformed into the city of Tron, even most of the city resembles Blade Runner already. It is indeed true that the pace of the city demands adaptation, and density is part of that adaptationwith convenience and walkability of the city being part of its appeal to many people. One of the densest cities in the world, Hong Kong is one of the most densely populated countries in the world and has a population density of 17,311 people per square mile (6,659 people per square kilometer)5 , and the buildings, as a result, are also dense. At every corner, on every street, lined along main roads, fitted into small and big gaps alike - there is always a place for something, whether it be stalls of local traditional food carts, newspaper stands selling food and cigarettes for the average rush hour businessman on his one hour break, who had to traverse and swerve through masses of people and countless twists and turns to get to his usual lunch place. Yet this imagery is the common lifestyle in Hong Kong. Photographer Michael Wolf has documented how prominent this scheme is in Hong Kong in his photo book “Architecture of Density” where various typologies of HK public housing are captured in all their dense glory. However, what is not present through the gaps and the lines of dense building blocks and junctions and streets, avenues, and roads, is the humanity that seeps through the gaps. As a result, there are a lot of pockets of potential that can be found dormant and can work as a clue to the housing crisis. Density, as such, is not considered an adversary, it is something we Hongkongers know very well and accept as part of our lifestyle. In Nicole Cullinan’s blog entry, she frames intimacy through the lens of her own home, “The intimacy of that space is forever etched in my memory, unable to be removed by time.”6, where similarly in HK this theme need not be proven, but more felt - as a direct result of the ultra-dense urban planning. In the modern context, however, this is only a flicker of nostalgia sought after by locals, as design, or rather, freedom to, and legislation are locked in an eternal struggle. What is deemed “illegal” by the government represents the livelihoods, freedom, and culture of people - uncontained by the precise plans submitted for layers of approval, but free and intimate, containing years of memories that are deeply embedded in our historical culture.
5 Hong Kong Population Review (2024) ‘Hong Kong population 2024’, World Population Review. Available at: https://worldpopulationreview.com/countries/hong-kong (Accessed: 16 February 2025)
6 Cullinan, N. (2019) ‘The intimacy of architecture’, Nicole Cullinan Blog, 31 March. Available at: https://nicolecullinan.com/2019/03/31/the-intimacy-of-architecture/ (Accessed: 16 February 2025)
7 Arena Journal of Architectural Research (2023) The intimacy of architecture. Available at: https://ajar.arena-architecture.eu/articles/10.5334/ajar.231 (Accessed: 16 February 2025)
In recent years “streetscape of Hong Kong has been cleared of most of its illegal façade structures, including its iconic street signs and neon billboards. As a consequence, the semiotic richness and immaterial heritage value that once reflected the dynamics of local businesses, collective memories and popular crafts has disappeared from what is now an increasingly sanitised urban landscape.”7 Such arguments for intimacy and inclusive design are now squandered by the clamping of law and demands reflection of what “good design” in Hong Kong means. Albeit, sanitization is always necessary for our living standards, as are adequate lighting, airflow, and open space - I believe Intimacy is what my project should advocate for, a fragment of the past that celebrates all the qualities and cultures ingrained in Hong Kong’s DNA. Both things can exist at the same time, and as an emerging spatial practitioner seeking to improve the livelihood of Hong Kong and rejuvenate the streetscapes; an understanding of the relationship between intimacy and density is unavoidable. The subsequent curation of images attempts to illustrate how density, small spaces, and a massive population form a cohesive, functional environment that is compounded together in an unlikely moment, creating in architecture what could only be described as intimacy.
6.
The essence that underpins this project going forward is the element of Anarchism. Through early Unit 5, exploration through a multi-species lens brought me to discover the characteristics of local foxes in my London home, near Camden. Further exploration and documentation led to research on how they burrow, navigate, and trespass among boroughs, back gardens, and even “live in sky-scrapers”8. A giant school of thought that can be derived from these elements is the anarchist think. During the early stages of Unit 5, I crafted an investigation into fox burrows, through a 1mx1m wooden dowel frame that aimed to empower those to instantly erect a shelter, or stool or sorts. This was taken from the Segal Method formed by English Architect Walter Segal, and is personified in his Lewisham project in London “Nestled among trees on a hillside, the 13 half-timbered boxes are routinely mistaken for prefabs, an artists’ colony”9. The Segal method greatly simplified the notion of construction and architecture, creating accessibility, and also fostering creativity; laymen and those out of the industry often see design in different, and perhaps, less rigid and prescribed ways having less exposure than those who study it. The beauty of this initial Unit 5 exploration is how all of these different components come together to create a mindmap for me, in preparation for my brief writing. It is here we can begin to see the intricacies between intimacy, and the Segal method (whereby we will now term it as the anarchist approach moving on). Historically, Anarchism has touched architecture in substantial ways. Just as the freedom to think and design in all contexts is crucial for critical thinking and development of architecture (even more than ever applicable in my context in HK) - the very basis of this critical thinking is justice, for nostalgia, intimacy, and themes of designing for humanities and not economies; “in imagining a better way to be and do, inherently criticizes and undermines the dominant social order.”¹0 My take on this - Social order is although necessary to an extent where the general order of things can be observed, other things shouldn’t be limited by the propaganda of lawmakers. This is not to attack the authorities in any way, but to question how our cities could grow organically with its people, and not with its finances. Extensively, cities shouldn’t have an overwhelming amount of glass buildings, clean malls, or pristine floors. These are products of capitalism, and don’t necessarily reflect the needs of the people, and far away from representing the culture of any city. “In Valencia, the CNT organized the orange industry, with 270 committees in different towns and villages for growing, purchasing, packing, and exporting; in the process, they got rid of several thousand middlemen.”¹¹ One excerpt from 'The Anarchist Library' demonstrates the same situation which is causing the rise of Subdivided units, the source of this project’s inspiration - and this need for profit will always persist, in architecture, in any industry, as it’s basic human nature. As such, by expediting the design process and giving power to the residents themselves, is it not a constructive way to educate people about design? Does it not make everyone designers, and by extension, does it not allow them to come together as a community to create something that they can own, and personalise - who are we, as spatial practitioners on the outside, to flatly give them what they need, and how do we even know? These questions are essential to the justification of this project - and the need for anarchism in housing design, and sets the tone for Unit 6, where the design work will begin for this project.
8 BBC News (2011) ‘Squatters evicted from London council house’, BBC News, 26 February. Available at: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-london-12573364 (Accessed: 16 February 2025)
9 The Guardian (2015) ‘Anarchism, community and self-build: Walter Segal’s south London estate’, The Guardian, 16 September. Available at: https://www.theguardian.com/cities/2015/sep/16/anarchism-community-walter-segal-self-build-south-london-estate (Accessed: 16 February 2025)
¹0 JHU Muse (2022) ‘Hong Kong housing crisis and urban development’, Project Muse. Available at: https://muse.jhu.edu/pub/2/article/863205/pdf (Accessed: 16 February 2025)
¹¹ The Anarchist Library (n.d.) Anarchy works, by Peter Gelderloos. Available at: https://theanarchistlibrary.org/library/peter-gelderloos-anarchy-works#toc31 (Accessed: 16 February 2025)
The Kowloon Walled City(九龍寨城) is one of the prime examples in Hong Kong that binds Anarchism and Architecture. It on one hand a symbol of the then resistance against prescribed government architecture, helping us understand how governmental disinterest can lead to the emergence of and struggle for a more distinct identity; one that fosters a tight knit community through intimate streets, personalised architectural elements as well as many community-built and consented common areas, containing a struggle for space and independence within a repressive order that is more relevant now than ever. Locals of the Walled City demonstrated how the design and site constraints encouraged the occupants to grow together, developing relationships - both with each other, and the density that grew with them. Because of the proximity of families and facilities in Walled City, locals were forced to share common spaces such as sitting rooms and kitchens. The apartments were physically divided further into subdivisions, which is uncommon in today’s subdivided design, with today’s planning conditions even harsher than then, as the Walled City was an unregulated and un-governed complex. These shared facilities possessed that element of intimacy where life events took place among all the people in the complex, and cultures provided services to the residents. Although there are no direct plans or clear images to be found of the late project - “the walled city demolishment commenced in 1993, and lasted one year” . ¹²
I believe this to be the ultimate precedent, and echoes back to how this project looks back into the past for answers. Even though this was a demolished precedent, its teachings and tales are well-known and well documented through loose pictures, testimonies and nostalgic remarks of many Hong Kong locals from a range of generations. Many of the younger residents have now moved on to become adults, living freely out of the “city of darkness”, forming families, new bonds and sharing new communal spaces. It is no doubt a horrible example when it comes to circulation, architectural systems (pipes, electricity, refuse flow), lighting, airflow, etc. But these aspects, along with architecture and spatial design have come a long way 2 and a half decades later, “This was an anarchist society, self-regulating and self-determining. It was a colony within a colony, a city within a city, a tiny block of territory at once contested and neglected.” I believe this is a necessary “evil” in today’s world, not a rebellion, but a shared truth that architecture and space in its purest form was ungoverned, wild, and anarchist; where neanderthals would come together to build shelters from wood and stone and string, to hide behind mountains and in caves, we have rooms and walls that form them, and the walled city was a combination of both rooms, and metaphorical mountains. It was dark, but it had depth, it had flowing life and most importantly, all of it was built from the blood and sweat of its residents: the ultimate enclave of anarchist architecture.
18. Street vendor
19. Exterior of walled city, lined with shops and local businesses
20. Rooftops, the only source of light and fresh open air
Moving forward, this project will continue in Unit 6 by undergoing a series of interviews with past-residents of the walled city and their descendants. Plans, sections, and photographs will be documented and examined holistically as a case study through an anarchist lens - picking out elements of self-build structure (initially explored in the technical enquiry document), aspects of intimacy such as plans of shops and its relationships to nearby flats and home layouts: how were individual ‘streets’ formed within a cluster of blocks?. Policy, will also be briefly touched upon although not the main scope of the project, but equally important exploring the way locals ‘organised’ power and ‘authority’ within the walled city. Circling back to Chapter 1, it’s impossible to overlook this aspect of monopolisation of power and authority, as it undermines the entire meaning of this project by placing a head of power within this project, even if it be a theoretical one. We can now understand that ‘multi-species’ need not be limited to natural ‘species’, but can describe relationships between schools of thought, people, and spatial design. Just as different conditions foster different ecologies and settings for different life, philosophy and design can do the same, completely altering the intention, direction and agenda of spaces conceived. One of the challenges of this project will no doubt be how partial, if not ‘true’ anarchism can be achieved, without allowing monopoly to occur within today’s setting where flatowners have power to increase rent indefinitely and tenants have no other option but to pay or live on the streets. What kind of policies can be put into place to allow an honest monetary circulation within the project, empowering locals to develop their own brands and businesses without being oppressed by infinite inflation?
My proposal chooses Hong Kong as the place of interest. While the exact site is not confirmed, there are 2 possible locations that this project can land in; Central, or Mong Kok. Both share rich history, yet opposites. The selected site in the central district will work with infrastructure and an unforgiving topography that divides socially, the historical rich and the working class, a global problem that is apparently very exacerbated in just one district. Shops are lined across streets, capitalism personified - yet there is a lack of identity and a strong sense of detachment with those dwelling in the area what makes this district different from any other shopping area? To tackle this site, I hypothesize re-imagining existing blocks and shop spaces as subdivided units, working within a scale of 4 blocks less) to maintain focus. These units will apply knowledge from unit 5 explorations and early case studies in Unit 6 to formulate improvements to the ‘typical’ sub-divided units, weaving together shops spaces and communal areas to create a truly anarchist and social housing project.
In Mong Kok, similar issues of hyper-capitalism but less so about the justice of the wage gap, but dealing with different demographics, ranging from teenagers to triads, to park walkers, and common basketball players. A mix of these different groups will demand different communal areas; in comparison to Central, Mong Kok is inherently a much tighter space to work with, and semi-private spaces are unavoidable (and I think should not be avoided, as it’s not up to me entirely to decide whether there should be intimacy between tenants-others). However, Mong Kok houses a great number of already existing Subdivided units, which means that re-imagining of spaces is not necessary, although improvements can always be made with similar findings from Unit 5. Both possible sites aim for the same proposal: a subdivided housing project that spans no more than 4 blocks, working with existing, and pockets of space to create an anarchist complex, or a This project will directly address the housing crisis problem on an architectural scale of improper use of space and design that create undesirable conditions, as well as offering social justice to those unfortunate to continue to bear the inflation prices and decreasing salary to poor economies.
Figure 21. Initial excercise, working with site conditions 22. Site
The unique part of this project is that it’s designed to be finished by tenants. The technical enquiry in Unit 5 is planned to cover part of it’s feasibility and technical potential to be built, and I foresee the project to develop methods similar to Segal’s that allow tenants to personalise their own homes by finishing their floors, furniture, and as far as deciding the placement of walls in conjunction with other tenants. There should however be an engineered perspective provided by me, designing the massing, skeleton structure and how addictive elements rest on existing buildings, and whether subsequent integrity would be hypothetically sound. Following the planned interviews in Unit 6, there will be a semi-collaborative process with sub-divided unit tenants, using the interviews as a tool to design the room skeletons, and communal areas. This may also include policy as part of the DNA of the project, underpinning the necessity of other elements outside of spatial design.The final review deliverables may present imagined furnished homes after they have been finished by the tenants themselves, while some plans could present fully developed communal areas and potential massings for units to be designed and furnished by tenants.
For the reader - I must remind you that this project can’t solve all of this, nor can it provide answers for even half of them in hypothesis. As I grow with my journey in architecture, a discipline I've pursued since 5, I see that design, no matter how articulate and backed with theory and gestures, cannot exist without the activation of its purpose - to hold people who can be contained in them to experience it. Today’s world of design has nothing wrong with it. There are safer ways to design, with less controversy and can be easily designed for approval - but what is design without challenge, and conflict? I believe this project will help to ignite that long overdue debate about the role of architecture and architects as a whole discipline; how can we really benefit the world with our minds? This, in all it’s anarchist glory or lack thereof - is what spatial practices is about.
* I think the theology behind “S,M,L,XL” by Rem Koolhaas & Bruce Mau is a good place to start. I read into it during bachelors and after the initial visit with the URA I think organising my upcoming design through these different scales can be a good start. Density can also be considered in different scales - the city, the building, the floor, and the room. Furniture design with the URA really highlighted the need for space and flexibility within a plan, opening up ideas about modular furniture, and modular plans that don’t have ever a permanence to them. Starting with S, which could represent furniture, M walls, L room placement and communal areas, and XL representing the overall agenda of these design components that make up a “block”. This principle could be applied repeatedly for 4
* different blocks to create an even more overwhelming effect.
In Unit 4, mapping strategies dealing with lens of density, human behaviour and architectural positioning strategies were big takeaways in which I have documented in my Knowledge Exchange report. I think I can use these as a way to effectively plan out entrances, massing strategies, and communal areastools that I otherwise wouldn’t rely on so much if it weren’t for a valuable exploration into using people mapping and software to design.
References
Cullinan, N. (2019) ‘The intimacy of architecture’ , *Nicole Cullinan Blog*, 31 March. Available at: [https://nicolecullinan.com/2019/03/31/the-intimacy-of-architecture/](https://nicolecullinan.com/2019/03/31/the-intimacy-of-architecture/) (Accessed: 16 February 2025)
Arena Journal of Architectural Research (2023) *The intimacy of architecture*. Available at: [https://ajar.arena-architecture.eu/articles/10.5334/ajar.231](https://ajar.arena-architecture.eu/articles/10.5334/ajar.231) (Accessed: 16 February 2025)
GovHK (2023) ‘LCQ4: Housing supply’ , *Hong Kong Government News*, 29 March. Available at: [https://www.info.gov.hk/gia/general/202303/29/P2023032900422.htm](https://www.info.gov.hk/gia/general/202303/29/P20230329 00422.htm) (Accessed: 16 February 2025).
BBC News (2011) ‘Squatters evicted from London council house’ , *BBC News*, 26 February. Available at: [https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-london-12573364](https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-london-12573364) (Accessed: 16 February 2025)
South China Morning Post (2018) ‘Almost 1,000 idle spaces can be converted for public housing’ , *SCMP*, 18 October. Available at: [https://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/society/article/2169160/almost-1000-idle-spaces-can-be-converted-use-public-housing](https://www.scmp.c om/news/hong-kong/society/article/2169160/almost-1000-idle-spaces-can-be-converted-use-pu blic-housing) (Accessed: 16 February 2025)
Straits Times (2024) ‘New World debt turmoil rocks one of Hong Kong’s richest families’ , *The Straits Times*, 19 February. Available at: [https://www.straitstimes.com/business/property/new-world-debt-turmoil-rocks-one-of-hong-kongs-richest-families](https://www.straitstimes.c om/business/property/new-world-debt-turmoil-rocks-one-of-hong-kongs-richest-families) (Accessed: 16 February 2025)
The Guardian (2015) ‘Anarchism, community and self-build: Walter Segal’s south London estate’ , *The Guardian*, 16 September. Available at: [https://www.theguardian.com/cities/2015/sep/16/anarchism-community-walter-segal-self-build-south-london-estate](https://www.theguardian.com/cities/2015/se p/16/anarchism-community-walter-segal-self-build-south-london-estate) (Accessed: 16 February 2025).
Global Property Guide (2024) ‘Hong Kong property prices per square metre’ , *Global Property Guide*. Available at: [https://www.globalpropertyguide.com/asia/hong-kong/square-meter-prices](https://www.globalpropertyguide.com/asia/hong-kong/squar e-meter-prices) (Accessed: 16 February 2025)
Hong Kong Population Review (2024) ‘Hong Kong population 2024’ , *World Population Review* Available at: [https://worldpopulationreview.com/countries/hong-kong](https://worldpopulationreview.com/countries/hong-kong) (Accessed: 16 February 2025)
JHU Muse (2022) ‘Hong Kong housing crisis and urban development’ , *Project Muse*. Available at: [https://muse.jhu.edu/pub/2/article/863205/pdf](https://muse.jhu.edu/pub/2/article/863205/pdf) (Accessed: 16 February 2025)
The Anarchist Library (n.d.) *Anarchy works*, by Peter Gelderloos. Available at: [https://theanarchistlibrary.org/library/peter-gelderloos-anarchy-works#toc31](https://theanarchistlibrary.org/library/peter-gelderloos-anarchy-works#toc31) (Accessed: 16 February 2025).
Atlas Obscura (n.d.) ‘Kowloon Walled City: The city of darkness’ , *Atlas Obscura*. Available at: [https://www.atlasobscura.com/articles/kowloon-walled-city](https://www.atlasobscura.com/articles/kowloon-walled-city) (Accessed: 16 February 2025)