ARCH5110/6110E
Advanced Architectural Design Studio I & II – Organised Complexity
Target Students MArch1, MArch2
Course Term 1 & 2
Course Type Required
Venue Studio
Teacher(s) WANG, Zhenfei
This studio will focus on designing innovative public housing complexes in HK for better living. A highly complex high-density public housing design is the expected output. Theories from related fields will be involved to inspire innovative ideas. Rule-based design methodology will be applied to make the design more objective and hopefully achieve unexpected results. The architecture complex should not only concern design issues like the program, spatial quality, etc. but also include technical issues such as structure system, construction method, materiality, tectonic issues, and so on. The studio is looking for a highly complex and integrated architectural proposal with high resolution on different aspects.
Limited by the economy, most of the current public housing typology is still more focused on basic issues like efficiency, land uses, etc. The public housing lacks public spaces with good quality. Can we deal with the land issues differently? What will happen if we can use the space above the existing buildings? Can we build faster, cheaper, and better? Can we formulate better public spaces to improve the living quality? To make something innovative, creatively connecting the theories from various fields to architecture design is crucial. The following theories from related fields could be involved in different stages of the studio and be applied to different aspects of the project.
Quite a lot of research has been done related to public housing, and many aspects have been studied such as building typology, land use, energy efficiency, construction method, etc. Lots of proposals have been made with innovative ideas. New computational tools are also involved in many of the research. There are many examples of built high-density public housing in HK, if we take a look at the history, we can find many public housing typologies existed in different periods. For example, the old slab, single tower, Trident 1,2,3,4. Lots of public housing projects built by the MIC system are on their way (https://mic.cic.hk/tc/Home). Students should take an in-depth look at the relevant research and practices, find their points of innovation, and try to develop new typologies that work better for today and the future.
The current debates about housing are mainly about efficiency, land use, safety, waiting time, etc. The “light public housing” scheme raised by the government to build temporary public housing to shorten the waiting time attracted lots of discussion. The use of the Modular Integrated Construction (MIC) method in public housing to build faster, safer, and better is also a trend and hotspot of discussion. Some scholars complain due to many reasons the space quality of the current public housing is worse than in the 1950s……So, can we do better? The learning process involves new knowledge from various fields, the design process takes time, energy, and passion. Students are required to be fully engaged in the project to unleash their greatest potential.
