ARCH5110/6110F
Advanced Architectural Design Studio I & II – People, Weather, Material, Place
Target Students MArch1, MArch2
Course Term 1 & 2
Course Type Required
Venue Studio
Teacher(s) COMER, Fergus
In this course we will seek a sustainable and innovative response to the complex challenges of designing bespoke and beautiful architecture within Hong Kong’s built-up urban context, particularly hyper-density, climate control, and the minimisation of non-renewable material usage and waste.
On density, the urban area of Hong Kong has the highest population and employment density in the world. Measured at block level, some areas may have population densities of more than 400,000 people per square kilometre. High density does not necessarily lead to a perception of crowding or stress, with Jane Jacobs just one advocate for the importance of higher densities for a city’s vitality, and surveys of Hong Kong residents not finding overcrowding as a particular area of concern. Robert Mitchell found that stress in Hong Kong may be more likely due to inadequate income or forced social interaction between non-relatives in shared flats than density itself. What role can we as architects have in identifying and alleviating the stresses that occur in Hong Kong’s households?
On climate, an architectural design can be considered as a series of interconnected systems that welcome, resist and repel. In 1955 Walter Gropius said ‘True regional character cannot be found through a sentimental or imitative approach….But if you take…the basic difference imposed on architectural design by the climatic conditions....you will realize what diversity of expression can result from this fact alone.’ The particular and intensifying climatic conditions in Hong Kong, including the hottest temperatures on record in July 2022 and the strongest recorded winds on record during Super Typhoon Saola in September 2023, require a very firm structure and usually involve an unsustainable climate control system. How can we as architects create sustainable, comfortable and uplifting buildings in these conditions?
On material and waste, Hong Kong continues to be highly wasteful in its construction and consumption patterns. Over the last 100 years a series of architects have strived for lightweight and efficient hybrids of structure and finish that could help to address this, from Mies’s ‘Less is More’ to Corbusier’s Domino to Candela and Dieste’s concrete and brick shells to Fuller’s tensegrity to Otto’s tents to Archigram’s floats to Tai O’s stilts to Kurokawa’s capsules to Future Systems monocoque to Selgascano’s pavilions to Lacaton&Vassal’s additions. Can a lightweight hybrid offer a sustainable alternative and material efficiency within a densely built-up urban area in Hong Kong? Can the approach be additive rather than destructive, as a form or adaptive re-use? Can the building materials be compostable?
