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Connecting Contexts

2017

Status︎︎︎Research
Location︎︎︎Fanling North, Hong Kong
Size︎︎︎ 30.000 m2
Program︎︎︎ library, wet-market, municipal offices & operation, gymnasium, lecture & multipurpose-hall, food corners
Contributors︎︎︎ Patrick Hwang, Stefano Milani, Michiel Riedijk
Published︎︎︎ Archreporter.com,  The Projective Archive

The proposal for the studio is a reinterpretation of the Municipal Services Building (MSB) typology. An all-in-one public building which serves the needs of the city. The essence of the MSB is its hybrid nature in which it complies to the demands of the city; with functions such as a wet-market and cooked-food stalls, a library, a gymnasium and other. Despite its public prominence, the MSB is highly overlooked.

The site is located in the New Development Area (NDA) in the Northeast New Territories (NENT) of Hong Kong, at the intersection between the city of Fanling and the farmland, providing a bipolarity field of forces: in-between rural and urban enclaves of constituency groups positioned at close proximity. Notwithstanding this exceptional characteristic of the place, government planning for the NDA follows prototypical Hong Kong development guided primarily through the approach of tabula rasa, real estate dominance, economic prioritization and infrastructural efficiency, such that the productive tension emanating from the conflicting forces will be eradicated once the development is realized.

The structure embeds itself among the two contexts, becoming a bridge between the two communities. The public plaza is where the two paths meet. The programme is organised along a spine which dictates the main circulation of the bridge. The project plays a bigger role than just a connector or a path leading to something else. It’s a destination.

Connecting Contexts

2017

Status︎︎︎Research
Location︎︎︎Fanling North, Hong Kong
Size︎︎︎ 30.000 m2
Program︎︎︎ library, wet-market, municipal offices & operation, gymnasium, lecture & multipurpose-hall, food corners
Contributors︎︎︎ Patrick Hwang, Stefano Milani, Michiel Riedijk
Published︎︎︎ Archreporter.com,  The Projective Archive