The proposal offers a new affordable, diverse and self-sustaining housing for the residents of Hong Kong through the reactivation of abandoned sites.

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Hong Kong had more than 1000 hectares of brownfield in 2015, whereby 20% of the land lie vacant due to the migration of the industry across the border to Mainland China over the past decade. Since every inch of land matters in Hong Kong, we explored the possibility of building on brownfield while up-cycling abandoned containers into habitable units. The proposal is sited at a piece of brownfield land in Tin Shui Wai and intends to extend the street life from the MTR station and its surround into the building.

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Most of Hong Kong residents live in tiny spaces, and thus spend most of their non-sleeping hours outside. The tendency to spend time out of their homes results in creative and vibrant ways of utilizing the streets and staircase. Drawing inspiration from the staircase life in Hong Kong, the proposal intends to bring the vibrant street life into the building, allowing residents to occupy communal and commercial spaces along the staircase with proximity to their homes.

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The floor plan differs from a typical efficient floor plan where the communal corridors are merely for circulation purposes. In this proposal, the lift lobby, which is the in between spaces among units, acts as a communal living space for the residents. During the night, when a larger private space is required, units can be extended into their communal living spaces.

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By sharing the staircases, the commercial spaces, and the in-between spaces. the vertical self-sustaining community would be encouraged to share resources, ideas, knowledge, skills, and time.