Architecture Design Year 3 Studio 2020-21 Semester 2, HKU
Studio Title MSB
Image Credits Cheung Cheuk Lam (Cathy) (01-03), Bao Yuchen (Jennie) (04-07), Luo Bing (08-10)

Course Description

This studio challenges students to observe, analyze and speculate the past, present and future of municipal service building (MSB), a unique building type in Hong Kong which vertically accommodates a diverse mix of public programs often including wet market, performance venue, library, recreational facilities and hot food center. For the recent years the role of these MSB in Hong Kong has been diminishing as various new forms and operations of public and commercial programs emerge to cater for the changing need of the community.  Apparently the government has stopped developing this building type for more than a decade.

Stage 1 of the project consists of the study on 18 existing MSB buildings which are categorized with three specific site conditions: i) Edge/Island; ii) Sectional/Mountain; iii) Inner/Dense. Students in group of three or four are required to conduct their investigations on the issues of urban context, structure, circulation and programs of the existing MSB.  The research outcome of stage 1 forms the basis for the individual design task at stage 2 – a maximum 3000 square meter of additional space for the existing MSB. Through various ways of architecturally intervening with the existing MSB, students are expected to reinterpret and transform this building type and speculate the future role of civic building at large.