Architecture Design Year 3 Studio 2023-24 Semester 2, HKU
Studio Title Weather – casted MSB 2.0
Image Credits Kwok Tsz Ki Edith (01-03), Ng Pui Ki (Kiki) (04-07), Law Lok Tung Elyse (08-10), Ho Hang Yu (Cody) (11-13), Chan Cheuk Tung (Kimberly) (14-16), Chan Ying Yee (Abby) (17-18)

Course Description

Weather

Architecture is obliged to stay intact and permanent after its completion, and continuously resist the forces of nature and shelter people from extreme weather. However the strength and integrity of architecture is constantly weaken under the weather and this process is irresistible and irreversible. Instead of fighting against this insuperable battle, could architecture submits, embraces and grows with it? Could the process of weakening be transformed into one that is able to strengthen, enrich and prolong the symbiotic relationship between architecture and nature? After all, Architecture and weather are indivisible entities that inhabit each other. Weather casts architecture, and architecture grows from within.

MSB

Municipal Service Building (MSB) is a unique building type in Hong Kong which vertically accommodates a diverse mix of public programs often including wet markets, performance venues, libraries, recreational facilities and hot food centers. On one hand the diverse program mix nurtures chaotic yet vibrant activities to some degrees, on the other hand the rigid structural configuration, the clear-cut programmatic distribution, and the strict management control over-govern how occupants use the buildings. For the recent years the role of MSB has been diminishing as various new forms and operations of institutional, commercial and recreational programs emerge to cater for the changing need of the community. The MSBs seem no longer be a favorable public places for citizens to gather and commune. Since the early 2000s the HKSAR Government has stopped developing MSB. Many MSBs are currently under-utilized and their presence in the city is deteriorating. Whether MSB is still valid and relevant for our future, and whether there are ways to rethink and redefine the future role of MSB become the imminent questions for us.

Agenda

This studio seeks for the design of Weather-casted MSB, which:

• redefines its own role as public places to catalyze new forms of vibrant city life;
• nurtures growth of nature in a highly congested and dense urban environment;
• rethinks the role of owner, operator, builder, user and maintainer;
• searches for weakness, chaos and deficiency in structure/circulation/envelope as design potential;
• embraces weather as a driver to disrupt the rigid structural order and hierarchy – “weak” structure?
• embraces weather as a driver to shuffle and reconfigure circulation – “chaotic” circulation?
• embraces weather as a driver to break the barrier of envelope – “deficient” envelope?
• rethinks the relationship between permanent and temporary, static and dynamic, order and disorder, programmed and unprogrammed, sheltered and exposed, indoor and outdoor.

Instead of perceiving weakness, chaos and deficiency as mere negativity, this studio challenges students to observe, analyze and speculate on the strength of being weak, chaotic and deficient. Through an intensive process of drawing and model making, students are encouraged to contemplate how the vulnerability of architecture and permeability of nature could become the primary design drivers in shaping forms and spaces that interact creatively with the vivaciousness of weather. The weakness, discrepancy and instability of materials discovered during the process of making are captured and seen as design potential rather than limitation.