In this article, we continue our series on Competitions.archi, presenting a collection of articles on different architectural competitions. Today, we will be featuring the winner of the Green Tower Hong Kong Competition – an article from Architecture Competitions Yearbook 2023.
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The density of Hong Kong impresses in a context where its identity is so particular. Building in this narrow space is a real challenge, due to island geographic location, jammed between the sea and the mountains. Any available space is used profitably by superposition, according to the “podium” principle. An urbanistic concept which confines the public space in an “ interior base” for housing skyscrapers. These podiums, disconnected from the street, multiply themselves very quickly at the risk of deleting public space… Because of the lack of space, Hong Kong is also faced with one of the greatest challenges : food. How can we feed ourselves and produce food in an area where every available space is being urbanized to meet the increasing demand of housing? New vertical farms are emerging in Hong Kong to fight food insecurity. The aim of the competition was to design one of them.
So, what would be the specificity of our project? How would it be different from the others? From the scale of the city to the human scale, our project aspires to present a skyscraper tower that goes beyond its simple design, and becomes, thanks to a targeted analysis of the context, the support for a wider reflection of density. In this article, we will attempt to explain our research and production process for this competition.
OUR TEAM
We both met when we were studying architecture in Strasbourg. Over the years, we’ve built up a shared knowledge base of architectural complexity and programmatic research. During our studies we each had the opportunity to study architecture from a new perspective, taking separate paths. One of us (Émeline) turned to Helvetic architecture by moving from France to Switzerland, while the other (Claire) went to China to study urban planning in Chinese cities, in particular Shanghai and the city of Harbin. On our way back to France, we have worked together on a number of projects. It was quite natural for us to combine the best of these two experiences, through joint projects that would perfectly combine our backgrounds and architectural vision.
CONTEXT UNDERSTANDING “Density”When we looked at the competition, the subject evoked our previous experiences and hopes. Before imagining the design of the “skyscraper” itself, we were first interested in the city itself. During our initial reflections, we tried to understand the dilemmas and ambiguities that Hong Kong illustrates: its density, identity development and urban planning. We often start with broad lines of thought. The first step is to list these different questions. What are the issues? What is specific about the city? Over time, the scale of thought is refined and becomes more precise, until we find THE key point. Here, it was “Density”. First it appeared as a problem, but we quickly realized that the density of Hong Kong was not the problem to be solved. The goal was not to find a solution to this density, but rather to deal with it and use it as a key element of our project. In the process of making competition, we found it very useful to take a small step back from the initial situation. The competition was finally a pretext to think wide and add an extra dimension to the design. Understand density consequence, including today’s urban challenges (more than ever). All cities must one day be confronted to the density, Hong Kong is a pioneer.
FIND THE RIGHT THEME “Telling a story”
During a competition, it isn’t simple to sum up several weeks’ thoughts into a single title, a short text, and 2 boards… For us, these elements come at the beginning of the process. We don’t see them as a conclusion, but rather as a starting point for the project. It’s a guideline that we’ll keep referring to all the time during the research phase. That’s why our title should explain the starting point of our thinking: IDENTITY AND DENSITY. From these two words, and during the research process, we drew up a drafting plan. This text was then shaped/synthesized until the last moment to answer these 4 questions clearly: What? Why? How? Where? At the same time, we prepare the layout and the number of documents to produce. Each document must have a precise objective, without repeating another one. Therefore, we are quite free to propose the most revealing documents for the message to be communicated. For example, we don’t hesitate to replace a traditional floor plan with an axonometric view, if we feel this is a more relevant choice. In our case, axonometric was more suited to the representation of Hong Kong as a 3D city.
THE PROJECT AS A LINK “In Between”
The competition asked us to choose a site for the skyscraper. We consider this choice as a project itself. For that, we focused on the “boundaries”. Our site had to be located at the intersection of two different environments; social, urban, geographic, whatever… In this way, the project could be an opportunity to create a link and develop around more specific themes linked to the site.
We chose to set up in the Wan Chaï district, which is one of the oldest parts of the city. Paradoxically, it also contains the most recent skyscrapers in Hong Kong’s skyline. Historically a residential and small port district, it is now one of the major financial centers of Hong Kong. The district has a strong dichotomy between the community and the financial economy. This is particularly noticeable in the different types of buildings. The successive urban extensions on the water are materialized by major roads. So, the Wan Chaï district can be divided into two distinct parts. The northern part is mainly financial, with a network of pedestrian bridges. The southern part is still typical, with traditional housing and a strong community life around the streets. However, there is one space area that does not belong to any side. In the middle of this density, in the center of Wan Chaï, there is an urban void: Southorn Playground. A rare and unique public space in Hong Kong. It is here that we have set up our project.
MAKE THE SUBJECT YOUR OWN “Identity”
To ensure that our project resonates on the scale of the site and the city, we reinterpreted and amplified what was already there. The site’s identity. From an urban point of view, the tower becomes the hub of a new cross-cutting public network. It creates a new public layer that connects the Southorn Playground site to the rest of the district, linking the north and south of Wan Chaï. On the central site, this footbridge becomes thicker, offering different levels of public ground in the thickness usually reserved for the “podium”. The design emancipates itself with more freedom, by rethinking an environment that is open to the city. It is capable of expanding in height and depth. The public platform is designed as a thin, flexible surface that does not obstruct movement.
Sport is already present on the site and is a good indicator of the needs of local residents. As well as being public, the new pathway will be enhanced by sports and leisure activities.The footbridge, another urban element specific to Hong Kong, is being reinterpreted. The sports facilities wasn’t asked by the competition, but refers to the site identity and gives a new perspective for the public space in a dense city.
FIND A CONCEPT
Sport is also justified by the association with the green tower’s plant production, and becoming one of the main sources of energy for our “Vertical Farm”. With this new data, we imagine an innovative maintenance system for production, combining different energy sources; and especially Human Energy. So, the human energy generated in the various sports halls is not wasted, but used to regenerate the vegetation that forms the façade of the tower.
The facade of the tower is divided into different layers. Like a plant filter, the tower absorbs the energy of the first façade while serving its core. This first layer purifies the atmosphere, acting as a barrier to pollution. Thanks to the filtration of plants it regulates temperature and humidity levels. The 3rd layer gives ” substance ” to the other two and includes Private Housing and Public Sport Facilities, thanks to the dynamo effect that transforms mechanical energy into electrical energy.
The result is a symbiosis between humans and plants, thanks to physical activity. Indeed, we need plants because they produce the O2 we need to breathe. In return, it absorbs the CO2 we release. There is a reciprocal cycle of respiration and transpiration between humans and plants, making human beings the creators and consumers of their own energy. So we can push the concept to the extreme, by thinking about a self-sufficient community with its own source of food, accommodation and energy, all working in symbiosis.
ONE IDEA, ONE DRAWING
When it comes to analyzing a site or a location, ideas can come from all sides. It’s important for us to prioritize them and be able to illustrate them. Before we even draw the lines of the building, we draw the idea, the concept. We believe that a clear concept should be easy to illustrate and easily understood by a simple drawing or diagram. It’s a method we apply systematically when we’re working on a project. We have to synthesize as much as possible to get back to basics and make the point clear. It may happen that in a complex project the whole project cannot be summed up in a single drawing. In this case, we work layer by layer. We imagine the project as a compilation of several levels, principles and themes. Once assembled, they work together to create the greatness of the project.
For our graphic rendering, we chose not to use a 3D generator to model our tower. On the one hand, we don’t have the skills to properly manage a good 3D rendering program, and on the other hand, we had only a very limited amount of time to carry out the competition. This meant that we couldn’t pretend to represent the design of the skyscraper in its entirety. Therefore, all the documents were produced in 2D, and designed using vector-works software and illustrator. We often decided to draw the elements by hand and compose the different planes of the drawing, as we have done with the big axonometry. Then we always decide what is important to draw and what is not. The advantage of drawing is that you can draw precisely what you want to show. Each line is carefully considered. We think this method is more interesting in the competition process. We can have control over our speech and our image. The software doesn’t generate it for us and doesn’t constrain us too quickly. So we can always change the slightest line, simply and instinctively.
AXONOMETRY: Sense of depth
The 2D drawings, such as plans and cross-sections, can have their limits in terms of representation and communication. To add dimension to our drawings, we use axonometry. On the borderline between plan and 3D rendering, it shows the volume and gives a sense to the drawing. It can be adapted to any scale, and we use it to represent both the city and housing. Axonometric also makes for a more educational presentation, making it easier to compare different things. It has an analytical dimension that makes it easier to understand things from above.
COLLAGE: Texture and materials
We felt it was important to add a little texture, materials and shadow. The imagery around the project is represented through different collages created using Photoshop. Once again, “collage” gives us the freedom to tell our own story. The viewpoints were carefully chosen using hand sketches based on the relationships they show, giving us a neutral base to work from. Sometimes we modeled only the part of the project that we wanted to show, especially to fix the higher and conserve good proportions. Then, the hand-draws of the screen-capture were worked on Photoshop with textures, characters, lights, shadows…
SATURATION: Telling about Density
The layout of the boards has not been random. It is not a question of compiling documents one after the other. We designed our panels as a saturation of documents. In the end, this saturation reflects the imagery of the city of Hong Kong: dense. If you look at the city more closely, you can easily understand it in its entirety. Information comes to us and it’s only when we immerse ourselves in it that the details emerge. That’s how we wanted to design our boards. You just have to get close to it to appreciate the project and understand it. Working carefully on this organization allowed us to make reference to the context of the study and to suggest two scales of reading: a global one and a more specific approach.
MONOCHROMATIC: Linking documents
The monochrome green color is a graphic choice, but also a narrative one. It links the various documents together and tells a story. A bit like a black and white comic book. Green is found in both – the plan and the collages. It refers to the site, to Hong Kong’s dense vegetation, but also to the programme, which required the creation of a vertical farm. This link functions as a red line, in terms of reading as well as aesthetics.
In the end, this sensitive and personal approach through drawing allowed us to try and reach out to the sensibilities of the people we’re talking to and the jury. Everyone can find something in the multitude of lines and draw what evokes their own experience. We want to set the imagination and personal interpretation free. Contrary to a 3D visualization generator, this method allows us to reveal not just what is visible, but also what is perceived and felt.
CONCLUDING THOUGHTS
Our Green Tower attempts to reverse the current situation in a context of food and environmental crisis as well as saturation of space in the center of the historic district of Wan Chai. Between the economic area in the north and the residential area in the south, the project becomes the link between these two opposing and unconnected scales. In response to all these issues, our project is designed to be a network of public spaces and sports facilities that energize the scale of the street. It’s a place where people can meet and exchange ideas. Our vertical farm is positioned at the intersection of these levels. Sport is treated as a method of urban design. By rethinking the design of Hong Kong’s existing structure, we have a new means of production that brings people and vegetation together.
More generally, the sports activities and new public spaces encourage residents and visitors to meet up and make the area their own. By combining the dynamics of sport with those of public space, the project could be a new way of reinvesting the Wan Chaï district, or more globally a dense city in identity and food crisis. In the project, we are proposing new methods of movement and production, where collective relations are becoming more harmonious between people and the neighborhood environment.
Author: Emeline Pierron, Claire Neff from France
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Architecture Competitions Yearbook
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