Infrastructural Movements
The studio considered issues of the public realm and mobility in the context of aging infrastructures, climate change and the imaginations that architecture puts forward for how it can contribute to these complex issues. Students designed for a site that is a remnant of the ongoing machine-centric era of cities; rather than demolish and start anew they were tasked with re-purposing an existing infrastructure to consider how it could contribute to the city in new and unexpected ways, forecasting a different kind of social realm for the future city.
The studio worked through a collaboration with choreography to put movement at the center of the design question. How do we move through the city? How do differently abled people get around? How can the public realm afford different possibilities for appropriation? We had the opportunity to collaborate with Leila McMillan and her students at the Hong Kong Academy of Performing Arts over a one-month long period which resulted in a choreography and film with the Ramsey Street Parking Garage as a site for their intervention. This experience informed how students then conceived and designed their own architectural work with the site.
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Xiao Yuyang Joel transformed the garage into gallery floors and a swimming club on the roof. Huang Yewei Matt created an annex for the M+ Museum on the other side of Victoria Harbor; a ferry system connected the two sites. Wang Xishuo Ann imagined a night-club at the heart of the old garage. Chan Yong Heng Catherine developed a skate park a new infrastructural connection along the water. Zhuang Peida Chris created a sports facility and running track that stitched together the adjacent buildings. Wong Tsz Hing Billy created a civic center with spaces for art and performance. Ho Long Fung Marcus installed a new municipal building. Li Zhiting Jasmine imagined an urban farm for the neighbourhood. Luo Xin Austin demolished one half of the building to create taxi museum. Zhu Yaqin June created a new center for dance. And Chen Mo Zoey slit the building in two to create a new connection to the harbor and an entrance for a cultural center in the repurposed parking structure.