Thicken the Balcony - A new model for Hong Kong old residential buildings redevelopment

Abstract

" We never see the existing as a problem. We look with positive eyes because there is an opportunity of doing more with what we already have." -- Lacaton & Vassal. Hong Kong, as an innovative city, has been actively promoting urban development. However, a large number of residential buildings from the last century have been left behind in the urban renewal, gradually become an obstacle to urban development. These buildings are often in disrepair, their spatial environments have not adapted to the needs of modern life, and it creates many legal and property rights issues. It also negatively affect residents’ quality of life, making residents expand their private platforms without the permission of the government. The old buildings in Hong Kong is hard to dismantled, and the narrow space does not allow a large number of transformations. Based on the extension idea of Grand Parc Apartment renovation, this thesis think about ways to regenerate old buildings beyond the simple extending through addition. Thus, this thesis attempts to propose a new balcony system based on the original site building, that continues the overflow expansion requirements of more outdoor and living space by residents. On the one hand, it cut out new voids from the building, creating an improved living environment. Meanwhile, it extends the balconies and transformed the single-function exterior wall into a thicker, programmatic space that offers more living and communal activities. By doing so, a new model is created to provide different degrees and levels of community, privacy, and public connection to become a brand-new social structure and opportunity of housing type, transforming an old residential building into a new dynamic community pattern that advances together with the city.