V Causeway Bay, Causeway Bay, Hong Kong
Winner: Index Architecture Ltd.
Award: Merit Award for Interior Design

Urban Density: Density and Compactness are like Siamese Twins.
Density: The project is located in the heart of Causeway Bay, one of the most densely populated areas in the world. The client requested to build a 16 storey serviced apartment with over 135 units. By simple calculations, there will be around 8 to 9 units per floor and the average room size will range from 15SM to 30SM.

Compactness: The project investigates the idea on individuality within collective livings. Given these compact living conditions, we proposed over 53 variations on layout and design for all 135 units. Far from any typical cookie-cutting hotel rooms, there is no TYPICAL room in this project. All units fit like a game of TETRIS within a straight forward post and beam concrete structural system. The arrangement of such design is that we will be able to place units with semi outdoor balconies at locations to animate the facade to achieve maximum marketing effects. We have designed multi-functional cabinetry which houses a TV, an ironing board, a washer/dryer, a writing desk, along with all the typical kitchen equipment such as microwave, cooking range and hood, and refrigerator. The spatial design for the unit is responsive to the forever changing needs of the occupants. We believe the future occupants of the serviced apartment will constantly refine and re(de)fined the spatial characteristic to accommodate their individual needs. Our role is to provide them with maximum possibilities.

Epilogue: The underlying premise of the book “1587, A Year of No Significance” is that a series of seemingly unconnected events happened in the late Ming court period intrinsically led to the humiliated defeat of the Chinese in the Opium War some 300 years after. The “micro” provided hints on the yet-to-come “macro.” Architecture holds a similar cyclical relationship between the Micro and the Macro. In this project we argue that the Fabrics of Urbanity(the macro) could be redefined through rethinking the immediate living conditions of an individual (the micro). The result is not unlike the lasting impact of the individual living cell of the Couvent de la Tourette by Le Corbusier.

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