LSA Home & Mobility workshop: PLINTHS

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Text reading Plinths in a rectilinear font on a graduated blue background

Recently organised by the Liverpool School of Architecture, with the partnership of Hong Kong University and Mei Ho House, this 7-day long, Hong Kong-based international housing workshop focused on post-war, high-density housing estates with integrated plinths.

Due to their high density, composite form, mixed programmes and complex internal circulation, these estates can be interpreted as cities within cities, producing their own urbanity. As a result of shifts in urban transportation, car use and regulation, the plinths’ original purpose is under transformation, and their adaptation for future scenarios must be reimagined.

Outside view of several tower blocks surrounding a square.

The workshop looked at these podium structures as core infrastructures, which organise the daily life of residents by accommodating the transition from the domestic to the public realm. 

Several tower blocks surrounding a square.

Through questioning the podiums’ link to urban transportation, internal circulation and movement of people, goods and services, the workshop reimagined the estate’s relationship to the city of Hong Kong and the life its residents. 

Students and staff sitting round a table reviewing a project projected onto a screen. Behind the screen is a window, a rock face can be seen through it.

Thanks to our guests Kachun Alex Wong (University of Toronto, Hong Kong University) and Junwei Li (Chinese University of Hong Kong).