Christiane Lange and Susanne Trumpf have published an article on the Hong Kong Urban Council Buildings in MONU #21: Interior Urbanism. Read a short introduction below and find more information on the magazines’ website.
The Development of the Urban Council Building OR A Story of Decreasing Civic Foot Print in Hong Kong
The Urban Council Building is a unique typology in Hong Kong. The dense generic super block is stacked with potentially incompatible civic programs: wet markets and libraries; sport facilities and waste collection centers; government offices and cooked food centers. Arrived from the notion of both the Chinese Street market and the Western housed market, the building provides necessary goods and services in local neighborhoods in Hong Kong embedding the practicalities of everyday life. It is the story of Koolhaas’ Downtown Athletic Club of the ordinary – the place where the local go for food, leisure and community facilities, rather than for oysters and spa – and a story of the decreasing civic foot print in Hong Kong.
images: Christiane Lange
