Comfor:t:able

The Discovery

a journey into the microcosm of SDUs

Hong Kong has more than 90.000 families living in subdivided units (SDU), single room 10 square meter apartments. They are shared on average by 3 people with little to no privacy. Among them are over 37.000 elementary school children between the age of 6 to 13 years. For their daily studies they have to utilize their environment with all its limitations. Spaces and their intended activities have to be shared for multiple purposes. Working, studying, social leisure interactions and eating are just a few scenarios incorporating the table. All of this leads to ergonomic compromises, such as no back support, too low sitting surfaces, too high table plates or crouched corner positions. Children also affect the availability of the limited public space, and in return passing by adults can easily interrupt their study focus.

A crowded SDU in Mong Kok with a family of four and three visitors

Observations from SDU visits recreated in VR with Gravity Sketch showcasing posture problems

Initial concepts and sketches, playing with the idea of transformative storage spaces

Refined ideas visualized as dimetric illustrations

Spatial inefficiency leads to stuck situations (red), while large spaces such as the bed are under-used (green)

The Design Solution

Fixing the cause, not the symptom

Early attempts often treated only the symptoms of the spatial inefficiency, hence Comfor:t:able is set up in a way to transform formerly unused space in a better way. The chair can be used as a neck and kneeling pillow when it's not in use and the differently dimensioned cushions enable adjustments to the growing body of young children. It should be mostly used on the bed but can for kneeling purposes also be placed on the ground. The table element has two configurations, a sociable small tea table which can be positioned on the bed between two people for leisure activities, and secondly a study table that tucks half away under the bed, occupying less room into the public space. Its legs allow fast and easy adjustments between 60 and 90 cm in height. It was important for this project to not only aid the children's condition, but to also create additional benefits for the rest of the family.