Mei Ho House was built in 54 to face the lack of dwellings at the time of the after war inflow of Chinese refugees, especially after the big fire of 53. It is now the only building remaining from the 21 blocks of Shek Kip Mei estate and was listed as Historical Building in 2005.
The brief was to find a new purpose in the hospitality field and prepare a concept and a proposal for the conversion of the building.
The 'Parti' plays with the floor plans to visually interpret the concept
The concept is based on the complementarity of the two population groups who will share the space, red and green complementary colors are chosen to express this idea: red representing the senior local tenant (red being the favorite color for Chinese) while green represent spring and youth for the foreign young guest. These two colors are found a lot in Hong Kong landscape.
The initial floorplans show how small the cells were: 3m x 8m
The original cell
The idea is to aggregate 3 initial units to create a reasonable sized apartments, then to create rhythm and uniqueness by removing some of them, shifting others and adding duplexes.
Outside facade view: Wrapped in bamboo to echo HK scaffoldings and hold plants.
Section showing how the building is shared
The ground floor is dedicated to wheelchair accessible units (at the rear) and common rooms as well as a convenience store to attract other peoples from the area.
In the courtyard a concrete canopy will be added and color will be applied to enhance the architectural qualities of the building. This kind of tenement building is part of HK history: it has to be shown proudly rather than hidden as usual...
A large function room with a bamboo bench for informal seating and more traditional folding tables and stools: youngsters and senior residents can mix here, flexible furnishings allow various events to take place (Mahjong playing, Tai-Chi, etc) and the folding doors (inspired by HK storefronts) allow the room to extend to the courtyard.
A smaller function room adjacent to the laundry room and the store... another opportunity to mix...
Shelves inspired by HK 3D facades: a display area were senior residents can showcase a piece of personal history to share...
Urban farming on the roof
Young traveler bedroom: green side conceived to give the traveler a drastic change of scenery, a real experience
Green bathroom: patchwork of local mosaics
Senior resident living room: red side with traces of mosaics on the polished concrete to remind of the original size of the units
Red bedroom: simplicity, light and a blank wall to allow the resident to appropriate the space
