Author╱夏鑄九 Chu-joe Hsia
Design╱曦成製本 Hei Shing Book Design
Size╱170mm x 230mm
Jacket Paper╱Heiwa Paper - Satogami 198gsm Kon
Publisher╱賽馬會社會創新設計院 Jockey Club Design Institute for Social Innovation
Year╱2015
Exhibition╱本体創造：新生代書籍設計展 Young Guns of Chinese Book Design Collective

This book uses heterotopia as the theoretical framework to discuss and map out urban networks in connection with three cities: Taipei, Shenzhen, and Hong Kong. These cities serve as the looking glass for one another, providing a vehicle through which we can see how they view themselves amid their networked existence and take the pulse of each city. 

For this book, the skylines of Taipei, Shenzhen, and Hong Kong were made to overlap one another so that the three cities appear to have been drawn together. Such placement throws in relief the differences and similarities among these three cities.

The book jacket has three layers. Using laser technology, the silhouette of Shenzhen is cut out of the first blue layer, showing the city’s iconic skyscrapers, Shun Hing Square and KK100. On the second layer, a green inner cover made of Satogami paper, the cut out shows Taipei’s skyline, from which you can find Taipei 101, Taipei Main Station, and Chiang Kai Shek Memorial Hall. On the third and last layer, a blue folded flap, Hong Kong can be seen on the horizon, and the cut out outlines various buildings such as the IFC, Bank of China Tower, and Central Plaza.

By making the papers’ different colours and textures interlock one another, architecture from three cities are combined in the miniature representation on the book cover. The book’s critical content is expressed through its material design.