Inhabitable Hong Kong

The University of Strathclyde Department of Architecture, Glasgow, Scotland

Project idea

The global sea rising is an inevitable urgency that Hong Kong will face. According to the UN habitat, it stated that sea rising events are expected to affect 90 percent of coastal areas before 2050. In the case of Hong Kong, it is said to be a city that is at the highest risk. This thesis is a provocation and a provision to mitigate flooding at different timelines, providing an inhabitable city in the future. Rather than trying to stop floods, it aims to adapt to them.

Project description

Hong Kong is surrounded by water, rendering water barriers to be a futile solution. A densely packed city with mountains, its lack of land area makes it very susceptible to future floods. The solution proposed by this thesis attempts to adapt the geographical elements of Hong Kong, ie. the mountains and the seas, as its solution to mitigate both the existing issue of land scarcity and flooding.

This thesis will not only discuss the impact of floods on Hong Kong macroscopically but also select the North Point as a study district, a highly dense is speculated to be severely affected by the flooding. It tests the feasibility of constructing cities in the mountains and on the sea via different phases.

Phase1: Year 2021
In the first line of provision, floating seawalls with water turbines across the Victoria Harbour will be constructed to reduce flood impact around the low-lying coastal and land reclamation area.

Phase2: Year 2035
The rapid global warming has caused the sea level to rise by 5 meters, rendering ground-leveled main entrances to be inaccessible. Installation of new ancillary structures on top of the existing buildings are proposed to create new entrances for the upper floors to continue to function.

Phase3: Year 2050
The sea level has risen to 10 meters, causing some lower buildings to be submerged. The proposal aims to redesign new buildings on floating platforms on the water or within the mountains according to the function and age of the building. Besides, the new transportation infrastructure is proposed to become the main connection point connecting the areas of mountains and sea areas.

Technical information

The technology methods of the project include the design of floating platforms for the buildings on the water, the installation of mega-structure on existing building blocks and new skyscrapers on the mountain. The new transportation infrastructure is used to connect the areas of seas and mountains.