Does Incremental Housing Work in Hong Kong?

The ELEMENTAL studio is headed by artistic director Alejandro Aravena, winner of the Pritzker Prize in 2016.

The studio is based in the capital of Chile, Santiago. The agency's slogan "half of a good house" defines their strategy in a simplified manner. According to them, a middle-class family requires on average a house of 80 sqm to live adequately. However, the subsidies granted by the government only make it possible to build 40 sqm. Instead of building a home twice as small, ELEMENTAL builds “half houses” at the same cost and enables customers to build the other halves themselves. The combination of good design and the engagement of the owners creates more sustainable housing areas.

They completed a number of projects, including the Iquique project in Chile (2003) and the Monterrey project in Maxico (2010)

Also, the building owner can participate in designing their own buildings through some workshops.

Another interesting project is Sky House in Tokyo, by Architect Kiyonori Kikutake in 1958. Where building components can be plugged in to the main structure base on needs over time.

In Hong Kong, Legislative Council member Tse Wai-chuen proposed a similar concept in 2018 to increment the industrial buildings.

Reference:

【土地大辯論】謝偉銓倡舊公屋Lego式嵌組合屋　5年供兩萬單位

政府的土地大辯論展開後爭議不斷，立法會建築、測量、都市規劃及園境界議員謝偉銓聯同業界測量師成立小組，建議在部份早期落成公共屋邨的外牆及天台加建預製組合屋，以目前合資格的257幢屋邨計算， 五年可提供約兩萬個單位。

香港01李偉欣

With the increasing usage of MIC on buildings construction, some local academic project suggested a concept called Lego based facade system, where building owners can choose the component they want to plug onto the facade of their unit, then it is shipped from stores or manufactured in factory on demand, building owner can even design their own addon based on standard.

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