The architectural origins of Hong Kong's public housing : the pioneering "Mark" series and its development

Abstract

Since late 19th century, overcrowding and insanitary living conditions had become a chronic problem in Hong Kong which continued well into the 20th century. The conflagration in Shek Kip Mei on Christmas Day, 1953 triggered off Hong Kong’s world-renowned public housing programme, which provided an immediate solution to the desperate situation. Within the first year after the tragic blaze, eight six-storey Mark I resettlement blocks with 64 back-to-back single-room units per floor wrapped by balcony access were erected on the fire-ravaged site. Interestingly, the design bore no resemblance to the then prevalent typologies of Chinese shophouses, squatter huts or composite buildings. Remarkably, the rudimentary single-room concept of the Mark I Block continued to be used as a standard design for more than thirty years. This research therefore seeks to investigate the architectural origins of the Mark I public housing prototype and to understand how the design evolved to remain in use for three decades in the rapidly changing Hong Kong society. Such discovery can help fill the knowledge gap in the architectural aspect of local public housing, offer insight into the success and longevity of the “Mark” series as well as inform or inspire future designs. The research adopted a qualitative approach, collecting data from interviews, archival documents, architectural drawings, site visits, government documents, and drawing from the author’s experience in working with the Housing Department. The theoretical framework for the research is based on Amos Rapoport’s premise that the vernacular house form is the consequence of a whole range of socio-cultural factors and then modification by other physical causal factors. It was hypothesised that if the societal causal factors underlying the development of Hong Kong’s public housing can be identified, then the design rationale for the Mark I Block and its evolution in thirty years can be traced. The research revealed that the architectural origins of the Mark I Block came from a socio-cultural amalgamation of British working-class housing and Hong Kong shophouses and composite buildings. The design evolved into the “Mark” Series in the 1960s in response to the socio-political environment, economic constraints, availability of utilities, and advancement of building technology. To cater for the Ten-year Housing Programme in the 1970s, the configurations of the Slab Block, I-Block and H-Block were radically modified to become more linear to fit the narrow urban redevelopment sites, while the Twin Tower Block was designed to negotiate the hilly terrain and the bigger Trident I Block to accommodate more people in the new towns. The research findings have expanded the understanding of Hong Kong’s public housing, especially on the under-studied architectural aspects, and have extended Rapoport’s premise on the vernacular house form to public housing studies.