At Home with Density

PREFACE

PREFACE My long-standing fascination wit h the Hong Kong home stems from always bein g o n th e outside . Ever y day , o n m y wa y home , a s th e minibus woun d it s wa y throug h variou s publi c housin g estates , I would catch a glimpse of people moving around densely packed and brightly li t homes . Thes e wer e publi c renta l homes , which , a s a n expatriate I knew absolutely nothing about — spaces that Hong Kong xii Prefac e Chinese tak e fo r granted: private space s where onl y famil y an d ver y close friend s ar e invited . Wit h first-han d acces s denie d I turne d t o secondary sources . Bu t publishe d image s o f Hon g Kon g domesti c spaces ten d t o concentrat e o n visua l extremes ; cage d homes , traditional rura l home s o r luxury apartments . As a cultural outside r it wa s provin g ver y difficul t t o fin d a photograp h o f somethin g a s ordinary a s the interio r o f a public housing home. The popularity o f the Famil y Insigh t Tour , whic h use d t o b e ru n b y th e forme r Hon g Kong Touris t Authority , givin g tourist s th e opportunit y t o visi t a family hom e i n a public housin g estate , strongl y indicate d tha t m y interest was shared, at least, by other cultural outsiders. Local people, however, showed complete indifference t o the images of high-densit y housing interiors . The y ha d see n i t al l before . T o the m thes e wer e ordinary space s an d ther e wa s nothin g i n thei r mind s abou t thes e homes tha t coul d constitut e interio r design . Th e ga p betwee n ou r responses force d m e t o question m y ow n interpretatio n o f domesti c space and to consider the co-existence of other interpretations withi n an everyda y space . Clearly thi s issue falls outsid e th e usual critiqu e applie d withi n design abou t designe d space , because it is high-density housing , an d the interio r create d b y non-designers. I began t o question whethe r a professionally traine d designer, trained to think and work with desig n universals based on what are essentially Western spatial theories an d spatial norms, would kno w ho w to create an 'ideal' home, in what i s a far fro m idea l space ? A s a teacher o f interio r desig n t o Hong Kon g students I found I was uncomfortable with the idea that interior desig n should b e so clearly based o n a Western for m o f 'idea l home'. I t wa s altogether too easy to dismiss high-density homes just because thes e fell outsid e recognise d standard s o f interio r design . I t wa s mor e difficult t o understan d tha t non-designer s migh t hav e a legitimat e sense of spatial reasoning and experience of design in density. What I wanted t o know was what rol e — if any — did interior design play i n the live s of these residents ? The only way to find out was to ask. I was not looking for resident s to provid e a water-tight, quantitativ e respons e tha t coul d b e neatl y re-applied as design guidelines. But I felt tha t non-designers would b e able to offer qualitativ e insight into other ways of seeing high-densit y space that might infor m o r even challenge the practice of design, an d design knowledge . Preface xii i In 1992 , whe n I began thi s stud y o f publi c renta l homes , th e economy wa s buoyant , th e propert y marke t wa s boomin g an d th e handover o f Hong...