Study on Uneven Growth in Hong Kong Urbanisms to exhibit at MoMA
HONG KONG, Nov. 28, 2014 /PRNewswire/ -- Laurent Gutierrez and Valerie Portefaix, faculty members of The Hong Kong Polytechnic University School of Design (PolyU Design)'s Environment and Interior Design discipline, are exhibiting their project 'Hong Kong Is Land' at The Museum of Modern Art (MoMA)'s Uneven Growth: Tactical Urbanisms for Expanding Megacities.
'Hong Kong Is Land' is a project created under MAP Office founded by Laurent and Valerie and contributed by students of PolyU Design at the Jockey Club Innovation Tower. Each of the seven Bachelor of Arts in Design and Master of Design students in the area of urban environments design researched and developed an urban scenario – including the research on materiality, pattern, morphology, and cartography and representation. These corresponding scenarios illustrate how the proposed artificial islands adding to Hong Kong's territory would promote universal values and raise global awareness of specific contemporary issues.
Compressed between sea and mountains, Hong Kong is a chaotic, hybrid, and colorful urban territory characterized by its extreme density and geography. Formed by a collection of more than 250 islands, mostly inhabited, the city/territory is under pressure from Beijing to absorb new waves of mainland migrants in order to accommodate a 50 percent population increase to its 7.2 million inhabitants. The threat of exponential population growth in combination with scarce land resources and rising sea levels suggest an opportunity to test an artificial island scheme that could extend to the Pearl River Delta and further along the Chinese coastline.
Man-made islands offer an alternative, sustainable urban expansion with new modes of living, working, and entertaining. Paradigms of living conditions, islands exaggerate existing modes of production and consumption of urban spaces. As territorial fragments, their construction and destruction concentrates many of the forces of human civilization and offers a way to escape the present and to project the future.
Hong Kong Is Land proposes to add eight new artificial islands to the existing territory. In this way, it addresses various needs and features of prevailing contexts while taking into account near future situations. These artificial lands should not be recognized solely as islands or generators of maritime zones. Beyond offering a response to an unbalanced geography, the eight corresponding scenarios propose a new language through which to promote universal values and raise global awareness of specific contemporary issues. Myths, legends, fictions, stories, histories—as many narratives as possible are required to define the contours of a new territory.
The proposal is to establish an inventory about uneven growth in the city of Hong Kong, with the resulting 'islands' as optimistic visions for the future, exploring scenarios that may serve as paradigms for urban planning, housing density, as well as population growth.
After MoMA the project will travel to the Museum of Applied Arts (MAK) in Vienna.
Uneven Growth: Tactical Urbanisms for Expanding Megacities
| Date: |
22 November 2014 – 10 May 2015 |
| Venue: |
The Museum of Modern Art (MoMA), New York City |
| Curator: |
Pedro Gadanho |
| Exhibition Site: |
http://uneven-growth.moma.org/tagged/east-asia |
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About Hong Kong Is Land
Project Directors: Laurent Gutierrez and Valerie Portefaix
Project Supervisor (Cartography): Gilles Vanderstocken
Project Manager (Film): Henry Temple
Project Assistants / SD students (Cartography): Jenny Choi Hoi Ki, Xavier Chow Wai Yin, Hugo Huang Jiawu, Venus Lung Yin Fei, Winson Man Ting Fung, Tammy Tang Chi Ching, Vivienne Yang Jiawei
About MAP Office, Laurent Gutierrez and Valerie Portefaix
MAP Office is a multidisciplinary platform devised by Laurent Gutierrez (Associate Professor, PolyU Design) and Valerie Portefaix (Visiting Lecturer, PolyU Design). This duo of artists/architects has been based in Hong Kong since 1996, working on physical and imaginary territories using varied means of expression including drawing, photography, video, installations, performance, and literary and theoretical texts. Their entire project forms a critique of spatio-temporal anomalies and documents how human beings subvert and appropriate space.
About The Hong Kong Polytechnic University School of Design (PolyU Design)
As one of the top design schools in the world, The Hong Kong Polytechnic University School of Design is poised to play a leading role in design education and research by connecting and integrating the east and west cultures. The School provides top-notch programmes in advertising, environment and interior design, product design, communication design, interactive and digital media, at higher diploma, bachelor, master, and PhD levels.
Famous designers who graduated from PolyU Design include Raman Hui (Animation), Vivienne Tam (Fashion), Anthony Lo, (Automotive), Yip Kam-tim (Film), Dennis Chan (Jewelry), among others.
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SOURCE The Hong Kong Polytechnic University School of Design
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