4th Year, 2nd Semester
ARCT5520 Drawing Resilience
Unit Coordinator: Kirill Lancastre de Jedenov
“Hong Kong, I heard is a beautiful place, with more opportunities”
Maricel, a single mother of one, a nurse, a spa receptionist, a cashier and a waitress in two bars. She lives in the bustling street of Avellano Avenue in San Andres District. From the buzzing sounds of the small eateries, markets and shops to chitty chattering of the many Philippinos down the road, she lived in this vibrancy and diversity in culture, spirit and habit to care for Jamie, her daughter.
Rich in culture and value. Yet, Maricel is faceless and voiceless...
The misconception of this pristine cityscape allures the underprivileged yet hopeful faces. The harsh reality only sinks in from the first step she enters the choreographed image of Hong Kong. Beautiful, mighty and modern, the city lives in negotiating between two systems. Behind these pretty walls of unseen control and rigidity, Maricel lives in isolation between confined four walls. From dawn till dusk, Monday to Saturday, she works tirelessly as superwoman only to sleep in a nook of cupboard. Like many other foreign workers, they face the same tight destiny but harsh separation. Rags versus riches, together these hidden workers support the backbone of the households for the driving workforce to gear Hong Kong.
Unrecognized. The government refuses to listen to their cries simultaneously refusing to look at the future reality of an aging population in Hong Kong. By the year 2036, the share of the population aged 65 and above will double. The greying population would adversely affect the workforce. As 2036 approaches, a double demand for foreign workers would be crucially essential to machine this economic powerhouse. Parents will be required to work intensively than before as the workforce decreases. So then, who is going to take care of their children?
The funding of the Umbrella Movement decides to build a new city, Little Manila under the labour of male foreign workers. The new city transforms the script of forced labor in homes into wanted labor to address the greying population and workforce declination. Hong Kong recognises the increasing workforce from the Philippines to care for both the elderly and children. In due time, the government permits residency.
Celebrating the vibrancy of Philippinos’ culture, a hexagonal cityscape is now born. Little Manila is a city of buildable and scalable hexagonal houses that can grow either vertically or horizontally. Built out of modular structures and performing in generative clusters, the hexagons can be designed in multiple combinations to suit desired functions that gives for urban planning flexibility. This little powerhouse city grows as a caregiving district alongside being a new home for the workers from all walks of life. Together, the city openly invites the locals to rejoice in this liberating district.
Little Manila revolutionises as a place of their own, a district to sing, talk and dance their hearts out, to live their ambitions in their own freedom and space. Behind these pretty walls, lies a prettier reality of happy faces and laughing voices. Chatty spaces, playful daycares and comforting private homes, celebrates all the chitty chattering, freedom and company in these rising hex towers.
Significantly, these superwomen now live in the reality of their first imagination of Hong Kong.
Drawing Resilience
Our world is infinite, overpopulated and with growing consumption levels. The built environment faces unprecedented challenges of increasing complexity
and uncertainty. Cities, buildings and objects are not isolated entities. In our interconnected world, they are a part of larger complex systems.
The built environment faces old and new challenges: climate change, natural catastrophes, mass migrations, pollution, water shortage, unemployment,
food supply constraints, inecient infrastructures, empty investment properties, cybersecurity and random violence. Some cities
and regions now accept crisis not as an anomaly but as an endless continuing situation. For many, crisis is the new normal. Through drawing, we will
be looking at visible and underlying systems. By posing different questions we intend to improve these systems making them adaptable, creating
strategies for dierent ecological and social symbiosis. Ready for future uncertainties. Data will be collected and presented through drawings, illustrations,
timeline explorations, collages and diagrams. Drawings will be created not as instructions to build something but as final outputs to explore
and communicate ideas. Together, we will draw resilience.
Materials
500mm x 700mm trace paper (x3)
500mm x 700mm white cartridge paper (x3)
Used pen lineweights @ 0.03, 0.05, 0.1
Technique
Hand drawn
