Midlevels, Hong Kong, 1986. HKIA Medal.

Midlevels is the district on Hong Kong Island that comprises the foothills above Central, which lay in the shadow of Victoria Peak; it is one of the world’s most densely populated neighbourhoods. It is an amazing feat in terms of urban design: a labryrinth of tiny, curving, hilly streets lined with skyscrapers that seem to precariously defy the laws of engineering and physics, giving the neighbourhood a dizzying feel, while simultaneously providing a warmly intimate and human scale at ground level. The terrain is so steep that outdoor escalators have been installed in some places. It was in this milieu, on a small site on Bowen Road in Eastern Midlevels, where we were commissioned to design a high-end multi-tenant housing estate.

As there is little land available for private residences in Hong Kong, this project attempts to create a new urban living environment; a high rise building of flats that have all the conveniences of an individual house, such as a garden, rooms with generous views and space, and multiple floors within each unit. There are a total of 21 units with six different types varying from 165 square metres to 300 square metres per unit. The building is rich in exterior detail—details that are intentionally asymmetrical—mimicking the complex and incongruous geometric fabric of its surroundings. The buildings facades have Bauhaus allusions in the bold lines that bring a sense of order and a systematic grid to its various architectural and sculptural elements.

The design attempts to create a dynamic architectural form to express Hong Kong—”order within chaos.” For our design, we were awarded the HKIA Silver Medal, Hong Kong’s highest architectural honour.