One of the things that’s most impressive about Hong Kong is not the flashy glass towers of the financial district, which seem to be cropping up with increasing density in every major Asian city, but rather the old, thick and fragmented Chinese buildings—once a symbol of progress and modernity, but already cloaked in the gray varnish of history and the passage of time. The autonomous region of Hong Kong is tiny to begin with—only 426 square miles—but even in this limited terrain there are many protected areas clearly divided from the urban centers, and these, mostly in the Kowloon peninsula and in Hong Kong Island, are packed with a population of more or less 7 million people. The fact that only 25% of the land is developed means that Hong Kong has one of the highest population densities in the world (4th). Particularly the areas around Monkok and San Shui Po, are extremely crowded, that private and public spaces have blurred boundaries, as well as commercial and residential spaces.This extreme density blurs the boundaries between private and public spaces and promotes a new kind of futuristic design among the decaying urbanism, where the new merges with the old, covered by the haze of neon lights in this subtropical climate, and accelerates the need for architectural creativity and problem solving.Once such problem solver is Hong Kong-based architect Gary Chang, who a year ago made international headlines by transforming his family house into a complex living module. Chang took his 30 sq. meter apartment and, thanks to groundbreaking modifications and an ingenious design based on a system of sliding walls, converted the family’s single room into 24 different rooms, including a kitchen, bathroom and library. The space was reinvented, and the lack of physical space allowed a better and economical usage. From the outside, one can only distinguish the apartment from others due to the sunset yellow shaded windows, which convert any kind of weather and light (from the foggy days to the torrential downpours of Hong Kong’s annual typhoon season) into a warm and golden haven.Chang’s domestic transformation was not the only area where he has flexed his economical architectural muscle—he’s been practicing the idea of releasing and freeing up space for a few years. One of the most remarkable examples of this practice is his celebrated villa work “Suitcase” located in the Commune by the Great Wall.
The exterior of the villa was wrapped in a warm wooden tone and its shape looks like a long suitcase or train carriage. The interior is expectably flat and open, with a foldable rooftop that allows you to view the starry sky. Built-in handles are carefully installed on the floor that, when lifted by visitors or inhabitants, reveal such hidden treasures as a bedroom, bathroom, kitchen and sauna underneath the floors.Another inspiring project from the architect is the "Treasure Box for Urban Nomads," a traveler’s suitcase that’s similarly full of secret compartments, allowing the owner to carry all kinds of personal belongings in an attempt to expand his limited space while traveling.Image Courtesy of Edge Design, Commune by the Great Wall
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