Urban Propositions in Housing: Window Volume

Tucked away from the hustle and bustle of Causeway Bay is a foodie’s paradise—Tai Hang is peppered with restaurants and is quietly gaining reputation for its quality of food. However, a quiet corner has dimmed the atmosphere at lower Tai Hang. As such, a residential project comprising 50 to 60 flats and a community podium is designed to revitalise the dead end of Warren Street and Brown Street.

WINDOW VOLUME
This concept uses a combination of different styles and textures of windows to form a ‘window gallery’ that juts out like a terrace on a tong lau (old shophouse), along the old walk-ups in Tai Hang. Window Volume is residential project that seeks to create living spaces, transforming the idea of a window to become more than just a façade element—it has now evolved from a two-dimensional structure to a three-dimensional one, framing indoor living areas and even outdoor recreational terraces. The distinguishing factor is how the size and protrusion of each window varies, depending on the height of the shophouse; by filling up the full height of the duplex, the double height of the living area enhances the quality of the window volume.

VERTICAL SOLID AND VOID
Using modular concept, units of flats are ‘pulled’ out of the stacking window volume, which creates external public areas and terraces from the leftover space, such as outdoor playgrounds, cafés and gardens. Such ‘pulled out’ spaces on residential towers become sky gardens, each shared among one to three flats. Additionally, these shared sky gardens provide large buffer zones or vestibules in front of the units.

PODIUM WITHOUT HIGH WALLS
The podium Tai Hang Club becomes like a community centre for the vicinity. The terraces on the podium are linked to different indoor common areas such as lounges, a cafeteria, children’s playroom and fitness centre to form a continuous public space. Connected civic areas help enhance relationships among the residents and the general neighbourhood. Window Volume is not only about living spaces but is also about engaging the community and improving social coherence.

The back lane in Tai Hang has great potential for expansion due to its broad width, thus it is retained in the design. It could be used for residential or retail access to liven up the area.