A platform for research: civil engineering, architecture and urbanism
A platform for research: civil engineering, architecture and urbanism
Mitchellian Architecture: Building Code and Informal Settlements in Hong Kong
Informal settlements are frequently pitted as the opposite of building-code-compliant architecture. They are seen as evading essential institutional practices and lacking constraints, relative to ad hoc social conditions, while formal architecture, chiefly defined by their observance of the building code—is celebrated with the rise of modernism as safe, hygienic, civilized, and corrective of past building crises. Applying Timothy Mitchell’s ‘Mitchellian’ perspective to architecture, this paper dismantles the rigid binary between formal and informal architecture, and argues that expertise is what creates the divide between formal and informal. As Mitchell shows, defining expertise is a political ontological project that is inherently exclusionary. This theoretical perspective is illustrated in the case study of Hong Kong’s informal settlements, subdivided units (SDUs). While Hong Kong’s building code or Building Ordinance is largely unquestioned by professional practitioners, a case study on SDUs shows how the building code is entrenched in a history of violence, especially towards historically marginalized communities. This paper firstly surveys academic writing on SDUs and the common mystification on this complicated case of housing, secondly historicizes SDUs within a longer arc of informal settlements in Hong Kong, and thirdly examines the legal-architectural issues surrounding SDUs such as through the advocacy of Subdivided Flat Concerning Platform. It concludes with a short outlook for SDUs, public housing, and the Community Housing Movement. It aims to provide an informed and holistic stance of SDUs beyond inconsistent media and popular portrayals.
Mitchellian Architecture: Building Code and Informal Settlements in Hong Kong
Informal settlements are frequently pitted as the opposite of building-code-compliant architecture. They are seen as evading essential institutional practices and lacking constraints, relative to ad hoc social conditions, while formal architecture, chiefly defined by their observance of the building code—is celebrated with the rise of modernism as safe, hygienic, civilized, and corrective of past building crises. Applying Timothy Mitchell’s ‘Mitchellian’ perspective to architecture, this paper dismantles the rigid binary between formal and informal architecture, and argues that expertise is what creates the divide between formal and informal. As Mitchell shows, defining expertise is a political ontological project that is inherently exclusionary. This theoretical perspective is illustrated in the case study of Hong Kong’s informal settlements, subdivided units (SDUs). While Hong Kong’s building code or Building Ordinance is largely unquestioned by professional practitioners, a case study on SDUs shows how the building code is entrenched in a history of violence, especially towards historically marginalized communities. This paper firstly surveys academic writing on SDUs and the common mystification on this complicated case of housing, secondly historicizes SDUs within a longer arc of informal settlements in Hong Kong, and thirdly examines the legal-architectural issues surrounding SDUs such as through the advocacy of Subdivided Flat Concerning Platform. It concludes with a short outlook for SDUs, public housing, and the Community Housing Movement. It aims to provide an informed and holistic stance of SDUs beyond inconsistent media and popular portrayals.
Mitchellian Architecture: Building Code and Informal Settlements in Hong Kong
Sustainable Development Goals Series
Mostafa, Magda (editor) / Baumeister, Ruth (editor) / Thomsen, Mette Ramsgaard (editor) / Tamke, Martin (editor) / Wong, Kachun Alex (author)
World Congress of Architects ; 2023 ; Copenhagen, Denmark
2023-09-03
14 pages
Article/Chapter (Book)
Electronic Resource
English
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