Title: Hybrid City— Vibrant Life In The Balcony
Story board:
Director: Ou Yang Jia Qi
Editor: Ou Yang Jia Qi
Photograph and video provider: Ho Ching Hei
Venue provider: Yin’s Family, Ho’s Family
Introduction
Hong Kong is a hybrid city. In these highly populated city, according to World Bank (2020) there is 7.482 million people in Hong Kong. In the small city where the developed land is less than 25%( Hong Kong Government, 2022), most of the people are living in an extremely small and crowded space. In this condition, a single space can be developed into multiple usage. Balcony is a private space which allows multiple usages of the users. Balcony in Hong Kong residential apartment are rare, while most of the housing unit which contain a balcony are considered as luxury housing. Balcony provides panoramic view to the residents, also allows a transition to the outdoor for the residents(Chau and Wong, 2002). It is a private space while the users’ activities are exposing to the public. It shows the hybrid usage of a single space, the blurred boundary in terms of the space, and the different hierarchy in Hong Kong.
The film is a documentary which takes in a private housing estate in Tiu Keng Leng, called Le Point. This is a private housing estate with two phases and total consists of 9 towers of building (Centaline poperty, 2022). The two apartments that I was filming are located at Tower 10 and Tower 5 respectively. The apartment in Tower 10 is facing to the normal view and the apartment in Tower 5 has landscape view (Chau and Wong, 2002), which allow the residents to see both the Sean and mountain. The others shorts are filmed from the apartment in Ocean Shores.
Research and filming process
As I have the theme Hong Kong is a hybrid city, my research mainly based on the way that people use their balcony. I went to Ocean Shores to film the balcony of Le Point. I takes photos of what objects appear in people’s balcony, and take video of how do people use it. I borrowed the balcony in Flat H, 43 floor of tower 5 in Le Point to take the surrounding view and close up of the item which people put in the balcony. There are photos and videos provided by my friend, from tower 10. I capture the human activities and items that takeplace in the balcony in order to present how different people has different lives in Hong Kong, and show that Hong Kong is a lively hybrid city. Using many voyeuristic shorts can show the contrast that balcony is a private space while what happen inside is open to public. I took two long videos in a full view angle of the building facade and speed it up in a film time to show the human activities in the balcony in different times.
Reflections
The application of balcony was due to the change in regulation in 2001 to promote sustainable residential building developments, and apply balcony as one of the “green” features (Tong, 2022). According to the Joint Practice Note Number 1 on Concessions for Green and Innovation Facilities (Buildings Department, Lands Department and Planning Department, 2001), the area of balcony can be excluded from the Gross Floor Area (GFA) and Site Coverage (SC) calculation, thus land developers do not need to pay extra premium. In addition, the application of balcony can boost the property price (Chau and Wong, 2002; Palmer, 2021), and bring more profits to the land developer.
As Hong Kong is very crowed and highly populated, in order to provide more residential units, most of the apartments built provide relatively small living area, and adopting the pencil development. Residents who live in the high stories in a high-rise building cannot have an outdoor space without the provision of balcony. In Hong Kong, residents turn balcony into a multi-usage space, which allows them to have different activities and provides an addition of living area. People can do gardening, cloth drying, reach to the outdoor environment without leaving their apartment, and take the balcony as a place to store items such as bicycle and umbrella (Balconyguide, 2022). Balcony is a place which blurrs the boundary between private and public, as any activity in this private space exposes to the public. The existence of balcony shows the mix of different social classes hong Kong. The quality, size and location of the balcony affect the apartments price in a residential building, and public housing usually do not have the application of balcony. People lives in Hong Kong usually have similar life style, base on what they do and what they put in their balcony, but there are also difference such as the colour of their clothes, and the number and species of plants they plant. In this small city, where the design of the street and buildings are so similar, but inside the concrete wall, there is vivid and vibrant lives of people who come from different walks of life.
Reference
都會駅1期｜調景嶺｜屋苑專頁｜中原地產. (n.d.). 中原地產. Retrieved May 13, 2022, from https://hk.centanet.com/estate/%E9%83%BD%E6%9C%83%E9%A7%85-1%E6%9C%9F/2-YAPPWPPJSA
都會駅2期城中駅｜調景嶺｜屋苑專頁｜中原地產. (n.d.). 中原地產. Retrieved May 13, 2022, from https://hk.centanet.com/estate/%E9%83%BD%E6%9C%83%E9%A7%85-2%E6%9C%9F-%E5%9F%8E%E4%B8%AD%E9%A7%85/2-YAPPWPPJEA
Buildings Department, Lands Department and Planning Department (2001), Joint Practice Note Number 1 on Concessions for Green and Innovation Facilities, February, Buildings Department, Lands Department and Planning Department, Hong Kong.
Gontiti – Morning (Asa). (2016, August 2). YouTube. Retrieved May 13, 2022, from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XwdKKCPMM0o&feature=youtu.be
Hong Kong – the Facts. (n.d.). GovHK. Retrieved May 13, 2022, from https://www.gov.hk/en/about/abouthk/facts.htm
Palmer, J. (2021, January 27). Do Balconies Add Value to a Home/Apartment? Luxury Viewer. Retrieved May 13, 2022, from https://luxuryviewer.com/do-balconies-add-value-to-a-home-apartment/
Peters, N. (n.d.). Why Balcony is Important (10 Benefits of Having a Balcony) – balconyguide.com. BalconyGuide.com. Retrieved May 13, 2022, from https://balconyguide.com/why-balcony-is-important/
Survey on the Effectiveness of Balconies in Promoting Sustainable Building Design in Hong Kong | HKIA E-JOURNAL 香港建築師學會學報. (n.d.). HKIA Journal. Retrieved May 13, 2022, from https://hkia-journal.net/survey-on-the-effectiveness-of-balconies-in-promoting-sustainable-building-design-in-hong-kong/
Wing Chau, K., Kei Wong, S., & Yim Yiu, C. (2004). The value of the provision of a balcony in apartments in Hong Kong. Property Management, 22(3), 250-264.
Ou Yang Jia Qi u3593487
First of all, I would suggest removing the exact address of the site to protect your friend’s privacy. Apart from that, you have made some observations of people’s use of balconies. Yet, I would like to ask if a similar hybrid situation also occurs in people’s living rooms/bedrooms? Everyone uses their apartment flat in a slightly different way. You filmed your video mostly in Le Point, a middle-class private estate. I wonder if your theme hybridity could better be displayed in multiple types of balconies to reflect the diversity of people in the city?