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Blueprint for McDonaldland: Hong Kong McAlley Handbook

Part 2 Project 2019
Jixuan Wang
Yifan Lu
Yu Zhan
University of Liverpool | UK
As night falls in Kowoon, 24-hour McDonalds’ turn into temporary hostels, giving refuge to thousands of the city’s homeless in Hong Kong.

They are called McRefugees.

The McAlley Handbook gives an account of this complex socio-economic and spatial phenomena, which is the consequence of the government’s cynical approach to keep the homeless off the street by making 24 hour access of fast food joints mandatory.

The project investigates new possibilities for short term living in Hong Kong. As part of the analysis, we meticulously recorded instances of domestic use within public spaces and extracted new spatial standards for private and collective living.

The design transforms the back alleys in Kowloon district into mixed use residential and commercial complexes, giving home to the McAlley community. The proposed architectural system(recycled construction materials such as bamboo and screens) and programmatic formula(eateries, nail saloons, shoe repair shops, etc) allows to create an infrastructure applicable within most typical urban blocks. The system latches onto the existing buildings using its circulation and services. Though the proposal creates a parasitical relationship between the McAlley complex and the existing towers, programmatically and economically the relationship is more symbiotic. All in pursuit of finding the formula for dignified collective living in 2019 Hong Kong.

Jixuan Wang
Yifan Lu
Yu Zhan

Tutor(s)
Johanna Muszbek
2019
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