Slope Co-operative: Envisioning Novel Podium Design and Structural System for Wan Chai, Hong Kong Part 1 Project 2021 Hae Jin Lee University of Hong Kong | China This project attempts to liberate the ground through the V shape bending of the shear wall - a structural prototype - and looks at how podium can be an agent to recapture the essence of mass and ground, creating a dialogue between Hong Kong’s extreme slope and housing tower.Hong Kong’s built fabric shaped and accrued since the 20th century consists mainly of one predominant building type – the podium- tower. Existing high demands and global investments have reinvented the built fabric into a salad bowl mix of architectural grandeurs. Placements neglected fitting – high-rises became typological cliche for Hong Kong. This stigma, downplay of socioeconomic imperative and exploitation of space, constitutes today’s Wan Chai and the city at large. New articulations of ground and towers ought to be introduced to accommodate the rapid surge in housing demands.Ground is rare and steep. The extreme topography of the site in Wan Chai presents a challenge to the novel housing strategy. The project’s site features 48-meters difference between the lower-level Queen’s road East and upper-level Kennedy road, equivalent to 16 stories. Tutor(s) Olivier Ottevaere