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From Market to Material Bank

Part 1 Project 2024
Ying Wong
Chinese University of Hong Kong | China
Douliu City retains remnants of its colonial architectural heritage but faces challenges from depopulation and lack of urban stewardship. Commercial areas like the Douliu West Market now decline without maintenance or use. However, its discarded structural materials retain cultural value as remnants of local history.

This project aims to regenerate the market area by refurbishing the space as a dynamic “Material Hub” where the community collaboratively circulates and repurposes wasted resources. Following immersive contextual research and engagement with locals, the design proposal reconfigures the market’s structure as a perpetually self-renewing architectural machine.

Housing laboratory, archive, and workshop spaces, the Hub’s morphology embodies its operations of material forensics, knowledge incubation, and hands-on prototyping. The Laboratory analyses salvaged remnants, while the Historical Archive exhibits findings to foster replanning ideas with the public. The Playhouse then facilitates hands-on testing to advance remnant reinterpretations that boost regeneration.

Through constant material reinvention and prototyping iterations, the evolving assemblage of recovered fragments serves as both a regenerative engine and exemplar. Breathing renewed purpose into remnants of Douliu’s history, the Hub empowers circular material workflows to continually rebuild community from within as it reimagines the city’s future.

Ying Wong

Tutor(s)
Kar Him Mo
2024
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