Abstract:
The birth of the high-rise has resulted in a built environment of monotonous and disconnected arrays of buildings which cannot adapt to the demands of populations growing1 and populations moving to urban areas.2 At the higher floors it lacks connectivity and community resulting in isolation.3 In response, this thesis proposes reterritorialization of underutilised rooftop spaces of Chungking Mansions in Hong Kong, bringing the qualities of connectivity and community from the public realm that is prevalent towards the ground plane into multiple planes of the high-rise. Therefore, in the current model of mass urbanization, how can an alternative vertical city paradigm facilitate the evolution of the built environment to adapt to the extreme densification of cities and improve the quality of life for its inhabitants? Analysis of theories and architectural precedents critique the built environment, informing the architectural outcome. A case study of the Kowloon Walled city, Chungking Mansions and informal rooftop communities in Hong Kong analyse functions and living experiences within densification. Rem Koolhaas’s observations of skyscrapers in Delirious New York, Fumihiko Maki’s group form theory, Ken Yeang’s vertical theory of urban design and theories presented in A Pattern Language informed the conceptual framework of the vertical city. By viewing the high-rise as a new typology to develop, open-air liveable spaces are built on the rooftops that reintegrate into the buildings, creating public vertical connections to the existing public realm on the lower levels. The architectural outcome demonstrates the qualities of connectivity and community can exist on multiple planes and that high-rises do not have be isolated from the urban fabric.