Towards Dignified Living - 邁向有尊嚴的生活
Towards Dignified Living - Reclaiming Space, Care, and Visibility through Transitional Housing
Set in Sham Shui Po, Hong Kong.
We often design with visibility in mind - crafting spaces that impress, that innovate, that serve those who already dwell in comfort. But architecture is more than aesthetic impact. It is a social responsibility - a means of shaping how we live, relate, and feel. If architecture is to serve everyone, then it must address not only beauty, but equity. Why, then, do we continue to overlook those for whom basic dignity within the built environment remains a luxury?
This project aims to shift that focus. Set in Hong Kong’s ageing ‘three-nil’ buildings - dense, unmanaged tenements where over 200,000 residents face unsafe and undignified living conditions - my work explores how modular design and feminist spatial thinking might offer alternative futures. Through a strategy of transitional housing, I seek to re-imagine the relationship between public and private space, and to restore a sense of care and agency to those who have long been marginalised.
Designing for dignity, in this context, means more than meeting minimum standards. It means recognising lived experience as design intelligence. It means shaping environments that support privacy, autonomy, and safety, while enabling moments of shared life - through courtyards, kitchens, workshops, and gardens.
I see architecture not as the art of building, but the act of listening - to silences, to absences, and to the quiet needs of everyday life. This project is my attempt to make those needs visible, and to insist that good design must belong to everyone.
