Design District Hong Kong 2018 | Hong Kong

#ddHK 2018

  • Category: Art & Culture, Placemaking, Design Thinking & Engagement

    Type: Placemaking | Curation

    Location: 9 Spots in Wanchai, Hong Kong

    Client: Tourism Commission & Hong Kong Design Centre

    Completion: 2018-2019

Design District Hong Kong (#ddHK) is the first district-based creative placemaking project in Hong Kong. Supported by Tourism Commission and organized by Hong Kong Design Centre, it is one of the rare multidisciplinary collaborative public engagement projects in the city. With the theme of “Connected City: Hong Kong Stories”, the project aims to illustrate an authentic culture that resonates with the locals and leads tourists on an in-depth tour of creativity to discover a different Hong Kong.  

Being the Creative Partner for #ddHK, One Bite Design Studio curated a series of placemaking installations and social creative campaigns to transform Wan Chai, one of the 18 districts in Hong Kong with rich cultural history, to a joyful neighborhood and an open-air gallery to celebrate “design”. We brought #ddHK onto an experimental journey to develop the possibilities for future creative placemaking collaborations. It was a project that demonstrate how design could improve the liveability of the city.

The core of #ddHK was rooted in collaboration. Working with over 20 local design and community groups, One Bite organised 7 main works throughout Wan Chai along the two main axes. We transformed the O’Brien Road Footbridge, which connected the northern to the southern part of Wan Chai, into a botanical journey through local seasons. Native plants and animals were painted on the ceiling of the passageway to insert nature in the busiest commercial centre of the district. First time in Hong Kong, a 300-m tram lane was painted in green to encourage new ideas for the city’s infrastructure. Using green paint was to symbolize an energetic and refreshing vibe for the daily commuters.

Walking off from the footbridge with nature, the “Story of Wan Chai” and “Kong Wan Fire Station” projects were to play a twist in our daily perception of the city. Four artists were invited to design functional floor arts for four busy pedestrian junctions in the district, each portraying the local stories and identity, enhancing the district branding. On the gate of fire station, typography designers from Hong Kong were invited to re-interpret the bilingual beauty in our culture and design new identity for the fire station signage. The highlight went to the pavilion in Central Plaza, an underutilized public space in the district. We designed 5 pieces of intervention installations, taking inspirations from letter characters. This pavilion set aimed at facilitating new activities to happen in the public space, transforming it into an age-friendly environment. Colourful appearance and multiple functions combined and inserted new energy to the space.  

Apart from the different placemaking installations, #ddHK held the first 24-hour social creative event to facelift a semi-public square in Wan Chai. The vision was to create eight new activities for eight target groups in the same public space to widen and trigger public’s imagination about what they could do. 

The significance of the project does not only rely on the temporal and semi-permanent interventions that challenge the city’s normal way of perception in public space and infrastructure. The many “first” attempts break the government’s standard way of working and demonstrates future possibilities in implanting new placemaking elements in Hong Kong. One Bite Design Studio has demonstrated through #ddHK how we could bring smiles and interconnect people in an innovative way with an urbanist vision.

Multiple Locations, Multiple Experience

  • The significance of #ddHK 2018 goes beyond the attractiveness of temporary and semi-permanent interventions in Wan Chai. More importantly, onebite hopes to challenge the city’s routine perception of public space and infrastructure provision. The many “firsts” achieved in this project demonstrated the endless possibilities of implanting new placemaking elements in Hong Kong. By working closely with private and public organisations, onebite has attempted to introduce new approaches in public space design and interventions that go beyond the government’s standard operating procedures and guidelines.

    By doing so, the needs, aspirations, and visions of the community could be communicated and translated more efficiently and clearly beyond the shroud of bureaucracy.

    Design for Good Values

    • Reinvent Space

    ESG/ Sustainability Factors

    • Community
      - Diversity, Equity & Inclusion
      - Local Economic Development

    • Customers
      - Arts Media & Culture

  • Project Co-ordinator: Dream of Tomorrow

    Collaborators: &dear, Arm Charm, Breakthrough Art Studio, Creativity is, Delia Indra Yoga, Foodyfree, Hong Kong Architecture Centre,Hong Kong Arts Centre, Hong Kong Art School, Hong Kong Design Institute, HKWALLS, iDiscover, New Youth Barbershop, Nowhere Boys, ohmykids, Oi Kwan Barbers, PLOTZ, streetsignhk, The Bottle Shop, SNL Beer, Viva Blue House, Adonian Chan, Calvin Kwok, Choi Kim Hung, Mak Kai Hang, Renatus Wu, Yao Cheuk Ni, Loiix Fung, Antonie LI, Maggie Wong, Kiwi Chan

    Photographer: Tai Ngai Lung

    Videographer: Marvin Tam

    One Biters: Alan Cheung, Chloe Cheung, Billy Kwan, Luana Kwok, Jessica Ling, Suki Luk, Sarah Mui, Suet Yan

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