Cultural Backyard -
Mody Road Garden (2017)

In a city as dense as Hong Kong, public space is no doubt a preciou community resource, but just how effective is this asset being used by th public? Trying to answer this question, we have designed a series of colorfu geometrical shaped furniture that placed around Mody Road Garden for people to interact with and organise events around. These new objects wil also be the centerpiece of a campaign that involves a slew of workshops an events to raise public awareness on sustainable living as well as arts an culture. Cultural Backyard is meant to transform public space into a platform for sports and performance enthusiasts to gather and interact.

The design process focuses on public participation. We allowed children to propose some park design concepts and collected opinions of the neighbourhood. In doing so, they become an important resource for our park design and provided us with invaluable input, including commenting on the kind of furniture seats they wish to see in the future park.

 

The designer team collected opinions through three public engagement sessions, and have established connections with the neighbors. The team has also distributed questionnaires at Yi Pei Square in order to understand specific needs of the residents. Community workshops were held to allow children to participate in park designs; they drew out the parks they had in mind; designed collective games on the playground floor with simple tapes; and came up with their ideal parks with clay, demonstrating their love of games as well as informing the designers of the public’s own ideas. All in all, they will become an important source of inspiration for the park’s design, with some of the park facilities collectively designed as part of an onsite exhibition. The 1:1 prototype as part of the exhibition will also be available for future users to try out.