Situated within a ten minute stroll of the Red Market, Fai Chi Kei social housing, with its striking yellow and terracotta tiles, stands like a modern, bright beacon within its somewhat jaded neighbourhood.
The 3,722 m2 plot was originally a Class M, low-rise building, a five storey walk-up from the ‘80s. It had been designed by well respected Portuguese architect Manuel da Conceição Machado Vicente who at the time worked in Lisbon on a number of projects for Macau and Goa, and exerted a strong influence on young architects of the day. He won the ArcAsia gold medal for this building.
Fast forward almost 40 years to 2009 and the government decided that with Macau’s acute shortage of affordable housing, this key location should be put to better use to optimize the space. The residents were relocated to accommodation elsewhere and the project for high-rise social housing was put out to tender.
Local architect partnership LBA, Arquitectura e Planeamento Lda were successful in their bid and by 2010 their designs were completed. Working under stringent parameters specified in the tender, they were required to provide over 730 apartments, the majority of which needed to be one bedroom units.
“Under the Government’s new housing policy the size of the apartments was very strictly determined,” explains Carlotta Bruni, Partner and Founder of LBA. “The Public works department stressed that it doesn’t want public housing to compete with the private sector so the apartments must be no bigger than the minimum established by law; all bedrooms are 9 m2, living room 12 m2, kitchen 6 m2 and bathroom 4 m2. No corridors, niches or alcoves were permitted. In the end we managed to get 737 apartments of which 75% are one bedroom, 17% two bedrooms and 7% three bedrooms.”
The building is 80% full after being open for a year. However there seems to have been a certain amount of disappointment amongst the young locals in the mix of apartments dictated under the new Government policy. As the majority of units are only one bedroom they are not suitable for young, low-income couples planning to start a family, as they will soon need a second bedroom. So in the end this project has become most suited to the elderly.
On the land plot LBA designed two towers, 28 storeys each, both built around their own ground floor courtyard, which will eventually have a post office, several local restaurants and a seating area to give a sense of neighbourhood. “Our aim was to have as many public areas for meeting as possible,” says Carlotta, “as inherent in the Chinese culture is the informal way that they like to ‘hang out’ with each other. We connected the two towers with a walkway on every 4th floor so that neighbours can visit each other easily if in the other tower, without having to go down to the ground floor.”
“Yes,” adds Carlotta’s Co-Founder Partner of LBA, Rui Leão, “we wanted to create a vertical village, using as many voids in the two connected buildings where possible as social gathering places.”
On the ground floor some lanes have been provided that enable pedestrians to cut through between the buildings, rather than having to walk all the way around the block, increasing the sense of accessibility and openness and providing added ventilation.
Another important part to the design was to avoid any feelings of confinement as can be felt in other high density apartment blocks. On each level LBA ensured plenty of natural ventilation sections in the corridors and double height community spaces near the lift lobbies that are connected with the floor above. This not only makes them light and airy with a pleasant through-breeze, but encourages the residents to congregate, socialize and enjoy early morning Tai Chi within a few steps of their apartment front doors.
The Public Works Department set out strict specifications for the kind of materials that could be used for the building, for example, the 2”x 2” tiles for the external walls, but they didn’t dictate the colours to be used. “The colour therefore was important to us,” says Carlotta, “so that we could use it to push out the design, hence the terracottas and the yellows.”
It was impressed upon the design team that the look of the building must not compete with the surrounding private sector buildings. The new building should not be seen to be overly lavish. To make this point, there is, for example, no air-conditioning provided for the ground floor lobbies; instead wall attached swivelling fans have been installed to keep the air moving around the mail box area. “The building was not to look ‘richer’ than its neighbours, which was a challenge,” Carlotta laughs, because being brand new and hemmed in on all sides by private, but old and somewhat tired looking buildings, it does of course look newer, smarter, tidier and more desirable.
As specified by the Public Works Department all piping must be exposed, be it water or electrical. This makes the project cheaper to build, but importantly it is good for maintenance as it’s easy to see if there is a problem and quick to fix it.
Another practical concern was the flooding that can occur in the area in times of typhoon and heavy rains. The whole building had to be raised higher than the adjacent roads. This has been done with a raised pavement and then a few wide steps up to the building level. An added benefit of this was to better designate the building perimeter, making one feel like you’re walking within the property and not out on the pavement.
The total gross construction area for residential is 44,558 m2, and another 5,581 m2 has been set aside on the 1st and 2nd floors for various planned public social facilities; an elderly centre and a childcare centre. So the intention is for the building to be accessible to members of the public and not only its residents.
On the 3rd floor is the podium, its caringly landscaped gardens and a children’s play area. Here the LBA team wanted to create a space of relaxation, laying out the seating areas in differing configurations so as to avoid a regimented look that can be prevalent in other public buildings.
Most floors in the two towers have 16 apartments per floor. Inside, they are as cozy as their inhabitants wish to make them. There’s sufficient space for a small sofa and TV, a dining table and at a pinch a double bed and a couple of wardrobes will fit in the bedroom. The kitchen is traditional Chinese; low, mosaic-tiled work bench, and built in stainless steel sink. It is up to the residents to install their own gas cook top and exhaust hood. The bathroom is a good size, with shower. Each apartment benefits from having a little balcony for the washing machine and for hanging out clothes or sitting out to enjoy the views.
Sliding stainless steel metal gates are provided for each front door, for security and ventilation. “The only complaint received from the residents is that the front doors directly face each other across the corridors,” says Carlotta, “but other than that, they are so happy with the apartments that many from the original building want to now return!”
Carlotta has lived in Macau since 1996. Having got her degree from the Milan Polytechnic, she went on an Erasmus scholarship to Lisbon where she met Rui. After they both graduated, Rui, who was working with the aforementioned architect Manuel Vicente started coming to Macau often, gradually taking on more projects. “Then at the time of the handover to China in 1999 a lot of people left Macau and it was a very hard time with little work. We agreed to give it a try for a year to see how things went. Then in 2000 we got two big government jobs, so we decided to stay. Both our daughters, Alice 16 and Sarah 13 were born in Macau.”
“We’ve always been lucky to get enough jobs to keep us here,” Carlotta acknowledges. “And to tell you the truth, the amount of work, the size, the type, is really very interesting, there’s nothing like this to do in Europe. Having the mix of projects that we work on … residential, public spaces and infrastructure … it’s good for the brain! It’s not always the same thing, you get challenged. Like this building – it’s very ‘raw’ but you get to think about social issues, how people live, and to come up with ideas on making life better for them. This is very exciting for us.”
