Designing with Empathy
14 Mar 2022
“Turning ideas into reality gives me a sense of accomplishment; while empowering inhabitants to have a stake in what is built around them offers me the greatest sense of achievement.”
Stephen Ip, Divisional Director at CAN, simply couldn’t hide his excitement when he started talking about the Transformation of Yi Pei Square Playground, one of the awardees in “DFA Design for Asia Awards 2021”. The revitalisation of Yi Pei Square Playground is part of the programme “PLAY IS FOR THE PEOPLE” (2018) under the Design Trust Futures Studio (DTFS) initiative, the launch of the Yi Pei Square Playground is a testament to the cross-disciplinary knowledge and dedicated efforts of the entire design team.
Bringing A forgotten Area Back to Life
The Yi Pei Square proposal explores the idea of a “communal living room” suitable for residents of all ages. Not long ago, the Yi Pei Square Playground was grey and uninviting, like a forgotten space set in a fading district. There were no play facilities for children, and there were not enough seats for the elderly and parents too. Whereas, if you have a chance to visit Yi Pei Square Playground tomorrow, its dramatic transformation will blow you away. Colourful rubber playground mats, leisure/seating zone, and a cheerful play area with kids running around.
You’ll then realise that “coming back from the dead” is no longer science fiction, Stephen’s design proves the impossible, possible.
“The playground didn’t transform in a day, realising the concept into a reality evolved throughout discussions with the residents in the neighbourhood. There were concerns, there was tension and there were other constraints. The design process of a community-based project always involves negotiations, a process of give-and-take. Entering into a dialogue and listening with respect is the key to a win-win situation.” says Stephen.
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Sustainable architecture: A form of giveback
Stephen Ip has been hailed as a “public-spirited” architect due to his active participation in community development. Green design is his significant focus, particularly the second life of glass after it has been used as beverage bottles, windows or containers.
“I’d like to introduce recycled glass into our industry, though it may take a long time. I show clients the recycled glass brick spiral installation at deTour 2020, gradually giving them the impression of using recycled glass as a green product. I believe the recycled glass will get into our daily life one day, and I can’t wait to see it being used in a real project.” says Stephen.
At deTour 2020, Stephen and a group of like-minded design professionals he met at the University of Hong Kong when studying architecture create an installation, taking the visitor on a journey through different types of social distances in the face of the pandemic. The glass installation induces a transparent and different perspective, as opposed to our regular urban spaces that are often impermeable. It is not the first time for Stephen Ip to work with glass, his glassy journey started in 2018.
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“We participated in a competition organised by the government in 2018, to design a recycling facility in Wan Chai, we took the inspiration from the beer bottles in the bars in Wan Chai and had the idea to recycle glass as a building material. Following that, we made an installation in the HK Biennale of Architecture and Urbanism at The Mills last year, creating a glass recycling tower for people to participate in the recycling process. The process of making glass brick was more like an experiment to me, we hand-sorted 3000 bottles as the color sorting machine was not ready yet; since we’ve never done this before, it spent us quite a lot of time to get the correct form factor for brick dimensions. Although challenging, when you see the end-product, 400 pieces of glass bricks, you know it is worth the effort. Going commercial will be a perfect use case, recycled glass can be used in building temporary partition walls for restaurants, it will be quite a good way to further promote the use of recycled materials.” says Stephen.
The recycling behavior of the city needs to shift from just ‘doing the thing’ to ‘doing it right.
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