Month: April 2021

MCCC01

The Integrated Eco Design and Building Experiments Workshop held from August to December 2020 was a research, education workshop and practical building project for the eco-design and collaborative construc- tion of a temporary multi-purpose building in the Chun On Monastery in Yuen Long. The workshop and project was conducted by Insitu Project for MCCC. It explored new possibilities for experimental building in Hong Kong by exploring recycled building and waste materials that are found in the city. The project also intended to foster and develop a holistic and integrated approach involving permaculture, eco design as well as passive and environmentally friendly design principles. The first stage was successfully completed in January 2021 involved 10 Hong Kong participants from very different backgrounds and experiences, working intensively together with a dedicated Insitu team, with like-minded collaborators and builders and a number of waste material donating individuals and companies. Future stages seek to expand on this solid foundation exploring ecological site planning and permaculture planning principles including the integration of water harvesting, composting toilets and other suitable ecological approaches for Chun On.

Besides the educational and physical outcomes which are presented in this documentation, this project has established a platform or starting point for this kind of project in Hong Kong. Therefore from our point of view, it has been successful in initiating the following:

1. Fostering an urban collectiveness (Building positive change and energy). 2. Learning by doing (Co-learning and Self-learning) 3. Urban upcycling (Fostering ecological awareness) 4. Low-tech ( Enabling skills with low-cost solutions) 5. Value Creation (Generating collective values)

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The House of Dreams is a rural development and training facility constructed in Zhou Shan village in Henan, stage one was completed in 2018 with stage 2 completion in August 2020. Zhou Shan village is a former cave village in the loess plateau area and has many derelict caves that remained after people relocated and rebuilt their houses on former farmlands above the caves during the last few decades. These changes to the village settlements diminished both socio-cultural abilities and damaged the patrimony of the area, so restoration and revitalization of these abandoned caves towards shared community benefit was determined through intensive community engagement to be a mutually beneficial endeavor.

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For centuries, the local sanitation custom in Miaoxia relied on the village’s pig house, where manure of human and pig are stored and regularly delivered to fertilise farmlands. However, this manual sanitation practice poses potential hygiene risks and is labour inefficient, especially inconven- ient for the elderly residence.

In response, an ecological septic tank is proposed to operate in harmony with the local habitat and offers productive landscape possibilities. Miaoxia septic tank is a low-tech sanitation system treating wastes from modern showers and toilets of the adjacent guesthouse and neighbouring households. This underground system is equipped with a micro power and piping system demonstrating a new sanitation system in rural area. During the course of this project, various participants including villagers, designers, social workers and an ecological consultant actively contributed through cross- disciplinary collaboration.

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