affordable Archives - Hong Kong Greeters https://www.hkgreeters.com/tag/affordable/ Personalised Hong Kong Tours Tue, 13 Feb 2018 02:00:15 +0000 en-GB hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=6.9.4 https://www.hkgreeters.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/08/cropped-favicon-32x32.png affordable Archives - Hong Kong Greeters https://www.hkgreeters.com/tag/affordable/ 32 32 102774011 Hong Kong’s Land Supply Crisis and Tube Homes https://www.hkgreeters.com/2018/02/13/tube-homes-land-supply-crisis-hong/ https://www.hkgreeters.com/2018/02/13/tube-homes-land-supply-crisis-hong/#respond Tue, 13 Feb 2018 02:00:15 +0000 https://www.hkgreeters.com/?p=4238 Could Tube Homes be part of the solutions to Hong Kong’s housing crisis?  Hong Kong is a crowded city with a population exceeding 7 million and still growing.  The average size of a Hong Kong apartment for a family of 3 is just shy of 500 square foot. Tube Homes I’m afraid you can’t (yet?) […]

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]]> Could Tube Homes be part of the solutions to Hong Kong’s housing crisis?  Hong Kong is a crowded city with a population exceeding 7 million and still growing.  The average size of a Hong Kong apartment for a family of 3 is just shy of 500 square foot.

Tube Homes

I’m afraid you can’t (yet?) buy one of these quirky tube homes. The tube homes were recently exhibited on the Kwun Tong waterfront space, Hong Kong.  It was exploring the utilisation of space in a city that has a huge problem with future land and housing supply.

These conceptual nano homes are the brainchild of architect James Law.  By repurposing large concrete pipes and stacking them, he has designed low-cost homes.  They could fit into otherwise unusable spaces each providing around 100 square foot of living space.  Each unit provides private living, cooking and washing space without having to share facilities with your neighbours.

What do you think of these tube homes?  Do you like the idea?  Do you think you could live in one of these tubes?

The crisis of land supply in Hong Kong

The crisis is real.  With living spaces already compact, it’s thought that we will come up 3,000 acres short over the next thirty years.  It’s a real head scratcher for the Hong Kong Government with no easy solutions.

Hong Kong, Guided Tours, Tube Homes
Tube Home Exhibit in Kwun Tong, Hong Kong

Image: businessinsider.com

Suggested Solutions

There have been debates over what to do, which have included:

  • taking back land in Fanling used as a Golf course by the Hong Kong Golf Club (and other private recreational facilities)
  • more land reclamation
  • re-development of brownfield sites
  • use the fringes of the designated country parks
  • convert the container port

Small Spaces

To put Hong Kong’s small living spaces into perspective, if you were considering buying a starter home or micro-flat in Hong Kong, you might be surprised at what you get (or don’t get) for your money.  A property offering around 179 square feet in size would set you back somewhere in the region of 3.5 million HKD which is approximately ($450,000 USD).  To give you a visual comparison, 179 square feet is similar to the size of a car parking space.

Tube homes at 100 square feet would offer just over half the area of a parking bay.

Featured image: dezeen.com

 

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