Estate Centres

Estate Centres are a particularly innovative building type unique to Hong Kong. They were included in the public housing program from 1967 to 2005, two dates that bracket this study. Estate centres typically offer a dense mix of programs from wet market, retail and restaurants to public services, recreation space and parking - tuned to local topography, climate and landscape. With estate living area rigidly capped at 35sqft per person since 1970's, estate centres are a natural and necessary extension of personal living space. In short, estate centres are designed as the heart of their respective communities.

While the housing component to Hong Kong estates is well documented, there has been no systematic study of estate centres. It is also a critical time to examine estate centres. First generation centres are due for retrofit with some partially sealed or scheduled for demolition. Other centres face encroaching commercial pressure, often at the cost of public space, particularly since half of all estate centres were privatized in 2004.