THE MAZE WITH OVERHANGS


THE MAZE WITH OVERHANGS

Looking from a distance, Pokfulam Village seems dense and unorganized. It’s hard to find a clear way out in the village even looking from a high point since streets or paths can be barely seen in such a dense area. In fact, the maze created not only owing to the densi- ty, people maximize the usage of space by extending there huts from ground to the air. Overhanging structures which is commonly found in Pokfulam Village has made the village unique in a few ways.

Enrichment in Spatial Experience

Walking inside the village, you will experience a lot of small, mean streets and tunnels on and off in your journey. The maze quality created in the village is attributed to the over- hanging structures extended from the squatter huts. Tunnel created by sandwiching the overhanging structures and buildings in two sides visually screened the path and view in front. Owing to the blocking of onward views, the village is more spatially enclosed. Over- hanging structure along with the winding path in the village, the journey is more subtle and unpredictable. It’s common to have subtle turns right after passing though tunnels which blocks your views to the route in front.

Complexity in Distribution of Family Units

Besides, it is fascinated that the overhanging structures is usually extended from the huts in the two sides. In other words, it is connecting the two huts. It is interesting to see how family units occupy huts there as it is observed that one family unit may take more than one hut and a hut may contains more than one family units as well. The distribution created an interesting relationship among people within the community.

Olive Wong