07 – LAN WEI

CONNECTING BY RABBIT HOLES

Building experiential connections by Integrated Media Environments and a Distributed Public Space System

M.Arch Thesis

The future of our cities is uncertain, but we can already foresee that they will be dense and crowded. As designers for the built environment, we should be cautious that the increasing density does not disconnect people from people, or people from nature. In the thesis, the concept of ‘distributed integrated media space system’ is proposed as a way of building connections by distributing public spaces in high-density environments. An integrated media environment (IME) is a space where the physical environment and the virtual environment coexist. The research adheres the concept of designing experience in spaces, aiming to create diverse experience of spaces and interpersonal connections by using a distributed space system and integrated media environments. By applying IMEs in a distributed public system, traditional spatial concepts will be changed, including distance, neighborhood, accessibility, designer and user.

In this thesis, Kowloon Walled City (KWC) is selected to be the test case of the hypothesis, although it no longer exists. KWC will be re-examined and redesigned in a future context through integrations with IMEs. By placing IMEs as a distributed public system in high-density building clusters like KWC, negative effects of the lack of public spaces will be offset, traditional architectural boundaries defined by walls will be challenged, and novel spatial experience will emerge.