The site is set in a valley surrounded by beautiful natural vegetation in a remote island in Hong Kong. The only means of access is a sampan from the nearest island. The client would like to build a new facility to house 120 juveniles aged between 15 to 22. Most of them were sent by the court to this facility because of substances abuse and misdemeanor. They are currently “squattering” along the valley as their temporary shelter and are eager to be relocated to a more formal facility.

Cast-in-place concrete was chosen not only for economic reason, but also we envision employing the physical labor of these young teenagers to transport literally bucket by bucket of aggregates on a ten minutes trail between ferry drop-off and the building site. All plywood formworks remain on site will be treated and recycled as future furniture pieces fabricated by the teenagers themselves in the woodwork training workshop. The teenagers are participants in building their own home.