Research Projects
Critical Urban Morphologies: Hong Kong – a Topography in Transition (Funded).
Project aims are to establish a comprehensive overview of the larger and territorial morphological structure of Hong Kong, pre and post 1997. Would be possible to talk of transformative territorial spatial types, and its nuanced spatial affects, for Hong Kong since 1997? Secondly, in what way has the Special Administrative Region changed in a formal and morphological sense [spatially and architecturally] since handover, and third, would it be possible to determine the transformative spatial process or associated notions in Hong Kong’s transformation from ‘Special Administrative Region / SAR’ into what is termed a ‘critical urban topography ‘.
Research Team: dr.ir. GJB Bruyns, SN Lam & VL Ching.
Elkin, D., Bruyns, GJB., Hasdell, P. [2018]. ‘Former Factories of the World: Labour, Knowledge, and Physical Capitals in Hong Kong’. In: arq: Architectural Research Quarterly. Cambridge University Press. DOI: 10.1017/S1359135518000507
Bruyns, GJB.,& Hasdell, P. [2017]. ‘Aquatic Urbanity: Water as Planning and Territorial Instrument Considering the 9 Dash Line Policy’. In: Upland–Journal of Urban Planning, Landscape & Environmental Design,1[1]. ISSN 2531-9906, 2[2]. Retrieved from http://www.upland.it/index.php/UPLanD/index.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jftdxADn8pY&feature=youtu.be
Contested Territorialization, Hong Kong Urbanisms of Ownership, Occupation and Spatial Tenure. (Funded)
How would a survey of tenure, ownership and occupation alter levels of comprehension of Hong Kong’s urbanisms? Moreover, in what way could ownership, tenure and occupation collectively contribute to comprehension of a city, over and above its forms of spatial ‘limits’ and ‘compression’, to what could be referred to as a return to a ‘medieval’ form within a Special Administrative Region?
Research Team: dr.ir. GJB Bruyns & C Lo.
Bruyns, GJB., Elkin, D., & Hasdell, P. [2017]. ‘Erasing Landscapes’. In: Urban Next, Journal #4, Photographic Atlas of Cities. ISSN 2575-5374. DOI: https://urbannext.net/erasing-landscapes/.
Bruyns, GJB.,[2017]. ‘Hong Kong’ Entrepreneurialism; Radical Domesticity as a Condition of Interiorized Commons’. International Forum on Urbanism, Entrepreneurial City, 2017. Hong Kong. pp. 251–260. ISBN: 978-69-962-8272-33-4.
Bruyns, GJB., Elkin, D. [2017] ‘Interior Tactics: Hong Kong's Square Foot Society and its Social Mobility Challenge’. Transforming Urbanity: People and Cities on the Move, Sun Complex, Kuala Lumpur. Hong Kong: 4C5M Studio, 2017.
Bruyns, GJB.[2016]. ‘Model and the Lived, Beyond the 60m2 mean. An Investigation into Hong Kong’s Domestic Models and its square foot societies’. From Contested_Cities to global urban justice - critical dialogues, Madrid, Universidad Autonoma de Madrid, Spain. ISSN 2341 – 2755.
Model and the Lived, beyond the 60m2 mean. An investigation into Hong Kong’s Domestic Models as representations of a square foot societies. (Funded)
What insights can a spatial interrogation of Hong Kong’s domestic models and its transformative variants deliver in terms of a territory’s processes of compressed domesticity and possible future design prospects? Furthermore, how would the understanding of these models not only question, but, concomitantly reflect the ideologies of a ‘square foot society’ in comparison to other domestic models globally to develop relevant future domestic models?
Research Team: dr.ir. GJB Bruyns, C Lo & M Lam.
Bruyns, GJB. [2018]. ‘The Social and the Spatial, Urban Models as Morphologies for a ‘Lived’ Approach to Planning’. In: Cubic Journal; Design Social | Technology, Activism, Anti-Social, Bruyns GJB, and Hasdell, P. [eds] number 1 volume 1, pp. 52–73. DOI: https://doi.org/10.31182/cubic.2018.1.003
Sohn, H., Kousoulas, S., Bruyns, GJB. [2015]. ‘Commoning as Differentiated Publicness’ In: Commoning as Differentiated Publicness: emerging concepts of the urban and other material realities, In Footprint Delft Architecture Theory Journal, Volume 16, Delft, Techne Press, pp 1- 8. DOI: https://doi.org/10.7480/footprint.9.1
Volumetric-Economic-Morphologies. (Research Lab)
Keywords: Morphologies, Volumetric, Volume, Design, configurative analysis, in and exterior.
First, given the extent to which specific Asian urban fabrics have been compressed and the associated complexification of these urban tissues, the objectives of this project are to investigate how three-dimensional multi-layered cities, can be questioned through their morphological and volumetric properties. This extends the flat, two dimensional, rationals of morphological typologies and its approach to urban analysis.
This Research Laboratory work relates, configurative, spatial and geospatial matrixes to develop the methodology and possible applications further in landscape characterised by high density and high rise developments.
Research Team: dr.ir. GJB Bruyns (PolyU), Prof. dr. A van Nes (TU Delft), Prof. Peter Hasdell (PolyU), Dr. Christopher Higgins (PolyU), Darren Nel (PolyU).
Bruyns, GJB.,Nel D., Higgins CD. [2018]. ‘Flat City versus Volumetric City, Re-application of the Layered Movement Network Approach’. International Seminar on Urban Form, ХХV International Seminar on Urban Form 2018 Urban Form and Social Context: from traditions to newest demands. Siberian Federal University, Krasnoyarsk, Russia. ISBN: 978-5-7638-3952-4.
Higgins, CD., Nel, D., Bruyns, GJB. [2018]. ‘Slope, Layers and Walkability: Estimating the Link Between Pedestrian Accessibility and Land Values in the Morphology of High-Density Cities’. International Seminar on Urban Form, ХХV International Seminar on Urban Form 2018 Urban Form and Social Context: from traditions to newest demands. Siberian Federal University, Krasnoyarsk, Russia. ISBN: 978-5-7638-3952-4.
Nel D., Bruyns GJB., Higgins CD. [2018]. ‘Urban Design, Connectivity and its Role in Building Spatial Resilience’. International Seminar on Urban Form, ХХV International Seminar on Urban Form 2018 Urban Form and Social Context: from traditions to newest demands.Siberian Federal University, Krasnoyarsk, Russia. ISBN: 978-5-7638-3952-4.
Volumetric Design Collaborative Research
Keywords: Volumetric Design, Design Metrics, 3D Analysis, Orthographic Design, Experience Design.
Volumetric Design Collaborative Research proposes a novel, theme based research, that investigates the value and premise of ‘volume’ as metric in the design field. The project deepens insight as to how volume can be used as analysis and design metric in a cross-disciplinary context, and moreover, how would the use of a newly developed volumetric tools-set impacts cross-disciplinary design and research? Eight individuals, five SD, two external partners [Rehabilitation Sciences POLYU and University of Toronto] and one SD PhD RPg student contributes to the design recommendation of possibly 2 software plug-ins and testing to satisfy design parameters.
Research faculty: Dr.ir. Gerhard Bruyns [SD – E&I], Daniel Elkin [SD – E&I], Dr. Bryan Kwok [SD – CD], Dr. Huaxin Wei [SD – DM], Dr. Sylvia Liu [SD – D Entrepreneur], Scott Chin [SD – Product Design], Dr. Christopher Higgins – [Geomatics – Univ. of Toronto], Dr. Georg Kranz – [Rehabilitation Sciences, POLYU], Darren Nel Resilience Design [SD].