Cover Marisa Yiu and Jonathan Cheung enjoy the new micropark in Kowloon’s Yau Tsim Mong district
Marisa Yiu and Jonathan Cheung enjoy the new micropark in Kowloon’s Yau Tsim Mong district
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The grant-funding community platform’s Futures Studio thinktank has transformed Portland Street Rest Garden into a bright pink micropark, which opened on September 23
When? September 23, 2021
Where? Kowloon’s Yau Tsim Mong district
Who? Jonathan Cheung, Joyce Tam, Marisa Yiu, Emelda Trainor
Here’s what you missed: Kowloon’s Yau Tsim Mong district has never been prized for its outdoor environment, but that could all be about to change, thanks to Design Trust. The grant-funding community platform’s Futures Studio think-tank has transformed Portland Street Rest Garden into a bright pink micropark, which opened on September 23.
Originally presented to the public at the Play is for the People exhibition in January 2019, the fuchsia space is a collaboration between Design Trust mentees Kam Fai Hung, Xavier Tsang, Wendy Wu, Ricky Lai and Sam Jacob, and includes a chess table and movable furniture that can accommodate more than 80 people—a welcome development for residents of Yau Tsim Mong, which has little space to rest in its busy shopping-oriented streets.
Surrounded by luscious climbing plants and bamboo, Marisa Yiu, co-founder and executive director of Design Trust, extolled the benefits of the new leisure space for the neighbourhood at the opening. “[The park] demonstrates how creative curiosity can challenge norms to improve the design of public space. I invite the wider Hong Kong community to enjoy the transformed Portland Street Rest Garden,” she said. Of the park’s bold and unconventional hue, Yiu explained, “It’s a positive colour that represents calm, compassion and happiness. It’s also very energetic and contrasts extremely well with the green of the plants.” Further microparks will be developed in Mong Kok and Shek Tong Tsui in the coming months, giving the city a welcome breather.
See who attended the opening below:
Marisa Yiu and Jonathan Cheung
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