City-scape for FDHs

Foreign Domestic Helpers (FDHs) have been serving the Hong Kong community and the number of workers is increasing constantly. Some of them are treated badly and lived in very small spaces in their employers’ homes. They can relieve from their work only when they go to gatherings during Sunday day-off. However, there are constant opposing voices against the illegal occupation of spaces and no proper protection to them. I am looking for better solutions of recreating the social devices(/space) that serves the FDHs as major users during weekends.

[WHAT]

Hong Kong has more than 336,000 foreign domestic helpers (FDHs) which comprise 10% of the total working population¹. A recent study has shown that they are exploited by the local agencies or their employers. They live in small rooms and some of them are not free to leave their employer’s home during their time-off². The rest of them, who are “lucky” to have their day off once a week in the weekend, would gather around public places such as roadsides and footbridges for their socializing events. There are no guidelines and no rules for them to follow when they use tarp and cardboards to create their little intimate spaces to carry out their activities. And there is no hygienic concern and protection against pollutants as well. When there is any public event like protests, they have to move to other places to make ways for the event. Some local people get used to the situation but some other think these FDHs are just eyesores to the area³. Nevertheless, there is no official solution provided for them and they have to continue their “habits” in these unprotected open areas.

According to Su-Ying Lee, co-curator of recent exhibition How to Make Space⁴ organized by Rear View, there are several ways for women to be in public and she summarizes as such:

Lee has admitted that FDHs in public spaces are illegal and radical as they refuse to be invisible. She commented the public space they occupied as “space of self-determination”. The self-determination is closely related to the inner motivation or relaxation of oneself. As early 20th-century famous American psychologist Abraham Maslow suggested in his Hierarchy of Needs, “shelter, safety, hygiene and comfort” cultivate the basic functions for human motivation. A free public space that well-served different needs of the helpers can help them recover from the suffocating work-life during holidays.

The four points of Maslow are the basis of the Project. Since FDHs are the target users, corresponding local customs and cultures should be accounted for the background information on the Project. Then, a more relevant outcome for their social activities is anticipated. The scale of the Project would be ranged from human-scale (mobile furniture) to community scale (temporary structure).

[HOW]

First, the local customs of FDHs from different places are studied.

Second, documentation of FDHs activities is carried out. (Photos, drawings, sketching, movies, interviews)

Third, specific site analysis is carried out and precedents are studied.

Fourth, preliminary proposal in human scale is delivered.

Fifth, preliminary proposal undergoes development and testing on site.

Last, proposal in community scale is constructed.

Fig. 1 FDHs are being accused of occupying the public area during weekends with cardboards and plastic bags that create a bad visual impact to the city. They are also blamed for blocking some narrow pathways in major traffic area in Central.

Fig. 2 Reported by a local newspaper in 2012 that local singer/artist Purple Lee asked her domestic helper to sleep inside the toilet.

Fig. 3 How to Make Space exhibition in Central Market Gallery.

1. Forbes, John Kang, “Study Reveals 95% of Filipino, Indonesian Helpers in Hong Kong Exploited or Forced Labor”, 18 March 2016
2. Hong Kong Federation of Asian Domestic Workers – Progressive Labor Union of Domestic Workers in Hong Kong, “Between a rock and a hard place”, October 2016, P6
3. There are protests by local Hong Kongers against FDHs occupying public places in Central in the 80s and early 90s, as reported by local newspaper SCMP. Nicole Constable, “Maid to Order in Hong Kong, Stories of Filipina Workers”, Cornell University Press, P3
4. How to Make Space is an exhibition about female migrant workers in Hong Kong and how they use temporary structure to create community. Exhibition on view from 25^th June to 23^rd July 2016, http://rearviewprojects.com/works/how-to-make-space/
5. (Fig. 1) 探射燈：外傭逼爆中環政府罪魁, http://orientaldaily.on.cc/cnt/news/20110603/00176_096.html, Oriental Daily, 3^rd June 2011, Accessed 3^rd November 2016
6. (Fig. 2) 外傭棺材房藏身組合櫃 瞓廚廁洗衣機頂不人道住宿普遍, http://life.mingpao.com/cfm/dailynews3b.cfm?File=20120704/nalgg/gga1_er.txt, Ming Pao, 4^th July 2012, Accessed 3^rd November 2016

Reference:

Schouwburgplein (Theatre Square) Rotterdam – West 8 Urban Design & Landscape Architecture

Open space in western HafenCity Hamburg – EMBT Arquitectes Associats of Barcelona

Mobile lingerie shop for online retailers – SAW and MOA