The massive residential tower blocks that have ingested Hong Kong’s urban condition are colonising the entire territory. Lack of land and a growing population have provided the perfect amends to experiment with new forms of densities. Verticality, as far as building is concerned, dates back to the early 1950s, when the public sector became responsible for mass housing construction. From the original factory-shed schemes « Mark 1 » to the more recent cruciform-plan towers « Harmony block » , the strategic goal is to use prefabricated, factory-made components for the simple reasons of construction efficiency and cost. This has created a universal standardised model. Private housing production has adopted similar typologies but their development programmes go beyond the basic prototype. The private sector has demonstrated its singularity and superiority by inventing a new utopia for living, which is cleverly packaged with a marketing concept.

In the arena of private housing speculation, architecture is no longer the art of designing buildings, rather it provides the means to support an exclusive concept - an expression of collective fantasy. Each residential development forms a group of towers mounted on a podium where a highly diverse range of functional activities takes place. The residential dwelling unit or cell on offer in these complexes is more or less the same. Only the podium becomes the major selling point, attempting to simulate paradise, where developers sell a dream. This miracle box effectively reminds and reinforces class and status with all its clichés. Like theme parks, the basic structure of the development is covered with an embellishment of screens, walls, lights, mirrors, water and sounds. These decorative elements refer to both fashionable style and to images of luxury. Developers lure buyers with images such as Hawaiian resort, Utopian garden, Medieval castle, Antique Greece, Spanish style, Renaissance and Baroque. The marketing vocabulary flatters the potential client further. For example, the brochure for the Castello development promotes its royal sentiment, Imperial attention, Aristocratic enjoyment, the Envy of Royalty, Noble style, a King’s residence, etc.

Residential developments are usually built on prized sites. Special value is allotted to isolated yet well connected locations and this is reinforced with propaganda imagery of solitary blocks in the middle of rural jungle. Of course in reality we all know that these new estates are stacked alongside many others and are magnets of enormous infrastructural development and shopping/leisure activities.
To alleviate the stress of dense urban living, each housing block is equipped with a full range of services for its hyper-refined residents. These facilities replicate a palatial hotel style in order to create a VIP sensation.

The 24-hour services generally include:
Baby-sitting - Limousine service - Clubhouse - Maid service - Carpark - Maintenance and car beauty - Emergency home repairs - Newspapers and magazines delivery - Laundry - Shuttle bus service

Detached from street level, the roof of the podium is designed as an outdoor playground and garden where collective activities take place. The clubhouse facilities re-emphasise this idea of a luxury hotel as a model for mass housing with education programmes and sports - meaning physical culture and relaxation. The main feature is always the swimming pool. Indoor activities are connected from the landscape garden to specific additional buildings or to the podium’s inner bowels. Simulation and virtuality are often used to compensate for an evident lack of space for wider activities such as skiing or golf.

The list of activities includes:
Indoor swimming pool - Outdoor swimming pool - Jacuzzi - Children pool - Air loungers - Gymnasium centre -Multi-intelligence children kingdom - Video golf room - Children play area - Exercise room - Covered and outdoor tennis courts - Sauna room - Steam room - Tai Chi room - Elderly exercise - Squash court - Multi-propose purpose hall - Basketball court - Mini soccer - Badminton court - Rest area - Ballet room - Toys library - Snooker room - Table tennis room - Aerobic/dance room

Each residential block is a bloated private enclave; the programme of pleasures is engaged in a hostile relationship with life outside. Even the height of the perimeter wall and its successive security gates appear to be directly inspired by the fortress model. Using the latest technologies, closed circuit television surveillance is monitored from a central control room and can be viewed on residents’ TV sets. The concept of totally controlled living is taken to new extremes with the use of mobile phones as remote control devices to organize and manage every single aspect of living.
The private apartment is the sole refuge within these massive developments. It no longer matters if the dwelling space is minimal; each inhabitant is free to use the entire complex as an extension of his/her own private space. As a result of the maximum optimization of the tower plan, the 1/8 harmony cell is the minimum unit capable of being systematized in any scheme, like height individual houses tacked onto a central core on each floor. A typical apartment layout comprises a living/dining room, kitchen, one or two bathrooms, two/three bedrooms - all accommodated within approximately 55-70sq m. Efficiency rates of floor areas are maximized by the reduction of circulation and living spaces. The bedroom is the most functional room in the apartment while the living/dining area is regarded as a showpiece. In addition, imported brand name products define luxurious modern lifestyle. A typical menu of fixtures and fittings are:

Bathrooms
Bath tub ~ Roca
Water closet ~ Bellavista
Wash hand basin = Jacob Delafon
Shower mixer = Hansgrohe
Bath mixer = Hansgrohe
Gas water heater = Rinnai
Exhaust fan = National
Shaving mirror =Windsich

Kitchens
Cabinet = Schmitd
Counter top = Surell
Sink mixer = Hansgrohe
Electric water heater = Electrolux
Exhaust hood = Whirlpool
Gas cooker = Technogas
Refrigerator = Siemens
Microwave oven =Whirlpool

These new design concepts for residential tower blocks have rendered the former role of the architect as redundant. Perpetuating the illusion of « Home », is big business for real estate developers. They have stretched the private boundaries of the house to absorb the public into a collective realm. The fashionable vertical living environment with its cloned family stereotype functions as a mechanism of consumer society, offering a standard product with remarkable packaging to justify its exorbitant price. Chic ghettos for very rich families - where the only criteria here is money - are spreading in the urban landscape, bringing another set of battles for speculation.

Finally, lack of land and mass production is not simply a real estate issue. Homogeneity and collectivity, versus diversity and individuality, fulfils China’s political strategy - how to combine the communist and capitalist systems.