If you visit Central, Mong Kok, or Victoria Harbour on a Sunday, you will find that the streets and elevated walkways have been transformed into vibrant living rooms. Many domestic workers, primarily women from the Philippines and Indonesia, gather there with cardboard mats, colourful umbrellas, karaoke, and shared meals.

This unique urban phenomenon caught the attention of Irgel Enkhsaikhan and Louis Schulz from Assemble Studio, the London-based architecture and design collective and the Turner Prize winner in 2015, who came to Hong Kong to share their insights at AFTEC Jockey Club Creative Futures Project’s Knowledge Exchange Festival 2025 on May 23 and 24.

"It's really great to see people so resourceful and make use of public space in a kind of really broad definition," said Irgel, who joined Assemble Studio because of his interest in their ideas about making use of space. He praised Hong Kong's social conditions, which make it possible to inhabit the city in this way. "I suppose what is great about Hong Kong is having this kind of flexibility, slack, and culture," he said.

Fifteen years ago, Assemble Studio emerged from the aftermath of the financial crisis, founded by a group of fresh graduates. "We wanted to do something real, something that friends, family, and the wider public could enjoy," said Louis, cofounder of Assemble Studio.

The Sunday gatherings provide a relief from hard work and limited space for foreign domestic helpers, who choose to seek job opportunities in Hong Kong. On their legal rest day, they always invite their friends, bring picnic mats and food, and gather at any place on the streets of Hong Kong wherever they can sit on the ground.

Assemble Studio's ethos aligns closely with Hong Kong's Sunday gathering culture. Their projects often aim to set up social spaces for the community. "We create space," Louis emphasizes, "We would generally be advocating for people who have fewer resources."

Assemble Studio is now looking for land to build new pitches and facilities for women and non-binary soccer players across the UK, where there is a lack of facilities compared to those for men. Building on the growing popularity of women's soccer, Assemble Studio will improve access and quality for local groups of all ages and abilities.

Pitch for a Pitch: Assemble are looking for land on to build new pitches and facilities that can improve provision for girls football across the UK.

A new community space in central London called House of Annetta is under construction now as well, a five-story townhouse that Assemble Studio wants to open up as a community space. Different groups, individuals, and networks can all come here to gather, eat, talk, exhibit, listen, and make.

House of Annetta

"The inner city becomes much more monocultural," said Irgel. They want to keep activities that are "noisy or messy".

As they explored Hong Kong, they spotted another marvel: bamboo scaffolding that went all the way up a huge skyscraper. "Even just doing that in metal is very impressive. But in bamboo, you know, it's amazing." Said Louis.

Bamboo scaffolding is a centuries-old technique used in Hong Kong's public construction projects. However, according to its announcement on March 17, the Development Bureau will phase out bamboo scaffolding in public building projects, replacing it with metal scaffolding. Louis was sad about that and wondered if there were ways to make it safe.

"If there aren't those processes and it is going to be banned, it would be very sad because it is an amazing craft and it is a far more sustainable way of building scaffolding," he said.

Sustainability is also central to the philosophy of Assemble Studio, which is currently constructing a campsite in Japan. They use rice husks from local paddy fields to make insulation and the soil from the site itself to make paint and plaster. They advocate these "traditional practicing construction", said Louis, by looking to materials "that can be found either from the site directly or in the immediate local vicinity."

In construction, according to Louis, the use of virgin materials that are extracted from the earth is a major cause of climate change as well as the power that is used on heating and cooling of buildings. Therefore, Assemble Studio advocates for building things that are well insulated, use low energy throughout their life cycle, and use materials with low embodied carbon wherever possible.

Oyster, abalone shells, and marine kelp were processed and transformed into new building products in the form of plasters, panels, and building blocks when Gwangju Hanok was built.

Kelp used for Gwangju Hanok

Together with local partners, Assemble Studio also made use of the fabric and materials of the original building, using reclaimed earth and crushed hardstand in plaster, render, and mortar mixes.

Building products for Gwangju Hanok

Gwangju Hanok is a renewal of a small site in the residential neighbourhood of Dongmyeong-gong. Assemble Studio's advocacy for refurbishing and renovating existing buildings rather than demolishing them is another coincidence between their work and Hong Kong.

The Hong Kong government launched the Revitalization Scheme in 2008, which turned historic buildings into museums and cultural spaces. The Central Market, Hong Kong's first wet market, is now a centre for retailers, eateries, and public spaces. Meanwhile, the Central Police Station Compound has been transformed into an art, history, and culture centre.

In 2018, Assemble Studio built the Goldsmiths' Centre for Contemporary Art, a public art gallery in South London housed in a former Victorian bathhouse listed as Grade II. They preserved many original features, such as the metal pipes running through the building. Rather than removing or covering up the pipes, Assemble Studio members chose to paint them in contrasting colours to allow visitors to read the history of the building. They also opened up metal water tanks on the roof for the public.

Pipes in Goldsmiths' Centre for Contemporary Art

Assemble Studio believes, that when existing buildings no longer work, they should be refurbished, renovated, and turned into something else. "It could be a factory, it could be a nightclub, it could be a car park, it could be anything that, or a school or, you know, whatever. It's just about creating something that the community can benefit from," said Louis.

Regarding Hong Kong, a "dense city" with a wide range of activities, Irgel believes it's important for architects and designers to understand the local context. "Not only do you understand the site, but the local people and the local resources, the local businesses, advocates and trades," said Irgel, who has worked as a research assistant at Hong Kong University's Rural Urban Framework.

That's what Assemble Studio sticks to in its projects. It is now building a cancer care centre in the UK for charity Maggie's, hoping to provide beautiful spaces to help patients get rid of the depressing vibe in hospitals. They are using Kentish Ragstone, a type of local stone with lower energy usage compared with concrete.

This is the epitome of Assemble Studio, and one thing is always for sure. "We're not just doing buildings, but we're actually setting up social spaces for the community and for people because people are at the heart of architecture. And it's a bit of a platitude, but that's how we work," said Louis.

Picture credits: Assemble Studio

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