URBAN CUPOLA

Urban Cupola, designed by Matt Choy, reimagines the overlooked rooftops of Hong Kong as productive, community-driven spaces. Positioned in Sai Ying Pun along Des Voeux Road West, one of the city’s busiest dried seafood districts, the project proposes a sustainable architecture strategy that merges tradition, craftsmanship, and environmental responsiveness.

Hong Kong’s rapid vertical growth has compressed daily life into narrow streets and confined interiors. In neighborhoods famous for Hoi Mei (dried seafood), merchants often spill into public walkways to dry and store their goods due to limited interior space and heavy shading from surrounding towers. Urban Cupola addresses this challenge through parasitic architecture, an intervention that attaches to an existing host building and activates its unused rooftop.

Parasitic Architecture as Urban Strategy

The host building, Yick Fung Building, accommodates a Hoi Mei shop at street level with residential units above. Its accessible flat roof becomes the foundation for this lightweight addition. Instead of treating rooftops as residual infrastructure, the design transforms them into a shared platform for production, relaxation, and gardening.

This sustainable architecture proposal operates as a mediator between merchants and residents. By lifting the drying process away from congested streets, the structure creates a safer and more hygienic environment for food preparation while offering residents a calm retreat above the city’s noise.

Program: Drying Hoi Mei and Rooftop Gardening

The project is organized into two primary zones:

Drying and Storage: The structure cantilevers outward from the building edge. Hoi Mei trays are stored beneath the platform and can be lifted using a simple pulley mechanism. Merchants can adjust tray lengths depending on bamboo spans, allowing flexibility based on storage needs. Once drying is complete, trays slide back into protected storage below, ensuring cleanliness and safety.

Plantation and Community Space: On the opposite side, bamboo racks support planters that form a living green wall. Residents can water and maintain rooftop vegetation, cultivating small gardens rarely possible at ground level in Hong Kong. Beneath the platform, tools and trays are stored efficiently within a modular framework.

This dual program reflects a contemporary sustainable architecture approach, combining economic function with environmental and social value.

Material Logic and Structural Feasibility

Urban Cupola embraces bamboo as its primary structural material, drawing from Hong Kong’s long-standing tradition of bamboo scaffolding. Lightweight yet strong, bamboo members are bolted to an aluminum base plate and secured with metal band fasteners, ensuring modularity and ease of repair.

The roof is formed using a translucent white tarp supported by bamboo framing. This allows daylight penetration while providing protection from sun and rain. Split bamboo elements act as gutters, channeling rainwater into a collection tank below. Collected water is reused for cleaning trays and irrigating rooftop plants, reinforcing the project’s sustainable architecture ethos.

The aluminum base and integrated water tank function as counterweights, stabilizing the outward-extending trays. By relying on local craftsmanship and familiar construction methods, the proposal becomes both feasible and culturally grounded.

Collective Memory and Urban Identity

Urban Cupola is not only a structural intervention but also a cultural statement. Bamboo scaffolding has shaped Hong Kong’s skyline for decades; here, it evolves from temporary construction tool to permanent architectural language. The parasitic structure appears to cling to the façade, echoing the visual memory of scaffolding while introducing permanence and purpose.

Inside, vegetation softens the industrial context. The scent of dried seafood mingles with greenery, creating a sensory environment that reconnects inhabitants to local traditions. Residents can sit, rest, and observe the city from above, while merchants continue their craft in a cleaner, organized setting.

Redefining Rooftops Through Sustainable Architecture

Urban Cupola demonstrates how sustainable architecture can emerge from small-scale, adaptive interventions rather than large redevelopment schemes. By activating the vertical dimension of the city, it transforms underutilized rooftops into productive, social, and ecological assets.

Through parasitic architecture, Matt Choy proposes a model where urban density does not erase tradition but instead supports its evolution. In doing so, Urban Cupola offers a vision for Hong Kong where cultural practices, environmental responsibility, and community life coexist above the streets.