CITYUNSEEN.HK is an educational initiative of the WYNG Foundation that explores the unseen corners of Hong Kong’s built environment, past and present. We invite readers to decode the novel design strategies, problem-solving attempts and social history hidden in the urban environment we live in.
An abandoned, hollowed out fire hydrant sits by an overgrown path in a forest. Its red paint, though..
If you walk down main roads in the New Territories, you might notice buildings called “Vegetable Depots” near..
If you follow the Western Harbour Walk on the Hong Kong Island Coastal Trail, you will pass the..
The year is 1869. Hong Kong has been under British rule for 28 years, and it has been..
For the 2024/25 Coastal Trail Challenge, we are collaborating with Parks and Trails to highlight stories behind some..
If you have done the Hong Kong Island Coastal Trail, you’ll find that you can walk almost the..
Perhaps you have seen this somewhere: a set of metal double doors, set into the wall of a..
Part 1 of this series recounted the disappearance of small urban streams that were channelled underground during the..
If you look at an old map of Hong Kong, one of the first things you will notice..
In North Point, Wharf Road and City Garden Road are named after two adjacent private housing estates, even..
At first, there does not seem to be anything unusual about the tea shop at 14 Bonham Street,..
Between Shek Kip Mei and Prince Edward is a small hill known as Woh Chai Shan or Bishop..
On a map of Hong Kong published almost 430 years ago in the Ming Dynasty book Yue Daji..
In present-day Hong Kong, pre-war shophouses (“tong laus”) are relatively rare; in 2021, the Urban Studies Institute documented..
Throughout its history, Hong Kong has seen multiple waves of redevelopment. Out of the roughly 41,000 buildings in..
If architecture is the art of designing spaces for humans, then hostile architecture (which is also called defensive..
If you look up while walking down the street, you may notice something unusual. This is a cell..
In 1950, I. B. Trevor, the general manager of the Kowloon-Canton Railway (KCR) wrote, “The world, as we..
In Part 1 of this series, we explored the many leftover triangles of Prince Edward—triangle buildings, triangle parks,..
If you travel along Nathan Road heading north, at Prince Edward, the entire street grid bends 45 degrees..
On Western Street in Sai Ying Pun is a footbridge that makes no sense. There is a wheelchair..
