Tetraphobia

Role: Designer Team Leader @ RAD Ltd.
Location: Kowloon Cultural District, Hong Kong
Client: Hong Kong Institute of Architecture (HKIA)
Year: 2009
Status:
Size: 25sqm
Venue: Hong Kong Shenzhen Bi-city Biennale 2009 – City Mobilization – BYOB (Bring Your Own Biennale)
Program:

RAD has been operating in the matrix of Asian Urban Fabric from the start. We look to discover urban clues and logic – some may seem illogical, some extremely clever, but they all contribute to the living fabric of this surprising city.
One of the strategies we have always been curious about is the ‘missing floor number’ in buildings, especially those built after the 80s…a trend that has become more and more exaggerated in recent times. How is it that a 44-story building can have a number 88th floor? And that a series of buildings can have a Block number 7, but a total of only six blocks? In a recent development on Conduit Road, forty-two unlucky floor numbers were omitted from the project.
As this new system is only related to existing lucky and unlucky numbers in East Asian culture, perhaps maximizing the lucky floor numbers that a building can possess was the logical next step. Will there soon be buildings with floors numbered only with the numbers two, three, five, six, seven, eight, and nine?
And, rather than seeing this as just a mere result of superstition, can we turn this trend into an urban opportunity? While endangered numbers like 4 and 44 are slowly disappearing from our numerical ecosystem, can we resurrect these numbers and create a new urban catalyst?
With these questions, we start on our journey to conquer the new urban Tetraphobia.