​The female as a “homemaker” is traditionally associated with the private setting of household space, yet domestic life is not confined to the home but also active in urban public spaces. Markets in the city are the prime location where domesticity intersects with public life. However, the space ‒ and therefore the experience ‒ is often designed with a male perspective with little empathy for domestic life (Kern, 2019). How does the design of public markets dictate a gendered experience? And how do women in domestic roles negotiate their place in the public realm? Developing from the PI’s research on gender roles and identity through the architecture of homes, this project expands to investigate the meaning of domesticity as it manifests in the public realm.​

 

In Objects of Desire: Design and Society, Adrian Forty (1986) traces the design history of 18th-20th century consumer products to illustrate the progress and changes in modern society, where the subject of study is not individual designer artefacts but a class of products and generic settings. This project takes a similar approach to examining public markets in Hong Kong as an urban archaeology practice to decode the gendered meaning of everyday space and found objects. Through architectural documentation of market design and participatory fieldwork to collect household objects from market users and vendors, the project will present a narrative about the public life of female homemakers, following the concept of the “curiosity cabinet” developed by the team (Atelier In) and showcased in deTour 2022. The tentative study site will be the Shatin Market, which opened in the 1980s during the first-generation Hong Kong New Town development, representing an inclusive social spectrum of local residents.​

 

As an urban archaeology exercise through the lens of female homemakers, this project not only challenges the gender distinction encoded in public space but also captures a specific urban living model that Hong Kong was built upon and remains relatable and influential to local and regional development.​

 

Forty, A. (1986). Objects of desire: Design and Society since 1750. Thames and Hudson.Kern, L. (2021). Feminist city: Claiming space in a man-made world. Verso Books.