Fall Issue, 2014

be building furniture for free for five ethnic minority families in Kwai Chung. Kan said most of those families are too poor to afford furniture. One single mother in particular has four sons but has no desks for them to do homework at home. “We can’t create a very spacious home for them because we can’t buy or rent a flat for them,” said Kan, who is also a town planner. “But we can try to improve their living environment.” The group emphasises that the families involved will have a say on how the furniture will look. Participating students and designers are expected to sketch and create furniture with their families. “Of course we can find some second hand furniture,” said Kan. “But I think if we respect them, we should design for them according to their needs. We can also take their culture into consideration.” The furniture project has recruited 24 students studying at the Faculty of Architecture at HKU. Kan and Chan are still heading the association, but the pair hopes to gradually hand over their leadership roles. “Our ultimate dream is that student bodies will run the project by themselves year after year,” said Chan. “We want to keep this alive at universities so that the passion of designing for good can be passed on to the younger ones.” The group plans to run both local and overseas services concurrently. It is working to explore school building or renovation projects in Nepal or Cambodia next year. www.beyondthewall.asia A service trip to Nepal in January 2014. A stool-making practice prior to actual furniture building. Five co-founders of Beyond the Wall are all HKU graduates. (From left) Amy Chan; Carol Kan; Tiffany Yeung 楊嘉恩 (BSc(Surv)2007); Shyam Sunder Kawan (Nepal Architect) (MSc (UrbanPlanning) 2012); Fung Chi-keong 馮志強 (BA(ArchStud) 2008; MSc (UrbanPlanning) 2012) 37 SERVICE 100