7 Mallory Street is one of the few remaining shophouse clusters in Hong Kong. Built in the 1920s, exemplary for a dynamic and vibrant part of Hong Kong’s history, but slowly deteriorated. Almost a century later, the Urban Renewal Authority (URA) took on the property as its first heritage revitalisation project and asked Neighbourhood Innovation Lab and iDiscover to come up with a concept for the repurposing and rebranding of this Grade II historical building.

Community-led cultural mapping formed the basis of the design proposal and development framework. Reaching out to four distinctly different local communities to find common answers: How can this unique property best serve the Wan Chai community? How can we integrate the historical narratives into the present cultural context? How can we capitalise on the architectural features for placemaking?