Urban hyper-connections of Hong Kong. Toward a vertical fabric for the contemporary metropolis

Hong Kong, Shanghai, Seoul and Tokyo are just some of the Asian cities that, in recent decades, are experimenting new characters of vertical densification. In this sense, the present essay fits within a theoretical research aimed to type-morphological experimentation of the skyscraper that highlights the most recent transformations of the vertical growth process. Hong Kong shows how vertical growth is linked to a phenomenon of “internalization” of the routes: the presence of an internal circulation system for the buildings, as we shall see, preserves a strong relationship with the city’s external mobility. Therefore it becomes essential to observe the multiple relationships established between individual skyscrapers and urban fabric through horizontal connective structures. For example, in the Central and Admiralty districts, there is a significant implementation of connective elements that “tie” the skyscrapers one to each other, linking them, at the same time, to the infrastructural network. The present contribution aims to order these aspects within a theory of “Vertical Fabric”, in other words, a system that examines the inner structures of single skyscrapers (and those between different skyscrapers) according to a morpho-typological criterion.