Hak Nam - City of Darkness (update 26.04.13, p.18)

[Zafarelli]

The Kowloon Walled City in Hongkong has been fascinating me for years now, and I've always wondered how it could be made into something playable, inside and outside. Then, a couple of months ago, I received a book on the topic, full of incredibly impressive photographies, and interviews with people who have lived there. This finally pushed me to try my luck... I haven't entirely decided what to do with it in the end, but that has always been second to me

I'd like to start with a couple of pictures of the real thing. Quite a lot of the pictures found on the internet come from said book, City of Darkness: Life In Kowloon Walled City. Highly recommended.






My project will be a cube cut out from the Walled City. The street facades will form one edge, while the other three vertical faces will be open corridors, living quarters, factories, Mahjongg parlours, opium dens and whathaveyou (did I mention that this will be a rather long-term project?). I'll confine myself to a footprint of something like 50x50 cm, and will only build 8 or maybe 10 storeys, not the full 14.

There is not too much to see at the moment, only the street facades in various stages of completion, temporarily clamped together.






I'm not entirely certain how to convey the crammed and oppressive atmosphere, but we'll see

Thoughts, opinions and/or criticism welcome as always.

[Steve F]

Good lord, now that's a project and a half!  Apart from the sheer amount of work involved, making it playable will involve some careful thought and planning.  Best of luck!

The facades look great.

[Wirelizard]

If you haven't seen it already, there's a mid-80s German documentary on the Walled City that's up on YouTube in it's entirety, subtitled into English for those of us who don't sprechten sie Deutsch.

Here's part 1, the other three parts can be gotten to from there:


Also, a massive Japanese-language cross-section "map" of the Walled City has been making the rounds of the internet recently; it's nearly 5000px wide so I won't do a direct image link, but here it is.

Looking forward to seeing how this develops! Is the inside of the "cube" going to be playable, or just the outer edges?

[Prof.Witchheimer]

Madness! You're a genius, Jens

[Zafarelli]

Madness! You're a genius, Jens

I'm with you on the madness part. About the genius we'll see when I'm done

[commissarmoody]

My god its a hive!
Block wars any one?
Are you thinking sci-fi? Current? Post-apoc setting?

[Cherno]

Great project! The city looks lie it came straight from some Sci-Fi movie. I think the fascades need tons of AC units and cables everywhere, everything has been jury-rigged and there should be a sense of claustrophobia.

[Zafarelli]

Thanks, people!

I won't build a full interior though, but something along the lines of the pieces shown in the Art-Meets-Modelling thread. Rooms will be a bit deeper than corridors, of course, and I'll add a few fake corridors for more optical depth. But I guess the actual game will take place only on the outer edges, and probably the roof. I hope that tactical depth will arise from enough possibilities to switch from one storey to another.

Commissarmoody, since the actual complex was demolished in '93, "current" is out of the question But I guess it'll turn into some what-if thing, if only to allow me to build (and add) more technical gadgets.

Cherno, more AC units have already been added, and cabling will follow once its painted.

[commissarmoody]

Yes, that would kind of stop it from being current. 

[Modhail]

Zafarelli, I completely understand the fascination!

Aside from the very interesting real-world history, the imagery is like bladerunner crossed with necromunda crossed with Judge Dredd...

I'd love to see what someone of your skills will make of it...

Maybe you could have both the sense of claustrophobia and accessibility by hinging (parts) like a folding screen or tryptich?
It looks like you're using mdf for the structure, that should be sturdy enough for such things.
I think a solid block with a 50x50 floorplan would lose too much playing space. Having it fold open onto a 25x100 "dollhouse" gives you lots of rooms and corridors to game in... And for quick games (and transport) you just fold it shut and only use the exterior/top.
Of alternately you could take a "slice from the pie" and end up with a U-shaped building, with the interiors on the inside of the "U"

Will you have it finished for Crisis?  

BTW, I think the  "current" version would make a nice table as well. Seeing how it is now a massive landscaped Jiangnan style park...

[Hammers]

Good lord, another elephantiasis project on LAF. Great source of inspiration there, Jens.

[Henrix]

That looks like it'll be absolutely awesome!

But, how will you be able to move the figures? Tight space between eight story buildings seems tricky.

[Captain Blood]

Dear God, Jens, that is genius    

I hope you're going to infuse it with the aroma of Chinese cooking  

[Zafarelli]

Modhail, I've already discussed a hinged dollhouse with a few people. Of course you are right that most of the inside of a solid cube is wasted space, but I like the possibilities of a non-folding solution better. But then, nothing is settled yet Ready for Crisis? Let me think: errrm... no. But I might bring the facades just to show off

Henrix, you are not supposed to move between the buildings, but inside them. I found this picture of a paper mock-up I built a couple of weeks ago, just to see if this would make sense at all. I hope this makes it a bit more clear what I'm up to.


Of course, I hope the final layout will be much more like the picture Wirelizard linked to, not just corridors


Richard, I haven't yet thought about incorporating smell. Given that there were quite a lot of food factories inside the complex, and ventilation could not have been too good, the smell must have been more medieval than something we associate with Chinese cooking these days

But I've already acquired some Chinese 10000$ bank notes, issued by The Hell Bank, which will be used for keeping score. Also, my cousin is currently in Hongkong, so I hope she will take pictures of real Chinese signs for me. Otherwise, I'm afraid I have to revert to the menu of the Chinese takeaway up the street. Might be weird, though, having an opium den with a sign that says "Enjoy your meal!" or "Roast duck with mushrooms"

[Dr. The Viking]

Wonderful as always Monsieur Zaf.