After paying their dues to society, former jail inmates face many challenges, one of the biggest being housing. The Society of Rehabilitation and Crime Prevention works with landlords and donors to provide safe, decent housing while they rebuild their lives, careers, and support networks. The project is named So Uk, a play on words that sounds like the name of a public housing estate, and aims to remove any stigma. Instead of a dormitory, a co-living concept is adopted, and modular living units replace simple bunk beds and partitions to offer residents more privacy than prison life. Upper and lower bunk occupants can get in and out discreetly, and the kitchen is smaller so bathrooms can be larger. Personal lockable closets renew residents’ sense of ownership of personal belongings and help them organise their future.
Studio Zhai Architectural design Studio Zhai has evolved into a multidisciplinary company in architecture, interior and product design, events, concerts, and artworks, also works for public interests and charitable causes and with NGOs and housing and training centres, community halls and memorials. Elsedesign Elsedesign, known for its architecture, exhibitions, and research, was founded by Philip Fung, currently an Adjunct Assistant Professor at the School of Architecture of the Chinese University of Hong Kong, and has won several national design awards, including Second Prize at the 2007 Shanghai Young Architects Award. Elsedesign was 2011 finalist in the Affordable Housing Competition in Shenzhen, and won the 2012 Hong Kong Global Design Award Merit Prize for Spatial Design.