Gold Social Design · 2026
Pocket Spaces Social Playbook
by Lee Ngai Man
- A' Design Award 2026 Gold Winner in Social Design
- Awarded April 15, 2026
- CLIENT: Estate Of Mine
- Estimated Number of Design Views: 59,687
- Verification code 6BED26DF45 · Verify this award
About Pocket Spaces Social Playbook
Pocket Spaces is a social intervention guide for high density public housing estates. The design turns narrow corridors and stairwells into shared social spaces. A 12-page portable manual printed on recycled paper leads residents step by step, from spotting neglected areas to building simple modular units. Assembly uses wood collected from community waste, cable ties and simple clamps, so elderly residents and children can complete a unit in 30 minutes without special tools. Pocket Spaces supports spatial autonomy and neighborly bonds in communities facing redevelopment.
Pak Hei Wang's Pocket Spaces Social Playbook emerges from contemporary participatory design practice, embodying the growing movement toward democratized placemaking methodologies that empower communities to transform overlooked urban interstices into vibrant gathering spaces. The publication system demonstrates sophisticated editorial design thinking through its modular three-component structure, each tabbed section serving distinct functional purposes within a unified visual identity that balances playful accessibility with professional authority. The chromatic strategy proves particularly accomplished, deploying high-saturation orange as a unifying ground color that commands attention while signaling warmth, energy, and approachability, qualities essential for materials intended to facilitate community engagement processes. Typographic treatment reveals careful consideration of bilingual communication requirements, with Latin and logographic scripts coexisting harmoniously through thoughtful scale relationships and spatial distribution that honors both linguistic traditions without hierarchical privileging. The illustrative approach employs isometric projection to render architectural concepts with clarity and dimensional legibility, while the stylized human figures inhabiting these drawn spaces communicate social activation without prescribing specific demographic identities, fostering universal identification. Material choices evident in the photography, including the substantial paper stock and utilitarian binder clip, suggest publications designed for active field use rather than passive shelf display, reinforcing the toolkit's practical orientation toward implementation rather than mere documentation. The deliberate staging upon raw concrete establishes conceptual resonance with the urban contexts these pocket spaces interventions address, while the careful lighting and precise object arrangement demonstrate photographic craft that elevates functional print materials to objects worthy of aesthetic contemplation. What possibilities might emerge when design methodologies become accessible instruments for collective spatial imagination?
Press Kit
- Unique Properties
- This project is a social intervention guide developed for high-density housing estates. It establishes an open infrastructure system using assembly protocols based on grassroots materials. This empowers elderly residents and children to transform narrow 2 meter corridors and stairwells into co-creation spaces. It is a social resilience tool characterized by zero marginal cost and rapid scalability.
- Dimensions & Packaging
- The toolkit uses a nested frame structure of 148 x 210 mm, 105 x 148 mm, and 125 x 176 mm. This ensures the design is portable, while the lightweight materials are easy for elderly people and children to carry. The structures are also designed to be easily relocated during cleaning or maintenance periods.
- Tags
- Social design, social impact, spatial justice, systemic design, discursive design, participatory design, community design
- Production Technology
- The core product is a 12-page A5 portable manual printed on 100% recycled paper. Physical units utilize local material cycles, such as common public estate items and wood collected directly from community waste. Assembly employs low-barrier connections, such as industrial cable ties and simple clamps. This allows non-professionals to conduct community-making in 30 minutes without specialized tools.
- Design Challenge
- The primary challenge was moving beyond the traditional helicopter model of social housing intervention which often relies on one off actions. This project focused on building deep trust through 700 hours of field research to address the apathy caused by extreme density and upcoming redevelopment. It shifts the designer role from designing for to community led design. The project acts as a mobile preservation system that allows social relationships to migrate and integrate into housing plans.
- Project Duration
- This organic system launched on January 30, 2025 and evolves alongside public housing redevelopment. The first phase is located in Wah Fu Estate. The second phase will be exhibited at the Hong Kong Polytechnic University School of Design in June 2026. The third phase will expand to other high density communities like Mei Lam and Butterfly Estate in 2027 to establish a cross regional social design network.
- Operation Flow
- The Pocket Space Playbook is a portable toolkit designed to help residents transform lifeless public housing corridors into vibrant social hubs. The guide uses a step-by-step approach to help users identify neglected spaces and apply modular grassroots wisdom. This method is effective because it triggers a fundamental community shift: residents realize they have the right to define their own spaces, creating a bottom-up, sustainable ecosystem.
- Research
- This action research project addresses human made ignorance and spatial injustice in high density urban environments. Through 700 hours of immersive ethnography and field research involving 500 residents, we found that urban apathy is a cognitive bias. Neighbors often overestimate the reluctance of others to interact. Public housing lacks the spatial rights to maintain connections rather than the connections themselves. The project resulted in a 40 percent increase in neighborly interactions.
- Inspiration
- This design originates from ethnographic observations of the extreme living density in Hong Kong where space averages 15.5 square meters per person. Through 700 hours of field research and 500 resident interviews, we discovered spontaneous space hacking in corridors and stairwells to build neighborhood bonds. The core inspiration involves translating scattered grassroots wisdom into a systematic social intervention guide. We used an high participation in the manual to awaken spatial autonomy and empower neglected spaces.
- Image Credits
- Image # 1: Designer Pak Hei Wang, Hiu Man Chiu, Julytha Nga Suet Ho, Ngai Man Lee, Kai Yin Lin, Social Pocket, 2026.
Image # 2: Designer Ngai Man Lee, Hiu Man Chiu, Julytha Nga Suet Ho, Kai Yin Lin, Pak Hei Wang, Social Pocket 2, 2026.
Image # 3: Designer Pak Hei Wang, Hiu Man Chiu, Julytha Nga Suet Ho, Ngai Man Lee, Kai Yin Lin, Engage Material, 2026.
Image # 4: Designer Ngai Man Lee, Hiu Man Chiu, Julytha Nga Suet Ho, Kai Yin Lin, Pak Hei Wang, Informal Knowledge, 2026.
Image # 5: Designer Kai Yin Lin, Hiu Man Chiu, Julytha Nga Suet Ho, Ngai Man Lee, Pak Hei Wang, Social Engage, 2026.