Goldenmile

Goldenmile is a view of Hong Kong's decaying Chunking Mansions - a historic accomodation complex which is sandwiched between Kowloon's luxury Sheraton and Holiday Inn hotels. The image, taken from a hotel room, contains elements of the interior as well as reflections from the window.

Built in the 1960s, the Mansions were a common Hong Kong architectural scheme that misappropriated the European notion of mansion as the palatial dwelling of the aristocracy. In Chunking Mansions, a mixture of lower-cost accomodation, guesthouses and sweat-shops are tightly packed into one block which now carries traces of repeated re-structuring as well as the effects of the humid monsoon climate. The confinement and contrast of the Mansions and hotels signal both the pressures on land usage and the diminishing life cycles of architecture, as well as the polarisation of wealth in this exploding economy.