欧洲太空总署（ESA）受到乐高积木的启发，将一颗 45 亿年前的陨石作为原料，以 3D 方式列印成为积木，模拟建造月球发射台和太空人避难所的建筑材料，这些积木于 6/24 至 9/20 在丹麦乐高之家与全球精选的乐高商店展出，期待能够过这次计画，激励年轻的建筑家与科学家。

当欧洲太空总署开始探索如何在月球上建造建筑物时，考虑到运输的问题，他们想到使用覆蓋于月球表面的「表岩屑」（regolith）作为建筑材料，但除了在 1969 年阿波罗计画中搜集的样本，地球上没有任何的表岩屑。

为了面对即将到来的建筑原型设计和测试，欧洲太空总署在没有材料的情况下，发挥了创意思考，他们以最接近表岩屑的「陨石尘」取代，选用于 2000 年在非洲西北部发现、距今已有 45 亿年历史的陨石，含有金属晶粒（metal grains）和陨石球粒（Chondrule）等太空物质。

透过陨石尘与聚乳酸（Polylactide）和表岩屑类似物混合，研究小组 3D 列印出外型与乐高积木相同的「陨石积木」，其性能与一般积木相同。欧洲太空总署成功地将这些陨石积木「咔哒」一声扣在一起，并成为团队在地球上测试太空建筑技术的极佳材料。

欧洲太空总署科学家 Aidan Cowley 解释：「从来没有人在月球上建造过建筑，因此我们不仅要研究如何建造，还要研究用什么来建造，因为我们不能携带任何材料。我和我的团队热爱创造，因此萌生了太空尘埃能否形成类似于乐高积木的想法，这样我们就能测试不同的建筑技术。结果令人惊叹，虽然这些积木看起来比平常的粗糙，但重要的是离合器的动力仍然起作用，能进一步测试设计。」

为了展示开发月球基础建设的阶段性成就，其中 15 块陨石积木于 6/24 至 9/20 在丹麦的乐高之家和全球精选的乐高商店中展出。

美国 USA
The LEGO Store, Mall of America, Bloomington, Minnesota
The LEGO Store, Disney Springs, Florida
The LEGO Store, Water Tower Place, Chicago
The LEGO Store, Disneyland Resort, California
The LEGO Store, 5th Avenue, New York

加拿大 Canada
The LEGO Store, West Edmonton

英国 UK
The LEGO Store, Leicester Square, London

德国 Germany
The LEGO Store, München Zentrum
The LEGO Store, Cologne

丹麦 Denmark
The LEGO Store, Copenhagen
LEGO House, Billund

西班牙 Spain
The LEGO Store, Barcelona

法国 France
The LEGO Store, Paris

荷兰 Netherlands
The LEGO Store, Amsterdam

澳洲 Australia
The LEGO Store, Sydney

参考资料：LEGO

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最近，我与几位顶尖香港设计师们碰面，发现了一个有趣的现象。尽管这些设计师名气响亮，现在的工作量却大幅减少，发现最主要是因为香港政局和市场环境的变化，特别是中国市场的波动。这些香港设计师朋友的案子有 90% 是来自中国，随着中国市场的缩减，他们也面临非常大的生存压力，不得不裁员和大幅降低设计费用，据说有的设计费已减少 25%。

相反地，许多香港设计公司现在开始转向台湾市场，这提醒我们：台湾的经济景气依然强劲，设计需求也不断增加，这是我们提升设计能力、利用经济优势的好机会。如果我们能展现出色的设计能力，业主会发现台湾已有优秀的设计人才，这有助于将更多的设计机会保留在台湾。

香港设计师与建筑师的现况挑战

香港的情况则有所不同，香港设计师有时扮演地产商的辅助角色，由于房价高昂，业主更关注如何最大化利用空间，而非设计质量。例如，香港的房价已经达到每坪三百万台币，等同于台湾豪宅大坪数的等级，但实际上房屋面积却很小，由于成本高昂，开发商为了让人们买得起，就创造了小户型。根据香港法律，新建住宅的最小面积需要有 280 平方英呎，约 7.86 坪，以确保人们至少有一个合适的家。每一坪室内都极为珍贵，使得业主期望所有空间都能得到最大利用，设计因此成为次要考量。这样的环境对香港的设计师和建筑师来说，是一种不同的挑战。

香港历史建物的新故事：监狱与法院

不过，有一个好消息是，我跟香港建筑媒体聊天时，都注意到香港最近开始重视历史建筑和文化遗产，这是一个新趋势。过去他们习惯拆除旧建筑盖高楼，但现在开始有一些改变。例如，域多利监狱改造成的 Dragonfly 酒吧，由著名室内设计师 Ashley Sutton 设计，以绿松石和铸铁蜻蜓作为主题。当我走进时被惊艳到了，虽然仍受到旧建筑的限制，但他们巧妙地将小窗户改成 DJ 台，使得空间的利用和呈现变得很精彩。

当我从狭小的监狱空间走了几步路，瞬间置身于两层楼挑高的宽敞空间，此时发现另一个空间是将最高法院附属楼及西区裁判法院改造成的 Magistracy Dining Room 餐厅，由著名室内设计师 Joyce Wang 设计，她保留且修复了原有拱门结构以及天花板，突显这个场所曾经的地位，再加上行政总厨 Alyn Williams 的菜肴，共同庆祝这个地方的历史故事。

文化资产空间再利用：澡堂与机械房

台湾在保护文化遗产方面的努力也非常值得骄傲，我很常带朋友去松菸文创园区的「不只是图书馆」以及「ISLAND133」，向他们展示如何将日式澡堂变成图书馆，以及将机械房转化成餐厅。台湾政府充分理解保存历史遗产的重要性，这不仅是讲述台湾故事的最佳方式，也同时维护了台湾文化。我们的努力让在地的居民和来访的游客都能够认识和欣赏这些古蹟资产。

无论是香港还是台湾，设计师们都在不断适应变化的市场环境，探索新的机会与挑战。这次的香港行再次提醒我们，台湾有机会在设计领域继续发挥强大的优势，我们有着强劲的经济优势、丰富的文化遗产和具创意的设计人才，这都将是我们创造下一个台湾故事的机会。

*资料来源: LCQ22: Average living space per person

Design Resilience and Cultural Heritage: Challenges for Hong Kong Designers and Opportunities for Taiwan

Recently, I met with a few top Hong Kong designers and noticed an interesting phenomenon. Despite their reputation, the workload of these designers has dropped dramatically. After discussion, we realized that the primary cause was Hong Kong’s shifting political and economic landscape, particularly the volatility of the Chinese market. Ninety percent of the cases my Hong Kong designer friends handle come from China. With the shrinkage of the Chinese market, the pressure on them to survive has become greater than ever. Staff has been laid off, and it is said that some of their design fees have been reduced by 25%.

In contrast, a number of Hong Kong firms are now entering the Taiwanese market, indicating that Taiwan’s economy is still solid and the demand for design is growing. This is a good opportunity for us to be in an amicable competition with fellow Hong Kong designers. On a positive note, it is inspiring to welcome international designers to come and showcase their talents. Nonetheless, it also reminds us to continue to showcase Taiwan’s design excellence, upgrade our design capabilities, and capitalize on our economic advantage. If we can demonstrate our excellence in design, the opportunities that are native to Taiwanese designers will be retained, allowing us to hold strong to our unique identity.

The 7.86 ping HK home

The Hong Kong designers often play a supporting role to real estate developers. Due to the housing’s high cost, owners are more concerned with maximizing space than design quality. For example, Hong Kong’s housing prices have reached NTD$3 million per ping, due to the high cost, the developers create tiny units to make it affordable, according to Hong Kong’s law, the minimum size of a newly built home is 7.86ping or 280 square feet to ensure people at least can have a proper home. What we get is every inch of the property is extremely valuable, more than the importance of design. It is not the idea of luxury when thinking of this property price range like in Taiwan, affordability & space maximisation is the number one priority, and making ends meet.

History is the Lesson Forward

This trip, the architectural media I spoke with shared some good news. Hong Kong has recently started to highlight the value of historic buildings and emphasize the importance of cultural heritage—a new trend that differs from the past, where they used to demolish old structures and, BOOM!, came a thin high rise out of human proportion.

The Dragonfly, which I was beautifully surprised upon entering, is located in the converted Victoria Prison, designed by renowned interior designer Ashley Sutton, featuring turquoise and cast iron dragonflies. Despite the constraints of the old building, they cleverly altered the small windows into a DJ station, making the use of space and presentation very exciting.

Another space as I moved from the small quarters of the prison to the few steps that I took, I entered upon the historical Hong Kong’s Supreme Court, transformed into the Magistracy Dining Room, designed by acclaimed interior designer Joyce Wang, where she preserves and restores the original structures and details, highlighting the stature this place once has, paired with Executive Chef Alyn Williams’s dishes that celebrate the story of the place.

The Taiwan-Japanese Story

On the same note, Taiwan is very proud of its efforts to preserve cultural heritage. I often take my friends to Not Just Library and ISLAND133 in Taipei’s Songshan Cultural and Creative Park to show them how a Japanese-style bathhouse can be turned into a library and a machine shop into a restaurant. The Taiwanese government fully understands the importance of preserving historical heritage, not only as the best way to tell the story of Taiwan but also as a means of preserving our culture.

Both in Hong Kong and Taiwan, designers are constantly adapting to the changing market environment and exploring new opportunities and challenges. This trip to Hong Kong reminds me, that Taiwan has the opportunity to continue to excel in design. Our resilient economy, rich cultural heritage, and creative design talent will be keys to setting ourselves in creating the next Taiwan story.

*Ref: LCQ22: Average living space per person