Adaptive Sponge reimagines Chai Wan — one of Hong Kong’s most flood-vulnerable districts — as a climate-resilient community landscape. Responding to escalating flood risks driven by ageing grey infrastructure and intensifying typhoons, the project proposes a four-stage blue-green network spanning the district’s full vertical transect from hillside to coastline.

Slope water storage terraces intercept upland runoff, factory rooftop gardens harvest rainfall and reduce urban heat, roadside rain gardens and a 100,800 m³ underground sports field reservoir provide emergency stormwater storage, and a modular eco-shoreline with bio-blocks and native mangroves buffers coastal surge. Rather than replacing existing infrastructure, the design supplements it — transforming underutilised roads, rooftops, and sports grounds into a multifunctional sponge system that captures, detains, infiltrates, and slowly releases stormwater.

The result is a landscape that serves over 200,000 residents not only as flood protection, but as ecological habitat, public green space, and visible evidence that responsible design can bridge community, ecology, and equity in an era of rising seas and intensifying storms.

《自適應海綿》將柴灣這個香港其中一個最易受洪患影響的社區，重新構想為一個具氣候韌性的社區景觀。
柴灣地處香港島東端，三面環山，南臨鯉魚門海峽，人口逾20萬。現有的灰色基礎設施以混凝土箱形涵洞為主，設計標準僅能應對十年一遇的暴雨，面對日益極端的氣候事件早已不堪重負。柴灣道迴旋處就曾經於2025年7月的黑色暴雨中錄得370毫米雨量，令居民深陷水患之中。
本項目提出一套四階段藍綠網絡，貫穿柴灣的山坡和海岸。第一階段於陡峭山坡建造梯級蓄水盆地與等高截流渠，於源頭攔截徑流；第二階段將工業廠房天台改造為蓄水花園，收集雨水並緩解城市熱島效應；第三階段沿四條主要道路廊道部署路旁雨水花園及零灌溉種植池，並在小西灣運動場地下建造容量達100,800立方米的蓄水庫，相當於逾40個奧運標準泳池；第四階段於海濱建造模組化生態海岸線，以漸進式防波石塊配合紅樹林種植，緩衝風暴潮衝擊並豐富潮間帶生態。
設計的核心理念非取代現有排水基礎設施，而是對其進行補充，將道路、天台及運動場等日常空間轉化為多功能海綿系統，實現收集、滯留、滲透與緩慢釋放的水循環。《自適應海綿》相信，負責任的景觀介入，能夠在海平面上升、風暴頻仍的時代，為社區、生態與公平共建一個更具韌性的柴灣。

Tutor: Yatung Tsai