Dwelling on sizes,shapes and premiums:

Geographical necessity 

We asociate high rises with densely populated cities and land-scarce countries like Hong Kong and Singapore. In Hong Kong we stay in an apartment that is impossibly small. We get a taste of how ordinary citizens of Hong Kong live in cramped spaces when we spend a few days there. 

As we open the door to our apt we have a TV on the left wall.Right beneath it is a sofa-cum-bed. On the right is a very narrow counter on which sits an induction stove. Above it is a rack for crockery and cutlery. Just next to the kitchennete is the teeny weeney washroom. We have to manouvre overselves strategically to use the shower or sit at an angle on the the loo. Another contorted posture at the washbasin that had to double up as the kitchen sink. The narrow space between these two walls leads within a few steps to the bedroom. Only walking space and room for one piece of luggage. A small curtained window on the farthest wall has a view of a brick wall just inches away. When I cook I have to drape the TV with a towel for the room gets very steamy and water droplets accumulate on these expensive items. 

The apts are definitely meant for smaller statured people. For others it is an exercise in calisthenics. Now I believe I can partly understand why there are so many old folk spending time in several small parks dotting these districts. It is also no wonder then that eateries are abundant, popular and hence cheap. More so because Hong Kongers are known for working long hours.

Hong Kong has an efficient transport system. Why own a car? If you do be prepared to pay a million for your parking space

The scoop on skinny facades

 Nests of wires and tube houses

Walking down the busy streets of Ho Chi Minh City or Phnom Penh we see how every front room, whether with a spring gate or shutters, is a shop with living quarters behind it. Some go deep inside, with more partitions, and because the doors are all alligned, with a view right up to the back alley. Since the tube houses share walls, windows are only found in the upper floors if they are built to accommodate the increase in family members. Narrow, steep staircases somehow have to be squeezed into the narrow space down stairs. They row houses can only have narrow frontages since everybody wants a piece of the prime frontage that is ideal for business. As a consequence premiums go up in prime areas. Where property tax is based on the width of the first floor, and premiums are high, it makes financial sense to have narrow frontages.

But what strikes us most are the massive nests of electric wires at each post. Electricians would truly by highly skilled in unravelling or identifying specific connections to the individual houses.

Leaning towards needs and outsmarting the taxman

Such tube houses are not unique to Asian countries. They are found in Hanseatic regions as well, especially along and on the canals in the Netherlands. With just a few strides we haved walked past several homes. We find out why the housesseem to squeeze each other. With the Dutch India Company contributing to the Golden Age merchants and traders moved to Amsterdam, the economic centre, to live close to the newly built canals for ease of goods transport. As a consequence there was a rapid increase in demand for waterfront footage. What better way to curb the competition than to increase taxes? It was increased. But the traders found a way around it. Build thinner houses but longer. The total area of the house was insignificant. Floors could be added. The upper floors could be built slightly larger. Only the frontage on the ground floor mattered: you pay a small amount for the plot but get more space!

Now why do these buildings lean forward towards the canal? 

House have to be furnished. How do you get the bulky furniture in through narrow doors and the even narrower and steep indoor staircases? Simply accommodate larger windows on the upper floors, fix a pulley just below the roof and haul them up! How clever --some of the floors were godowns! 

Ingenuity leads to architectural style:

1. Slender frontage, imposing height: Starting with a narrow ground floor, with an imperceptible gradual widening with each susequent upper floor( up to 5 floors!)

2. Leaning towards the water: Exterior hoist systems involved a hook fixed to the top of the building. There ample space for the goods to be suspended before being drawn into the building

3, Large windows: openings wide enough to haul in large shipments, furniture, etc.

Shared walls: to maximize space within but at the expense of yard space or a garden

The post is by no means complete. There's a lot more about building codes that we've discovered through our travels. They will be covered in future blogs

Message or Vandalism: Walls Speak Volumes

Sao Paulo, Brazil, with caution. 

We have been warned by our young grandson (no thanks to Fast and Furious 5,filmed in Rio). It is a dangerous city. Time to find out. Carrying very little and wearing nothing conspicuously expensive, we are ready for the streets. We are right in the middle of the city close to where riot police will be stationed in a few days’ time as described in one of my earlier posts.

Japanese,  Korean, Italian . . .

We decide to join a city tour to acquaint our selves with the layout of the city. Our guide is a fourth generation Japanese Paulista. We are amazed at how various immigrants have assimilated into the Brazilian diaspora. Sao Paulo has the largest Japanese population outside of Japan. (My blog Alms and the Man tells of what happened to Drink outside the Japanese museum)

A beautiful cosmopolitan city

There are great views and then loud hints of discontent

Strikingly for a city, we can actually see the architectural aspects of the buildings – no tiresome obstructions and distractions like billboards ( electronic or otherwise), video screens or even ads on buses. The roads are wide and tree-lined. Parks abound. Public transport is excellent. The favelas and shanty towns show up sandwiched between posh areas. The rich and the poor share the city. 

Unsightly scribblings on unreachable surfaces

But alas, we find tall buildings covered in what seems like higgledy-piggledy hieroglyphics. A page from history might explain it. During the dictatorship from the 30s to the 50s protestors wrote messages in tar on the streets. Now its a different canvas 

A means of expression

Pixacao. That's is the word for the messages on the wall also seen in the other South American countries. It has its beginnings in Brazil. It is a method of tagging characterised by distinctive large letters painted in a cryptic style. It is all pervading in public spaces. Apparently they make statements about social injustice, poverty and corruption. The groups writing them are called crews mostly made up of the marginalised poor waging war against the elite – expressions of a grudge, a protest, a grievance, a condemnation. 

To be read from afar the script has to be large and clear. Straight lines and sharp endings serve the purpose. They vaguely resemble Latin.

Evolution into adrenaline-fuelled vandalism

How do you distinguish between ego and political message when Pixadores are competing against each other?  Each crew wants to leave leave an identity on every wall possible: the higher the better, the more remarkable a building the better.

Sadly, even murals are scribbled over.

Imagine the great lengths they go to, and the risks they take in scaling extremely tall walls armed with rollers, spray cans, etc. Imagine the speed and strength, the adrenaline required to accomplish the task in as short a time as possible and not be caught. Imagine them crawling up pipes, swinging from balcony to balcony vertically or horizontally like monkeys.  Accidents and fatalities are not uncommon.

Trivia: Sao Paulo became the world's first non-communist city to ban outdoor advertising.