Hou2 Living Gallery is a pilot, bottom-up participatory design programme adopted in a private residential estate, based on the design thinking method, which aspires to create an age-friendly city and mobilise more stakeholders to make changes. By conducting a place audit, focus group and user interviews, the needs and pain points are identified.

Existing urban furniture - stone seatings are broadly found but have low usage due to the hard and cold surface and the lack of shading. Our design utilised the benches’ sturdiness and tension to secure the timber structural beams with the tie-down straps. By improving the seating, our vision is to transform underused spaces into comfortable resting areas that foster a sense of belonging.