– Carice
Discomfort is the main driver of the negative user experience in Kwai Chung District. However, the programme also ties into the discomfortable atmosphere. This is evident through the presence of facilities with the theme of death. This includes the cemetery and the columbarium.
Discomfort also ties into three different elements, including infrastructure, natural systems, and programme development. All three of these elements are the main problems of how discomfort has been exerted in Kwai Chung District.
The ultimate discomfort turns into rejection. This refers to the stages of discomfort, and the crescendo of the feeling of unease throughout the site. Once discomfort is felt, it would allow someone to be more aware of the surroundings, and to prevent triggers throughout the visit.
With reference to Jonas Romo’s book on Burle Marx’s work on emotional landscapes and its design, it can emphasise on the validity of ones emotions, how it can affect design. The Gin Drinkers Bay, appears to be the opposite. The design planning has invalidated the emotional experience, it has left an impression that it is unsafe, unlucky and unappealing.
Taken together, discomfort contributes to the negative user experience of Kwai Chung District, affecting its users.
Opportunities and constraints
User experience is an overarching term for the many feelings and experiences by a user in the Gin Drinkers Bay. There are a series of conflicts, synergies, opportunities, and constraints, which are all well balanced out with each other.
Lack of competition due to clusters of these industries being together, however areas with similar programmes were grouped together, creating a community. An opportunity would be the better utilisation of land to benefit users and programme. However, it is difficult to cater for everyone’s needs, and have a specific target audience. On the other hand, there are insufficient supplementary transport networks for pedestrian networks to work efficiently, meaning there should be availability of different varieties of infrastructure. An opportunity would be to increase transportation links, to encourage people to travel despite long distances, however the infrastructure design and target audience does not fit certain users.