PolyU Hung Hom Halls Explained: Two University-Managed Halls at Hung Hom and Ho Man Tin

The Hong Kong Polytechnic University (PolyU) comprehensive information database — student halls and campus traditions module (Part 1) Scope: Hung Hom Halls of Residence, Homantin Halls of Residence, residential colleges, application and points systems, post-COVID recovery, new hall plans, cross-university comparison and the annual calendar. The "living" side of hall life — hall association self-governance, the identity tensions of residential colleges, and debates over fairness in room allocation — is covered in Part 2.

Nine halls squeezed into a single 22-storey tower in Hung Hom; six colours were once the entire identity of the Homantin halls — until "Green" became CURI and "Violet" became STARS. PolyU has no college system, which makes on-campus housing one of the few arenas of collective living at this urban university.

PolyU operates no college system (there are no college student unions or college-based residential arrangements). Student accommodation is instead centred on two university-managed halls, coordinated by the Student Affairs Office (SAO). The main campus is in Hung Hom, Kowloon, with the two halls located in Hung Hom and Ho Man Tin respectively.

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# 1. Hung Hom Halls of Residence

The Hung Hom Halls were PolyU's first student accommodation. According to the SAO's official page, the complex sits at 1 Hung Lai Road, Hung Hom, was completed in 2002 and accommodates around 3,000 students^※; the English Wikipedia entry records it as a 22-storey tower occupying more than 5,800 square metres, containing nine separate halls^※.

According to the SAO's official page, the nine halls (one postgraduate hall and eight undergraduate halls) and their floor allocations are:

Per the SAO's official page, each hall has its own Hall Association, guided by a warden and four to six tutors, who organise activities to enrich residential life^※.

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# 2. Homantin Halls of Residence

The Homantin Halls are PolyU's second student accommodation. According to the English Wikipedia entry, the complex at 15 Fat Kwong Street was completed in 2012 and provides 1,650 places^※; the Cantonese Wikipedia entry records it as a 25-storey building near Ho Man Tin station, about a 20–30 minute walk from campus^※.

The original six blocks were named after colours: Red, Orange, Yellow, Green, Blue and Violet. Some have since been converted into Residential Colleges:

• According to the English Wikipedia entry, in 2021 the Green block became the CURI Residential College, which promotes research and innovation and gives priority to students in the URIS scheme^※.
• According to the SAO's residential life overview, the Homantin complex now comprises four general halls plus two residential colleges; the two residential colleges are the CURI Residential College (established 2021) and the STARS Residential College (established 2022)^※. Together the two hall complexes accommodate more than 4,600 students.

The colour names, the establishment of residential colleges and subsequent renamings have been adjusted over the years; the SAO's announcements for the relevant year are authoritative.

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# 3. Residential Colleges and Residential Education

Although PolyU has no traditional college system, it has developed Residential Colleges and a Residential Education framework at the hall level. According to the SAO's residential life overview, PolyU positions its halls as "environments where living and learning carry equal weight", with principal programmes including:

• CURI Residential College: focused on Research and Innovation.
• STARS Residential College: focused on Arts and Sciences.
• Living & Learning Communities (LLC).
• House of Intercultural Living & Learning (HILL).
• Green Living Programmes.

Applying to the CURI / STARS residential colleges usually requires prior participation in the corresponding programmes.

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# 4. Hall Culture and Traditions

• Hall Association: every hall runs its own Hall Association, operated by student office bearers (an "executive committee", or 庄), organising hall activities, welfare and external socials. Participation in hall activities earns points that are also linked to the chance of retaining a room the following year.
• Wardens and tutors: per the SAO's pages, each hall is guided by a warden and a team of tutors to foster a "harmonious and vibrant hall community".
• PolyU Hall Festival: according to the SAO's residential life overview, PolyU holds the "PolyU Hall Festival" every November, the year's flagship hall-level event^※.
• Hall orientation: halls run their own orientation camps (Hall O Camps) alongside university- and faculty-level orientations, serving as new students' gateway into the hall community. The arc of university-level orientation rituals (Info Day, President's Welcome, Congregation) is covered in PolyU Orientation, O-Camps and Campus Festivals (Part 1).

"Living in hall" and "joining an executive committee" are both widely cited as quintessential Hong Kong university experiences; traditions such as hall songs, anniversary dinners and inter-floor or inter-block competitions vary from hall to hall, depending on the arrangements made by each Hall Association in a given year.

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# 5. New Hall Plans: "Two Years in Hall in Four" at Kowloon Tong

PolyU has been planning new student accommodation in Kowloon Tong. According to several Hong Kong media reports in 2023, PolyU will build four student halls near Tak Kwong Road, Kowloon Tong, providing about 1,680 places and expected to be completed in 2028^※; the project's groundbreaking ceremony was held on 9 May 2023^※. The reports say that, together with the Homantin halls and the new Kowloon Tong halls, PolyU hopes to offer a "two years in hall in four" arrangement — i.e. each student would have two chances to live on campus during a four-year degree.

The completion year and number of places for this project are subject to the university's and relevant government documents as currently published; this section records only what was public at the planning stage.

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# 6. Campus Events and Cultural Festivals

Large-scale campus events and cultural festivals at PolyU are mostly coordinated by bodies including the Student Affairs Office and the Culture Promotion and Events Office (CPEO). Typical examples:

• Orientation: multi-layered orientation activities at university, faculty and hall levels.
• PolyU Hall Festival (every November).
• Cultural festivals: organised by the CPEO, including the "PolyU Chinese Culture Festival^※" and the "PolyU International Cultural Festival^※" (arts and cultural groups and programmes are detailed in sports-and-arts.md).

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# 7. The Residential Colleges: Positioning and Features of CURI and STARS

# 7.1 CURI Residential College

CURI takes its name from PolyU's spirit of research, innovation and interdisciplinarity. According to the PolyU residential life page, the CURI Residential College was established in 2021^※ with Research and Innovation as its theme:

• It gives priority to students in the Undergraduate Research and Innovation Scheme (URIS);
• It arranges for Resident Professors / Scholars to interact with residents;
• It provides shared research workshops and innovation discussion spaces;
• It offers value-added activities such as thematic research training workshops and industry visits.

# 7.2 STARS Residential College

The STARS Residential College, established in 2022^※, takes Arts and Sciences as its theme:

• It recruits students interested in interdisciplinary exploration;
• It runs activities such as reading circles, arts and creative workshops, and experimental experiences;
• It collaborates with PolyU's Culture Promotion and Events Office (CPEO) to connect with campus arts resources.

# 7.3 Comparison with the Traditional College System

Unlike the college system at The Chinese University of Hong Kong, PolyU's CURI / STARS residential colleges are optional themed residential communities rather than a comprehensive college-identity system:

• No dedicated college tutorial system or college head;
• No college-style co-curricular points or compulsory college courses;
• Students' primary identity unit remains the faculty / department, not the residential college. This places PolyU's residential colleges closer to the "Themed Living-Learning Communities" of British and American universities than to CUHK's traditional nine-college system.

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# 8. The Homantin Halls in Detail

# 8.1 Physical Specifications

According to the English and Cantonese Wikipedia entries, the Homantin Halls of Residence:

• Address: 15 Fat Kwong Street, Ho Man Tin;
• 25 storeys tall;
• Completed in 2012;
• About 20–30 minutes' walk from the main campus, or about 10 minutes by train (Ho Man Tin station);
• Providing about 1,650 places^※.

# 8.2 The Six Colour-Named Blocks

The original six blocks were named after colours:

The colour names remain widely known, but note that the Green and Violet blocks have since been converted into residential colleges, so their functions have changed.

# 8.3 Transport

Between the Homantin Halls and the main campus:

• MTR: Tuen Ma Line — Ho Man Tin station → Mong Kok East, then change → Hung Hom station, roughly two stops; or about 10–15 minutes combining walking and MTR.
• Walking: about 20–25 minutes.
• Some students commute by motorcycle or bicycle; the university runs no dedicated shuttle bus.

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# 9. Hall Application and Waiting Mechanisms

# 9.1 Application and Balloting

Hall places at PolyU are limited and demand regularly outstrips supply. According to the student handbook:

• First-year undergraduates may apply for a place upon admission, usually allocated by faculty or by ballot;
• Upper-year students' eligibility to retain a place is tied to their hall points for the year (including participation in hall activities and service to the Hall Association);
• The CURI / STARS residential colleges require prior participation in the relevant programmes before applying.

# 9.2 The "Two Years in Hall in Four" Expectation

Popular parlance and some faculties treat "two years in hall in four" (two chances at accommodation during a four-year undergraduate degree) as the target:

• The two existing complexes (Hung Hom + Homantin) together accommodate about 4,650 residents;
• There are roughly 15,000–16,000 undergraduates university-wide, so the residential rate is under 30 per cent;
• Once the new Kowloon Tong halls (expected to open in 2028 with about 1,680 places) are completed, the residential rate should meaningfully approach the "two years in hall in four" target.

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# 10. Hall Festival and Annual Calendar

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# 11. Hall Points and Re-admission Eligibility

With hall places in short supply, re-admission eligibility is tied to a points / scoring mechanism. The criteria vary slightly between Hall Associations but usually include:

The overall residential rate is under 30 per cent (about 15,000 undergraduates university-wide against roughly 4,650 places across the two complexes), so competition for re-admission is intense; participating in hall activities is key to securing points.

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# 12. The Typical "Hong Kong University Experience" Inside a Hall

While living in hall, PolyU students typically encounter the following elements of a conventional Hong Kong university campus life:

• Floor Life: every two floors (or a single floor) forms a "Floor Family", whose members get to know one another and help each other out — the most basic unit of hall relationships;
• Hall O Camp: new and returning students spend several days together in team games, group competitions, evening performances and the like;
• Hall Dinner: each hall's annual sit-down dinner, the most formal collective event of the Hall Association's year;
• Hall Song: some halls have their own anthem, sung together at hall events to build belonging;
• Inter-Hall Games: Hall Associations sometimes organise inter-block sports or cultural competitions;
• Hall birthday parties / celebrations: celebrating fellow floor-mates' birthdays is a common hall cultural practice.

Alongside "joining the exec" (serving as a student organisation officer), USFHK sports competitions and the final-year project showcase, these experiences are among the things PolyU students fondly cite as part of being a "PolyU person".

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# 13. COVID-19: Impact on Hall Life and the Return to Normal

The COVID-19 pandemic of 2020–2022 had a significant impact on hall operations at PolyU:

• 2020–2021: under government anti-epidemic requirements, shared facilities (gyms, lounges) had restricted use, and occupancy was subject to caps;
• Visitor restrictions: visitor access to halls was sharply curtailed and cross-hall visiting was halted;
• Hall Festival and large events: the Hall Festival and O Camps in 2020–2021 moved online or were scaled down;
• Second half of 2022: as Hong Kong's anti-epidemic restrictions gradually eased, hall activities and Hall Association operations progressively returned to normal;
• 2023–2024: traditional events including the Hall Festival, O Camps and Hall Dinners fully resumed;
• Capacity controls were essentially lifted in 2023, and the familiar picture of demand outstripping supply returned.

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# 14. Comparison with Other Hong Kong Universities' Residential Systems

Student accommodation arrangements differ across Hong Kong's universities:

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# 15. Hall Culture Festival and the Annual Calendar

Hall life follows a fixed annual calendar:

# Hall Arbitration and Rule Enforcement

Hall rules are enforced jointly by the Hall Director (HD), resident hall tutors and the Hall Association:

• Residents who breach hall rules (e.g. bringing unregistered overnight guests, excessive noise) must meet with the Hall Association or the Hall Director;
• Serious violations can lead to loss of residential eligibility;
• The Hall Association maintains a "discipline sub-committee" to uphold hall standards through peer mechanisms.

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# 16. New Halls and Future Plans

# 16.1 New Kowloon Tong Halls

According to Dotdotnews (10 May 2023)^※ and Hong Kong Economic Times^※, PolyU is building new student halls on Tak Hong Road, Kowloon Tong, expected to provide more than 1,680 places and to open around 2028.

# 16.2 New Chung Hau Street Halls, Ho Man Tin

Another new hall is planned for Chung Hau Street, Ho Man Tin, also expected to open around 2028, providing more than 1,200 places (per the above-cited Hong Kong Economic Times and Dotdotnews reports).

# 16.3 Residential Coverage Target

Once both new halls are completed, PolyU's total number of places will rise substantially from the current roughly 5,000. The university aims to gradually achieve the "two years in hall in four" target for undergraduates (i.e. each undergraduate is guaranteed accommodation for two of their four years of study), easing the current shortfall.

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# 17. From Hardware to Daily Life: A Preview of Part 2

The sixteen sections above have set out the physical specifications, systems and annual calendar of PolyU's halls — how many storeys the two complexes have, how to apply to the residential colleges, how the points system works, and how the halls closed and reopened through COVID. But the real weight of "living in hall" lies in the two different rhythms of life in Hung Hom and Ho Man Tin, in the Hall Association as the student self-governance body closest to daily life at PolyU, and in the arguments over fairness when places fall so far short of demand — all of which is left for Part 2.

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