the details.

the where.

Although there are quite a few still existing tenement structures available for the intervention of this proposal, the Mallory St. and Burrows St. tenements have been selected as the site for architectural preservation with adaptive reuse.

Due to its configuration, as well as situation within the city, this site is the most versatile, malleable and offers a flexibility in selecting its inner program that may not be available at other sites.

The selected site consists of ten four-story tenement buildings, four along Burrows St. and six along Mallory St, connected via an inner courtyard-type space in between.  This building typology was common in the early- to mid-20th century, but as the city modernized, and the population grew, these tenement buildings were torn down to make way for either high-rise apartment buildings or urbanized office complexes.  However, even with the density of the commercial typology, one of the most common demographic group frequenting the area are in the younger age range of secondary school students who study and/or live in the area.

In the immediate surrounding area, the Wan Chai district is primarily commercial and office buildings.  However, there are also several apartment complexes and educational institutions available nearby as well.  While perhaps no longer suitable as a small residential complex in a largely developed city, this site offers the option to become a public amenity, as well as a refreshing break in the urban, commercial fabric of Wan Chai.  Potential ideas for programming possibilities include breakout space, retail geared towards a more focused audience, a recreational facility and/or a reintroduction of the original retail-residential mixed-use facility.

methodology revised.

make something.

http://maps.thefullwiki.org/Tong_Lau

Architecture is a demonstration of the tradition, the history and/or the culture of the people and the community for which it was designed and constructed for.

Utilizing the field of architectural preservation through adaptive reuse, I will be looking to preserve the rich cultural background of Hong Kong through its tenement buildgins leftover from the British Colonial period.

The design of these tenement buildings is very unique to the area and was established with its mixed-use purpose during the colonization of the city to provide for the growing urban population at the time.  Unfortunately, with small commercial spaces on the ground floor and residences above, tenements have gradually been replaced with apartment highrises that are more spatially efficient.

Architecturally, their design combines strong cultural representations of the two primary powers in the area, with traditional Chinese Guangzhou-style construction and British Neoclassical ornamentation and characteristics.

Through adaptive reuse, one can preserve the historic and cultural significance of a structure for its native environment.  Famous examples include the Tate Modern in London, and the Padres' PetCo Park in San Diego.

The specific site I would like to focus on is the Mallory & Burrows St. tenements.  As a back-to-back block of 10 tenement buildings, this would be a great opportunity to redesign the space for a more advantageous amenity while still preserving the cultural aesthetic.

one plus three plus nine. v2.0.

Architecture is a demonstration of the tradition, the history and/or the culture of the people and the community for which it was designed and constructed for.

The architectural preservation of this demonstration is important in order for developing nations to not lose their background and cultural heritage in the push to become more like the much more developed superpowers of the world.  It also applied to cities of multicultural background, where their regional culture cannot be defined by one culture of traditions alone.  One region of such a background is Hong Kong SAR.

As a multicultural city who is still currently experiencing a shift of powers after a recent exchange from British colonization back to the Chinese government, the strong architectural identity of the early 20th century is slowly disappearing to give way to China's major push for progress and modernization, to simply be bigger and better than the current superpowers.  Unfortunately, China's aim for achieving a modernized nation has lead to the sacrifice of important landmarks that had demarcated a milestone in hong Kong's cultural history, notable examples of which include the Governor's Residence and Queen's Pier in the Central District.  Cuturally relevant pieces of architecture are gradually being replaced by culturally neutral skyscrapers and highrises.  To help reinstate the SAR's cultural heritage through it's architecture, the goal would be to study the vernacular of key historic districts of Hong Kong, and study what worked and what didn't that led to its potential destruction to make way for yet another shiny, new highrise.  From there, there could be an extended study on how to architecturally preserve these landmarks and perhaps implement the idea of adaptive reuse to help these structures to still be modernly functional and suitable to the residents' new and progressive lifestyles.

The primary area of focus in Hong Kong are the tenement buildings, or tong lau, in the Central District that were designed and constructed in the 1930s-1950s.  Originally designed to have a commercial space on the ground floor, with residences above, the architecture demonstrates aspects from the variety of cultures that existed in the area, from colonial British to traditional Chinese to even a sliver of French influence in certain facets of the ornamentation on the facades.

The goal is find a way to reuse the structure to preserve the form and the history represented by them while adapting them to make them suitable for the quickly modernizing lifestyle and environment of the people and places around them.

the plan

[click for larger image]

one plus three plus nine.

Architecture is a demonstration of the tradition, the history and/or the culture of the people and the community for which is was designed and constructed for.

With the coming and going of generations of human life, the built environment in which those people lived become the one remaining facet that continues to tell the history of their heritage for years to come.  The foundations and structures of a culture's architecture are capable of remaining unchanged throughout time as an icon or a symbol of what occurred in the past.  In order for these structures to do so, it is the obligation of the modern day community to ensure that these architectural snippets of a time long gone are preserved so that future generations can learn and understand their own background.

Hong Kong, SAR, is a city on the southern coast of China with a population of approximately seven million people living within 430 sq. miles.  For 99 years, Great Britain's traditions and influences encouraged Hong Kong to grow into a multicultural city that could not be defined by the heritage of one country alone.  However, in the 13 years since the Handover Ceremony of 1997, when Hong Kong was officially returned to the government of China, signs of the colony's transitions have gradually become eradicated from the built environment of the city.  Although Hong Kong is still being defined by it's unique situation of being an integral part of "one country, [with] two systems", as we have continued to be run by a federal system unlike that of Mainland China, it is the small, everyday aspects of the built environment that used to act as reminders of our joint history entwined with that of the United Kingdom that have slowly, but surely, been erased from the face of the city of Hong Kong.  The old Hong Kong currency, the red post boxes arbitrarily located on various street corners, the previously existent navy blue uniforms of police officers patrolling the streets, all of which, alongside the governmental establishments and police stations themselves in the Central District, were adorned with the crowned crest of the British monarchy, now only exist in the memories of those who lived during the colonization period or are otherwise sparsely selected to be displayed in the Heritage Museum of Hong Kong.  While attempts have been made to preserve the built past, many proposals and movements to fight for the survival of cultural landmarks have failed and more and more pieces of the region's multicultural past has been destroyed.  This is especially true with the growing trend of western architects setting their sights on building their large-scale projects in the fast-growing commercial development of China.  So much focus has been placed on "progressing" into becoming bigger, better and more visually expensive, very little to no energy is being spent on maintaining structures that would educate the youth about where this progression sprung from.  It is up to the current generation of architects and historians to ensure that this trend does not continue and that historic structures are allowed, and even helped, to endure and remain a symbol of the past that made Hong Kong the Special Administrative Region that it is today.  The architectural language of government establishments and landmarks of authority and importance need to act, not only as federal buildings of function, but also as symbols that demonstrate the multicultural history that makes Hong Kong unique and exceptional; not just a place of modernization and change, but one rich with facets of time and place: of culture.