Alternative Realities

Alternative Realities Approaches to Adaptive Reuse Byera Hadley in Architecture Travelling Scholarships Journal Series Hugo Chan 2018 NSW Architects Registration Board A NSW Architects Registration Board A The Byera Hadley Travelling Scholarships Journal Series is a select library of research compiled by more than 160 architects, students and graduates since 1951, and made possible by the generous gift of Sydney Architect and educator, Byera Hadley. Byera Hadley, born in 1872, was a distinguished architect responsible for the design and execution of a number of fine buildings in New South Wales. He was dedicated to architectural education, both as a part-time teacher in architectural drawing at the Sydney Technical College, and culminating in his appointment in 1914 as Lecturer-in-Charge at the College’s Department of Architecture. Under his guidance, the College became acknowledged as one of the finest schools of architecture in the British Empire. Byera Hadley made provision in his will for a bequest to enable graduates of architecture from a university in NSW to travel in order to broaden their experience in architecture, with a view to advancing architecture upon their return to Australia. Today, the Byera Hadley Travelling Scholarship fund is managed by The Trust Company, part of Perpetual as Trustee, in conjunction with the NSW Architects Registration Board. For more information on Byera Hadley, and the Byera Hadley Travelling Scholarships go to www.architects.nsw.gov.au or get in contact with the NSW Architects Registration Board at: Level 2, 156 Gloucester St, Sydney NSW 2000. You can also follow us on Twitter at: www.twitter.com/ArchInsights The Board acknowledges that all text, images and diagrams contained in this publication are those of the author (Hugo Chan) unless otherwise noted. © NSW Architects Registration Board 2018 Hugo Chan is a recipient of the 2017 Byera Hadley Travelling Scholarship (Graduate Award). Cover Image: The Sammy Ofer Centre, London Business School ACKNOWLEDGMENTS It is appropriate, I believe, to begin by acknowledging I am also grateful to Prof. Elizabeth Farrelly, one the Traditional Owners of the lands across Australia of my referees and whose classes first inspired me on which we as practitioners of architecture live and to consider alternative modes of reporting on and work, and acknowledge the First Nations people of discussing architecture which I decided to use for all the places and sites which I visited and described this project. in this project. Special thanks must also be passed on to my I am of course extremely grateful for the support employers and second referee, Mr. Peter Lonergan of the New South Wales Architects Registration and Ms. Julie Cracknell, Executive Directors of Board. I am extremely thankful for receiving the Cracknell & Lonergan Architects (CLA). Their 2017 Byera Hadley Travelling Scholarship, incredible knowledge of global and Sydney enabling me to take on a unique opportunity to architectural history contributed immeasurably to investigate and document the many buildings the research project. Their invaluable support also detailed in this research journal undertaken extended to granting me a full three month between February - June 2018. In particular, I leave of absence from the Sydney office would also like to thank Tim Horton and Byron enabling me to undertake the Byera Hadley Kinnaird of the NSWARB, who assisted in Scholarship over 2018. To all my work colleagues coordinating my travel, my work and ensured and friends at CLA, I am grateful to each and that I could complete this project smoothly. everyone of you, for taking over all the projects I left behind during my three month absence, on The body of work presented here could also not have top of your existing work. I am truely indebted to been accomplished without the invaluable help and you all for your support. participation of an extensive list of individuals and organisations which I have listed at the end of this On a more personal note, I wish to thank my document. To each and everyone of you, I would family and friends, who encouraged me to apply like to acknowledge your contributions and express for the scholarship, who read through drafts of my sincere gratitude and thanks. Your comments, my work, who inspired me by suggesting reflections and statements greatly extended the additional buildings to study, and, who gave me the depth and breath of the research. emotional support in the face of my self-doubt and stress over the course of completing this project. It is necessary for me to make special mention of I certainly would not have accomplished all the all of the communications managers, media officers case studies presented here without all of and personal assistants whom I contacted, emailed your collective support over 2018. and arranged the interviews and statements over the duration of the travelling scholarship. You all Lastly and by no means least, to my dear played a vital role in bridging my initial contact to parents, Dr. Oonagh Chan and Mr. Jose Chan, general information emails, with architects, project both of whom, throughout the duration of the managers, designers and curators across the world, scholarship, provided financial, emotional and making this project possible. physical support and who never doubted my ability to complete this research, I remain forever I would also like to thank Dr. Peter Kohane, grateful to you both. my research supervisor who not only oversaw the development of this project, but is partly responsible for instilling in me, a profound interest Hugo Chan in architectural history. January 2019 4 Byera Hadley Travelling Scholarships Journal Series PREFACE “We shall not cease from exploration. And the end of all our exploring will be to arrive where we started and know the place for the first time.” - Thomas Stearns Eliot To begin with a quotation is for me, an important and humbling reminder that everything we do and think in our lives is often interwoven with the ideas and visions of those who have come before us. When we seek new ideas, we often look to the past for inspiration, forming a continuity which stretches back through time. Such is the nature of our collective human culture and history. Architecture is no exception to this. Our cities and our buildings define our public spaces physically but are also poignant reminders of our shared collective past. The question of how we treat our architectural past, to my mind at least, is an entirely different and hugely contested matter. Unlike a book, we cannot simply reprint a new edition. Unlike a painting, we cannot protect it in a carefully curated gallery. Unlike an artefact, we cannot encase it in glass and control its humidity. Architecture is inhabited. It is a living breathing organism. It is used in, worked in, loved or hated. Without the lives which occupy buildings, architecture would be little more than monuments to particular moments in history, with some romantic association to times gone by. But what becomes of our buildings when their original, functional specifications become irrelevant? What should we do when they no longer provide the density, the ‘usefulness’ or indeed the ‘aesthetics’ of our current age? Increasingly, today’s architects and designers must deal with urban environments which are already saturated within existing building stock. The simplistic demolition of buildings, manifest iconically by the implosion of Pruitt-Igoe Housing Estate some ten years after its completion, is neither practical nor sustainable. Within this context, adaptive reuse maybe seen as one of the manners architects are negotiating this issue. The desire to convert our old buildings to suit new functions and spatial experiences has become an integral part of the ongoing development of many major cities. As we change within an increasingly complex and urbanised world, our buildings and our cities must change with us. Through this body of work, I believe I have only begun to scratch the surface of what is a hugely complex and rapidly growing field of architectural research and practice. Forty case studies from four cities spread across the world have been selected to provide a snapshot of the diverse range of current approaches and practices to adaptive reuse. From these case studies, it is my fond hope that this research project will serve as a reminder that our collective architectural history is not merely confined to the textbook as a relic of the past. It is, very much, a living, breathing part of our daily lives, which continues to shape our experience of space and our engagement with the built environment. Hugo Chan January 2019 Byera Hadley Travelling Scholarships Journal Series Alternative Realities Approaches to Adaptive Reuse in Architecture CONTENTS 01 INTRODUCTION 001 // Context 1 // Objectives 2 // Methodology & Structure 2 // Limitations of Research 4 02 UNRAVELING THE JARGON 006 // Towards Adaptive Architecture 6 // Adaptation Codified: A Policy Overview 9 // Defining Adaptive Reuse 14 03 ARCHIVE: HONG KONG | CHINA 18 // Overview 19 // Location Guide 20 // Lui Seng Chun, HKBU Chinese Medicine Clinic 22 // The Heritage Discovery Centre [Whitfield Barracks] 26 // 1881 Heritage [Marine Police Headquarters] 30 // COMIX House [Green House] 34 // Viva Blue House 38 // Asia Society [Victoria Barracks Explosives Magazines] 42 // Tai Kwun [Victoria Gaol and Central Police Station and Magistracy] 46 // PMQ [Police Married Headquarters] 50 04 ARCHIVE: LONDON | UNITED KINGDOM 54 // Overview

Load more