Friday, August 24, 2018 10 Creative heads Breathing new life into old buildings Scheme, she has volunteers looking after her children while she’s Editor’s Note: As an academic and expert adviser to the policymakers, away. This is what conservation should ideally achieve rather than Lee Ho-yin is easily Hong Kong’s go-to person in matters of safekeep- protect the shell of a building. ing local heritage. He shared his thoughts on why conservation is more about people than bricks and mortar with China Daily. Q: You have often said that conservation of heritage becomes par- ticularly meaningful when the past is made to connect with people’s lives in the present. Would you like to illustrate the Q: You were in Vancouver recently to help the local government idea with a recent Hong Kong example? with applying for UNESCO World Heritage status for the city’s A : It has to be Tai Kwun (former Central Police Station), hands down. Chinatown. If you were to choose a Hong Kong site or heritage The amount of investment that went into the restoration of the hard- structure for UNESCO recognition, what would that be? ware to make it look close to the original appearance is awesome. But A : The fi rst of two choices would be the Victoria Harbour. It o ers a what’s even better is that the Jockey Club, who fi nanced the project, world-class view, from the Tsim Sha Tsui side, spanning the entire knew from the outset that the hardware is only a means to an end Central district, with the Victoria Peak in the background. This is a and the end is always about the people. magnifi cent skyline with few comparable locations in the world. Per- Tai Kwun has a chance of becoming a space serving the local com- haps the Manhattan skyline comes close. munity with a high degree of success. For instance, the “100 Faces of Tai Kwun Guided Tour” is an attempt to connect elements of the Q: But the Victoria Harbour already has an iconic status across the old police station complex — including prison, magistracy and court- world, what can a UNESCO branding add to it? house — as spaces friendly to people. Rather than trying to present A : Well, Hong Kong can aim for bigger and better things by leverag- Lee Ho-yin the history of Tai Kwun, which, in any case, is easy to access on the ing its aspirations on the UNESCO brand. For one, a UNESCO World DIRECTOR, ARCHITECTURAL CONSERVATION PROGRAMS, FACULTY OF internet, the idea is to tell its stories. “100 Faces” o ers only a sam- Heritage status will help promote Hong Kong as a tourist destination. ARCHITECTURE, THE UNIVERSITY OF HONG KONG pling of the stories that have been collected by the Tai Kwun heritage Also such branding attracts opportunities, and encourages the local PARKER ZHENG / CHINA DAILY department. It’s a way of connecting present-day audiences to the government and communities to look at conservation with a higher sort of people who together made Tai Kwun what it used to be in its degree of seriousness. Q: What about the tong lau (tenement buildings) built from the late 19th cen- heyday, be it a policeman or a food stall vendor. These stories help us In 2011 UNESCO launched the historic urban land approach, i.e. tury to the 1960s, some of which are still fully functional? understand how Tai Kwun worked as a community, and also how it conservation as a means to high-quality development. In this respect A : Not many among even the post-war (Japanese occupation of Hong Kong which might connect back with the present-day users of the facility to form I feel the fi shing village of Tai O also has a lot of potential. After the ended in 1945) tong lau are left. So this is a diminishing building type and chances its own, new community. old police station was turned into a heritage hotel it became a means of more of these getting built are quite small. For me a vernacular architecture of revitalizing the local community. Tai O has been losing its popu- type has to be part of an ongoing process, so that more of these keep getting cre- Q: You co-founded and continue to lead the University of Hong lation because of the lack of economic opportunities. The heritage ated. In that sense the pencil tower would qualify. Kong’s architectural conservation programs division. What hotel gave a boost to the local economy by not only providing the But then I don’t consider it as a structure that lends itself to a very ethical way of would you say was the most rewarding part of this 18-year hardware but also software — creating jobs for the local community, people living together. The pencil towers exist because developers are trying to journey? training villagers to work as docents introducing tourists to local cul- squeeze more money out of a tiny plot. The fl ats in them are too small in size and A : The graduates of the program are our biggest rewards, because ture. Younger people are moving back into Tai O because now they see yet people are forced to buy them at a ridiculously high price. Often they do not through them we can advance the cause of Hong Kong’s conserva- opportunities for creating sustainable livelihoods. Shops are thriving, meet the minimum living standards. tion. They are not pitching conservation in confrontation with devel- local traditional festivals have been revived, traditional fi shermen’s opment. Conservation, as UNESCO says, is a means to enable a better wedding ceremonies reintroduced. Now young people can go for a Q: It’s been 10 years since the Hong Kong government initiative to promote form of development. Conservation also helps diversify development “water wedding” if they want to. adaptive reuse of old buildings that have outgrown their initial purpose which Hong Kong is in urgent need of. Right now we see only one Tai O is also the place for sighting pink dolphins. The local fi sherwom- was launched. What in your opinion is a good example of its viability? kind of development in the city — that of big, profi t-driven, expensive en invite tourists to go on a guided tour of pink dolphin-watching — A : The Viva Blue House project in Wan Chai has demonstrated that the adaptive properties. We need smaller developments, in the form of refurbish- spreading the message about environmental and wildlife protection. reuse model can be highly successful. Last year they won the UNESCO Asia-Pa- ing existing buildings, including a lot of post-war buildings which cifi c Award of Excellence for Cultural Heritage Conservation — which is a fi rst for are still fi t for reuse. There is no real need to demolish them to build Q: You teach a course in vernacular architecture. If Hong Kong Hong Kong. something bigger. The need for new housing in Hong Kong in many had a vernacular architecture, what would that be? Nobody expected them to win. In terms of aesthetic appeal or architectural quality, ways is artifi cially generated. A : I would go for the three-storied, 700-square-foot footprint modern vil- there’s nothing extraordinary about those buildings. I think the reason why they lage houses in the New Territories. These mostly went up in the 1970s, won is because UNESCO is shifting its focus more toward intangible values rather Q: Do you see your dual roles — as architect and conservationist — as a result of the local government’s small-house policy. So they are than focusing on the hardware. The Blue House is probably among the very few in as complementary? not that old but defi ne a distinct type of architecture that’s particular history where a conservation project has been initiated and led by social workers A : Oh yes, for sure. Conservationists usually have a practical mindset, to the New Territories and have the potential for becoming vernacular (of St. James’ Settlement — a charity) to serve the community. The three buildings preferring not to talk in abstract terms, rather to use a language architecture over time. (built between the 1920s and the 1950s) were revived to be used as a platform to which people understand. While being an architect can be about ego reactivate communication between neighbors, help the working-class community if you want to do a conservation project well, the fi rst thing to do is Q: Why not the more ubiquitous pencil towers which are widely living around the Blue House cluster get out of poverty, and give a chance to the to lose one’s ego, because your job is to protect what others have built. seen as more generic to Hong Kong? future generations to improve their lives. For example, one of the tenants is a It’s about doing a job well and walking away from it. A : You’re right. In no other city in the world is the pencil tower so defi n- single mother who had stopped working because she couldn’t leave her two small ing with respect to local identity… children at home with no one to look after them. 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