The Age of the Main Building
Overview
Main Building is one of the most well-known tourist attractions in the campus of HKU. It is famous for its long history of over 110 years since its establishment, and featured for its Baroque-style. It holds multipurpose functions including lecture rooms, offices, and auditoriums in the early years and nowadays, and once been used as a relief hospital during the outbreak of the war. Despite of its long history, the University preserve this historical site carefully by refurbishments without significant changes in facilities and architecture style, therefore we could see the old-styled decorations such as framed windows, doors, ceilings and columns.
Theme
Despite of its refurbishment, a lot of its original facilities are kept and preserved, and time has left its traces on the building. I explored these traces on the visible scenes on the main building (not inside the rooms), and focused on 4 main topics: Doors, Walls, Windows and Outdoors. The wear and tears on these facilities are quite visible, such as scratches and color fading, and that is also what bring us the feeling of its old and ancient style. The presence of these wear and tears are also due to the materials used such as wood, glass and bricks which are easy to be scuffed. In addition, I also distributed some shots to some of its structural features such as the reserved traditional door handles, ancient-styled design and the size of the tree to laterally show the age of this building.
Video Production
For the video, I used a peaceful and classical tone to express the topic with the respect and appreciation of the heritage, therefore there is no quick shots or edits in the video, but with a lot of still clips to capture the detail of the subject. Due to technical constraint of resolution and clarity, the wear and tears are not so visible, but we could also see from the color, some grey or yellow spots and areas. In the beginning, I used a long shot to introduce and bring the audience into the interior of the building, and it’s the beginning of the journey, with a few sceneries and the title appearing on the screen, officially introducing to the theme. The video has four main sections: Doors, Walls, Windows and Outdoors, with all three indoor facilities being firstly introduced by a continuous shot zooming out the camera, focusing from the details then to the overall. In the ending shot, I also used the long shot of walking up the long stairs and stops in front of the statue of Loke Yew, which echoes with the beginning of the video and symbolizes the end of the journey, and the end of the time.
Reflection
It is important to preserve and protect heritage and old buildings with the need to maintain the cultural value and historical memory of the city, and the city or the owner should have the responsibility to do so. It does not mean that the buildings should be protected within the cordon and isolated from the public; these buildings can also be in use in modern society, when necessary, with some changes in the function or some refurbishment to prolong their longevity so that public would truly see and feel the cultural identification from the building and for the architecture to deliver its economic, cultural and social value. The Main Building in HKU established a good model which consistently put into use after necessary refurbishment and maintains the historical feature, style and design of the building. This preservation not only provides a teaching and working place for the staff and students, but also becomes a characterized and nostalgic architectural scenery in the campus, which adds on the cultural value and intensity of the university, and also becomes a famous tourist attraction and the benefit in the cultural perspective (eg. Cultural identification and cultural export) could be expanded wider in the whole society. It can also be a feature of the integration of tradition and modernity in Hong Kong as a hybrid city where different kinds of cultures are embraced, and people can percept the different feelings brought by different styles of architecture. From my personal point of view, it reinforces my appreciation of Hong Kong’s effort and capability in preserving historical and traditional heritages as well as the respect they have towards them, and further triggers my passion to understand and explore more about these historical heritages.
Bibliography
The main building. HKU Giving. (2022, August 1). https://www.giving.hku.hk/the-main-building/
Architectural style, construction & materials. Manatū Taonga – Ministry for Culture & Heritage. (n.d.). https://mch.govt.nz/architectural-style-construction-materials
Dewolf, C. (2021a, September 3). Hong Kong’s colonial heritage, part V: The HKU main building. Zolima City Magazine. https://zolimacitymag.com/hong-kong-colonial-heritage-part-v-the-hku-main-building/
Wang, J. (2012). Problems and solutions in the protection of historical urban areas. Frontiers of Architectural Research, 1(1), 40-43.
The Preservation of Ancient Buildings. (1908). Burlington Magazine for Connoisseurs, 13(65), 251–252.
Bullen, P. A., & Love, P. E. (2011). Adaptive reuse of heritage buildings. Structural survey.
Chan, K. J. (2000). Maintenance of old buildings. The Hong Kong Surveyors, 11(2), 4-7.
Sara Wilkinson Associate Professor, Hilde Remøy; Associate Professor of Real Estate Management. (2022, September 12). Heritage Building Preservation vs sustainability? conflict isn’t inevitable. The Conversation. https://theconversation.com/heritage-building-preservation-vs-sustainability-conflict-isnt-inevitable-83973
Historic Buildings in Hong Kong. Antiquities and Monuments Office – Historic Buildings in Hong Kong (27). (n.d.). https://www.amo.gov.hk/en/historic-buildings/historic-buildings-hk/index.html
Old buildings, fresh perspectives – Hong Kong historic buildings through the lens of an architect: Hong kong tourism board. Discover Hong Kong. (n.d.). https://www.discoverhongkong.com/eng/explore/old-buildings-fresh-perspectives.html
Button R. (2023, March 16). Old buildings matter: Sustainability and existing structures. Constructible. https://constructible.trimble.com/construction-industry/old-buildings-matter-sustainability-and-existing-structures
Sun Manling
3036099502
Your video presents the main building of HKU and the classical elements of the building. I appreciate the processional quality of the film to show the symmetry in the architecture, however more analysis and a stronger theme / topic would give direction to your video. How does the age of the building affect the usage of it? What is the significance of preserving the building? How does the colonial architecture situate itself in the contemporary context? Some further investigation will offer more insight to your video and text.