Category: Lecture 4 Everyday Spaces as Narrative

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[Reading Response: Ackbar Abbas]

Posted on Ha Chun Ming

  Tutorial 1 Reading Response   “The preservation of old buildings gives us history in site, but it also means keeping history in sight.” This is a quote that I find meaningful, as it corrects a common misconception that preservation is just keeping the historical sites/ traditional structures untouched, but reminding people of the collective memories and histories behind of these buildings. In my opinion, conservation is not blindly preserving old buildings, but making the old become the stem for the new, and even the catalyst for development, so both the old and new can coexist to create new meaning. 

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Cat Links Lecture 4 Everyday Spaces as Narrative

[Reading Response: Michel de Certeau]

Posted on Chu Kin Nok

What is meant by everyday life? For a secondary school student in Hong Kong, you wake up at six in the morning, get to school by eight, have lessons until four in the afternoon with a lunch break at noon; after school, you may hang out with your friends for a while and arrive home by six, then you have to finish the assignments, take a shower and have dinner, until ten you go to sleep. This daily routine occupies five out of seven days of your week, this weekly routine occupies nine months out of a year, the same

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Cat Links Lecture 4 Everyday Spaces as Narrative

[Reading Response: Ackbar Abbas]

Posted on Bak Seoyeong

Tutorial 1 Reading Reflection The reading “Building on disappearance” emphasizes Hong Kong as a space of disappearance of history within the architecture. Before reading, the title made me imagine ‘disappearance’ negatively. Nevertheless, the author suggests that preservation is a selection that tends to exclude the pain of history, advantageously. The example of Flagstaff House was interesting, which was preserved as a museum for the collection of Chinese teaware. Cultural preservation is what really is necessary for the country to place the image of identity. The harmonious accommodation of Chinese culture and colonial architecture was available due to displacement. Moreover, the

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Cat Links Lecture 4 Everyday Spaces as Narrative

[Reading Response: Michel de Certeau and Ackbar Abbas ]

Posted on Poon Lok Man

Walking in a city what can we see and interpret? What defines a space and a place? In the future film industry, is there still a place for Hong Kong architects? Our discussions intrigue in these big questions, and we came up with some ideas. De Certeau was a French Jesuit and scholar who has many own terms, which are quite conceptual. The point is that what we see and feel somewhere in the city is personal and sentimental. We have to interpret ourselves. With our interpretations and the personal influx, space goes beyond a place or a non-place. The former

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Cat Links Lecture 4 Everyday Spaces as Narrative

[Reading Response: Ackbar Abbas]

Posted on Hong Sum Ho

In the article, Ackbar Abbas points out the complexity of preservation in Hong Kong, a place which is built upon constant developments, adopting the international style to foster its position as a facilitator (a bridge). The design in these new skyscrapers, such as the HSBC headquarters and Bank Of China Building, does not necessarily establish the identity of Hong Kong. Instead, they are built to establish the image – an international city (a “floating” identity), driven by economic benefits. Thinking of the recent political movements in Hong Kong, the concerns with the  issues of identity seem to have grown, which

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Cat Links Lecture 4 Everyday Spaces as Narrative, Uncategorized

[Reading Response: Ackbar Abbas]

Posted on Wong Ting Fai Wesley

The main focus that Abbas wants to anchor is the theme of cultural disappearance. Quote “The more Placeless and powerful buildings are built, the more the urban vernacular gets anonymous and characterless.” The emphasis of anonymity is perhaps the essence of Hong Kong culture per se. However, does this reflect upon the desire of Hong Kong’s idiosyncratic identity? Does this reflect Hong Kong Architecture? It can be perceived that “nostalgia” and “memories” are based on banal facade preservation and photogenic standardization, where we as locals become the tourist, where we become less familiar with our own childhood environment. As society

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Cat Links Lecture 4 Everyday Spaces as Narrative

[Reading Response: Ackbar Abbas]

Posted on Chin Kuang Yi

Chapter 4: Buildings on Disappearance: Hong Kong Architecture and Colonial Space At the beginning and the end of the chapter, Abbas references and quotes Walter Benjamin, firstly, “In the convulsions of the commodity economy we begin to recognise the monuments of the bourgeoisie as ruins even before they have crumbled.” (p. 64) Then, “To paraphrase Walter Benjamin, architecture would be in ruins even when-especially when-the monuments that make it up have not crumbled.” (p. 90) I think that these references represent Abbas’ critical opinion on the Architecture in Modern times and meaning of space and place. Although Hong Kong has had

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