When people talk about a place, what comes up to mind at that instant is always a certain piece of architecture or the so-called landmark of a place. But Abbas brought up the critique of architecture being barely a piece of visual evidence does not take a role in representing a city’s identity (Abbas, Building on Disappearance, p.64). Which this leads to the discussion of what can represent the city or specifically, what can represent Hong Kong?
Architecture as an object changes through time, due to the accentuation of the economy, old types of buildings cannot reach the standard of fulfilling the needs of boosting the economy because the use of space lacks efficiency, therefore demolishment and redevelopment cannot be avoided. Through the disappearance of these obsolete buildings, the space filled with cultural values and memories dissipates too.
The symbolic architecture of Hong Kong such as the ones mentioned in the passage like the HSBC headquarters and the Bank of China office building does look glamorous from the outside, but if one day they have to be erased, all will vanish like other old buildings. Therefore, what can be passed on as an identity of a place is the common memories of the space, and which is worth the preservation most. However, talking about the preservation of Hong Kong, the focus is often drifted to preserving the place but not the space. Given a decent name of the preservation means – revitalization, the facades of the buildings were well kept and carefully renovated, but the purpose of the space is completely changed. From the perspective of the government, this is adding a more meaningful purpose to the building; but from my perspective, this only allows the building to detain for a short period of time due to the removal of the original space and its memories from the architecture. What represents a city should not only be the glamorous side, most importantly are the stories or memories no matter good or bad, but which can resonate within the people.
I do not completely affirm that architecture cannot symbolize a place, but I would say, architecture which its space and memories can be preserved may still be possible in doing so despite the difficulties of retaining the cultural values comparing to keeping the urban form. Ultimately, I still believe in the values of pieces of architecture towering aloft in the city.
By Lee Tin Wing Alvina (UID: 3035485340)
Well written, and I appreciate that you reflect on our tutorials discussion by bringing in your point of view to this vital discussion. The only constructive feedback I would like to add is that you need to mention your image source. It’s a nice image of the old HSBC bank and Victoria Harbor, and because of that I am even more curious to know from which time this image is. Overall, well done; keep the good work up.