[Reading Response2]- Building on Disappearance: Hong Kong Architecture and Colonial Space

Chu Kai Ying Yannis uid: 3036239774

This article mainly discusses the disappearance of Hong Kong architecture and history. Architecture not only can showcase the aesthetic of one place, but also represent people’s identity in an intangible way. The demolition of Hong Kong unique buildings will fade out people’s memories towards a city or even a nation, nevertheless, the preservation may not represent the truth or memory of a city. As preservation is selective and tends to exclude the dirt and pain, the fantasy may be just an illusion, some of the real history may also be cancelled by the preservation. When we take a glimpse of a building, it presents much more than its texture or appearance. The ideological and spatial context behind the architecture is the significant concept that it wants to share. The imperfection or defect from the buildings implies its historical background, the architectural style also. Meanwhile, turning places into a colonial space can also devaluate citizens’ local culture and identity. Our insight and awareness will be affected by the colonialism as we adapt new values and concepts from it. It can also “delete” the fact and telling the untrue story to the public. Thus, preservation may show the history of a city but it also covers the torture of a city.

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