Revisiting Hong Kong Modern. Book Presentation, Panel Discussion

Docomomo HK was invited to organise a discussion panel in support of the launch of its member Walter Koditek’s new book Hong Kong Modern Architecture of the 1950s to 1970s.

Unpacking the Reuse of Colonial-era Historic Buildings: Cases of Tai Kwun and the Rockbund Art Museum

Resistant City: Histories, Maps and the Architecture of Development (book discussion)

Mapping contested spaces in Hong Kong through field observation, analytical drawings, archival research and film studies, the book Resistant City visualizes the energies and tenacity of people in the territory as manifest in their daily life, social and professional networks, and the urban spaces they inhabit. 

Learning from Wah Fu Estate: Exploratory Efforts in Public Engagement

How can spaces for care like photobooks and museums be reimagined through public engagement? This session returns to questions posed in Capturing for Care with a focus on projects at a specific Hong Kong public housing estate. Conceived by architect Donald Liao as “a small town rather than a housing estate,” Wah Fu housed lower-to-middle income citizens on a promontory between Pokfulam and Aberdeen for over half a century. Its demolition is now in preparation; the relocation of residents will begin in 2026.

Fallen Angels: Love at Kwun Tong in Film and Miniature

In conjunction with our 2021 Discussion Series, “Curating Architecture,” our chapter member, Emily Verla Bovina, is organizing a Walk & Talk Session to take participants to Kwun Tong to explore the district’s urban and architectural history along with other invited guests.

Capturing for Care: Curating Hong Kong Modernism with Architectural Photobooks

To curate is to take care. To photograph is to capture. This session explores the idea of capturing for care through the architectural photobook. How does the curation of architecture that takes place in these edited collections of architectural images change our relationship to the city and the built environment around us? When does documentation compel us to protect and conserve particular built forms and when does it facilitate their demolition or their erasure through renewal and renovation?…

‘Euros’ versus ‘Anglos’? Heritage Definitions and Discourses in Continental Europe, Britain and the United States

This discussion questions whether there ever have been distinct and contrasting Anglo and Euro heritage world-outlooks at any stage in the history of the modern conservation movement, by tracing a narrative from the age of laissez-faire individualism of the 19th century to the era of mass state intervention of the 20th century, and to today’s market-led globalisation.

Cement in the Concrete Jungle: The History and Restoration of Shanghai Plaster in Hong Kong

Shanghai plaster is a kind of granolithic cement plaster that emerged in Hong Kong around the mid-1920s, and soon became one of the most popular material choices for modern buildings in the 1930s. Despite its popularity in the past, Shanghai plaster has now become one of the most undermined and misunderstood material finishes. Its history went far beyond the conventional narratives that postulated its Shanghainese origin and tied closely with the construction culture and movement of Cantonese craftsmen within the network of overseas Chinese in the South China Sea.

Cross-Talks: A Docomomo Sharing Session

This is the first of a series of sharing sessions between members of different Docomomo chapters. The sessions provide a space to discuss the work of the chapters and exchange experiences in the documentation and conservation of modern architecture and built landscapes.

Art & Miniatures as Method: The Case of Gio Ponti’s Projects for Daniel Koo (1963) and Su Gin-Djih’s Shek O Bus Terminus (1955)

Led by Emily Verla Bovino, this talk will discuss the political unconscious of the three buildings, Hong Kong bus model culture as alternative historiography and how attending to the architectural settings of Hong Kong art and design can generate unexpected stories about the city’s built environment.