This DRU focuses on architectural history and culture, with specific interests and strengths in the local context of Hong Kong and China, as well as the Asia region. Its current research initiatives engage innovative mapping and photographic analysis at the scale of both architectural projects and urban/landscape settings.
Apart from the urban culture of Hong Kong, recent research projects and design studios have worked on Chinese cities such as Beijing, Hankou, Chongqing and Dali, as well as Suzhou Gardens. Studio discussions are informed by several areas of research in history and theory, while urban context and fabric are studied at various scales in order to investigate local constraints as opportunities for formulating design strategies. The intention is to allow students to work on real sites and neighbourhoods, gaining insights of localities through documenting built fabrics and engaging communities, thereby understanding the reciprocity between cultural continuity and inevitable contestations that constitutes the urban process.
Selected Research Projects
- Mapping Urban Culture in Hong Kong: An inter-disciplinary investigation of architecture, urban process and filmic imagination of Central and Yaumatei, 2011-2012 (Chung)
- Keio University – IKI – Mn’M Project: Between Urban Densities and Intensities – The Hong Kong Case (Chung)
- Spatial Analysis of Two Suzhou Gardens: Zhuo Zheng Yuan and Liu Yuan (Fung)
- Hong Kong Architecture History, 2012 (Ho)
Selected Studio Projects
- Tourist Facilities in Dali, Yunnan Province, G14 MArch 1, 2014-2015 and G16 MArch 1, 2013-2014 (Fung)
- Preserving the Neighbourhood – The case of Hankou Old District, G13 MArch 1, 2014-2015 (Ho)
- Preserving the Neighbourhood – The case of Chongqing Shibati, G6 MArch 1, 2013-2014 (Ho)
- Preserving the Neighbourhood – The case of Beijing Dashilar, G6 MArch 1, 2012-2013 (Ho)