Chu Hai Archi-cultural Symposium 2008: Urban Space X Cultural Heritage

Date:	7 September 2008 (Sunday)
Time:	2:15 pm – 6:30 pm (Reception at 2:00 pm)
Venue	Lecture Hall, Hong Kong Heritage Discovery Centre, Kowloon Park, Haiphong Road, Tsim Sha Tsui, Kowloon
Organizer:	Department of Architecture, Chu Hai College of Higher Education, Hong Kong
Co-organizer:	Antiquities and Monuments Office, Leisure and Cultural Services Department
	Hong Kong Architecture Centre
Fee:	Free of charge
Language:	The presentations will be conducted in English with simultaneous Cantonese interpretation
Enrollment:	Online enrollment at the website of Chu Hai College of Higher Education (www.chuhai.edu.hk)

 

1. Background:

The Department of Architecture, Chu Hai College of Education, Hong Kong, has been organizing annual symposia since 2005. As one of the tertiary institutes providing architectural degree programmes in Hong Kong, the College attempts to take the opportunity of converging scholars, practitioners and the public in order to arouse the awareness and interest of architectural students and the public on architectural and urban issues. Symposia of the previous years on "Cultural Heritage", "Vanishing Cityscape" and "A Tale of Two Cities", co-organized by Antiquities and Monuments Office, Museum of History, and Hong Kong Architecture Centre, inviting speakers from local, Mainland China, Singapore, Japan and the U.S.A., etc., has successfully drawn the attention of the academia, profession and public.
This year the Department intends to focus on the urban aspect of heritage conservation. Scholars ranging from local to overseas will be invited as speakers to provide international experiences to the audience.

2. Theme:

This symposium will explore the potential of urban space as cultural heritage. The morphological transformation of historic urban space exposes the dynamic side of architectural monuments in response to the ever-changing conditions of society. Instead of an "and", the "X" between "urban space" and "cultural heritage" can denote "crossing over", "multiplying", "contradicting", or any other undefined relationships. Each speaker will present a topic related to the history of urban space under a specific cultural context from Hong Kong to the West. From this symposium, the discussions on cultural identity and heritage conservation in Hong Kong will hopefully be deepened and go beyond the levels of collective memory and preservation of individual buildings.

3. Speakers and Topics:

Ken Too (Chu Hai College of Higher Education, Hong Kong, China)
Hong Kong Public Space

Rolf Jenni (ETH Swiss Federal Institute of Technology Zürich, Switzerland)
Chungking Mansions of Hong Kong

Judith de Jong (University of Illinois at Chicago, the U.S.A.)
American Suburb and Public Space

Sharon Haar (University of Illinois at Chicago, the U.S.A.)
American Landscape Park

Heidi Sohn and Miguel Robles-Durán (Delft University of Technology, the Netherlands)
Asymmetrical Mexico City