Heritage Done Right
Is Hong Kong finally treating its historic buildings properly? Photos by Chris Luk
When it comes to looking after our historic buildings, Hong Kong has come far from the botched efforts that saw the old Star Ferry Pier demolished in 2006. Public outcry forced heritage conservation into the political sphere, and we’re going further, too. Hong Kong isn’t only preserving its old buildings: it’s revitalizing them for the modern age. We look at the projects that have been doing just that.
Lui Seng Chun
This tong lau shophouse was built in 1931 by Lui Leung, co-founder of KMB Ltd. Lui’s brother operated a Chinese medicine shop on the ground floor, while the family lived upstairs. The business did well, and Lui Seng Chun’s medicines became so popular they were exported internationally. After nearly two decades of operation, the building fell into disuse when the Lui clan increased in number and moved away in the 70s. The Grade I listed building was included in the Development Bureau’s 2008 revitalization scheme, which subsidized non-profit organizations to renovate buildings. In 2012, the Lui Seng Chun building reopened as a Chinese medicine and healthcare center of Baptist University.
Lui Seng Chun is one of the first examples of conservation which has gone beyond preserving the building’s façade: it’s also been designed to conserve its function and role in the community. Appointments at Lui Seng Chun have been almost fully booked since the very first day of operation. “When we’re talking about heritage sites that were originally designed for public use, ‘preservation’ is not something we should aim for,” says Ho-yin Lee, the director of the city’s first architecture conservation program at Hong Kong University. “The exterior means nothing if not for the people inside it.”
In order to upgrade an old building for modern use, alterations have to be made. In Lui Seng Chun, one of the more obvious modifications is the glass panels that cover the originally open-air corridors. “The uncovered corridors, though an important feature, had to go,” says Xu Daji, Lui Seng Chun’s “centre-in-charge,” who operates the facility. “The noise from the traffic would have been too loud.”