HKIUD Annual General Meeting, Talk and Dinner

9/17/2015

Dinner with Ivan Ho - William Tsang - Vincent Ng - Barry Wilson - Raymond Ho - Bernard Lim - Photo: BWPI

Ms Deborah KUH, the new Head of Greening, Landscape and Tree Management Section, Development Bureau - Photo: HKIUD

The Comix Home Base in Wanchai once again hosted the AGM of the Hong Kong Institute of Urban Design on 14 September attended by Barry Wilson.

A presentation entitled “Landscape Typology in Urban Design” formed the centrepiece of the evening, being delivered by Ms Deborah KUH, the new Head of Greening, Landscape and Tree Management Section, Development Bureau. 

Formed from the Mallory Street/Burrows Street Revitalisation Project, Comix Home Base is a collaboration of the Urban Renewal Authority (URA) and the Hong Kong Arts Centre (HKAC) comprising 1-11 Mallory Street (odd numbers) and 6-12 Burrows Street (even numbers).  In total, this project includes ten pre-war Grade 2 historic tenement houses.

Built in the 1910s, this cluster of shophouses at Mallory Street and Burrows Street are imbued with local character.  They have witnessed Wan Chai's urban development in the past century.

These historically significant structures combine both Chinese and Western architectural styles. When the British took control of Hong Kong in the 1840s, Wan Chai was one of the areas populated by Western settlers, and many buildings in the vicinity of Spring Garden Lane carried with them a strong European flavour.  

The ten tenement houses at Mallory Street and Burrows Street are all four-storey high and built with cantilevered balconies supported by brackets and posts on the upper floors.  Floors, ceilings and staircases are all made of China fir.  Other architectural features include pitched Chinese tiled roofs and French doors at 1-7 Mallory Street. 

The Comix Home Base - Photo: Hong Kong Arts Centre

Photo: comixhomebase.com.hk

Photo: comixhomebase.com.hk

Interior timber staircases with timber handrails enclosed by timber planking, as well as ornamental iron balustrades at the balconies, and cement floor tiles with different patterns are distinguishing traits of 1-7 Mallory Street.  Among these, the iron balcony balustrades are one of the most distinctive features of these buildings' exteriors.  Moreover, pitched Chinese pan and roll tiled roofs originate from traditional Chinese architecture, while designs such as French doors are elements from the West.  These ten tenement houses are among a handful of old tenement houses still standing in Wan Chai as well as Hong Kong that are filled with Chinese as well as Western architectural features.  Walking into these historical buildings is like entering the history of Hong Kong.

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