Sai Kung fire station : a government standard-design modern architectural heritage

Abstract

The Hong Kong Government owns a diverse range of properties that are functional building types covering police station, fire stations, school, clinic, hospital, market, public toilet, government complex, sport centre, community halls, refuse collection points etc., which are covering wide range of usages. Many of these functional buildings were built since the mid-20th Century and designed in unique feature of modernism which are standardization and functional. The Hong Kong Fire Station, with the distinctive design characteristics of Modern Architecture, should qualify as Hong Kong’s modern architectural heritage. This is because the standard fire station design could date back to the 1960s or even earlier, and is designed to the principles of Modern Architecture which are standardization and functional. However, this type of modern architectural heritage has been largely neglected by researchers, possibly because of the difficulty in gaining access to these buildings for in-depth research. The key issue address by this dissertation is that how the Hong Kong Standard Fire Station could be qualified as modern architectural heritage and it is worthwhile of protection. How to implement maintenance to modern architectural heritage is another key address. The dissertation will focus on Sai Kung Fire Station as a case study. Through the case study, both design and maintenance aspects for a Standard Fire Station will be analyzed. For design aspects, it is aimed to evaluate the architectural values, the building components, the Characters Defining Elements (CDEs) and the functional requirements behind the CDEs. For maintenance aspects, the main concerns, procedures, techniques and the technical standards for conduction of a planned maintenance is evaluated. The objective of this dissertation is to set up a framework for implementation of maintenance to Standard Fire Station, which is considered as Hong Kong’s modern architectural heritage, and hence the maintenance of such buildings will be a necessary way of conserving them. Another objective is to recognize that many government buildings in Hong Kong are of a standard design, and propose other government standard building types that have the potential to be modern architectural heritage, and suggest further research on these types, based on the framework.