The needs of the people : a social value-based approach in the heritage assessment of modern architecture, the case of Wo Yi Hop Road Cooked Food Market, Kwai Chung, Hong Kong

Abstract

This dissertation focuses on a potential Modern architectural heritage that is closely related to “the needs of the people.” This is Hong Kong’s cooked food market (CFM), a community facility designed in the language of Modern Architecture and was originally built to house licensed or illegal cooked food street stalls after World War II. These indoor facilities provide improved management, comfort and hygiene while maintaining the affordability to the public. As Hong Kong’s economy became more well developed, the CFM operation is increasingly regarded as a commercial operation that should not be a public facility supported by the government. According to Hannes Meyer, the second Director of Bauhaus, Modern Architecture should serve the social purpose of “Volksbedarf statt Luxusbedarf” (“the needs of the people instead of the need of luxury”). The CFM, as a functional, practical and utilitarian type of architecture, expresses this people-oriented grounding social philosophy of Modern Architecture. In conservation, there has been an over-emphasis on the historical and architectural values of architecture, neglecting the fact that social value is the very thing that expresses the significance of architectural design of the Modern Movement. As such, this dissertation will focus on the argument that historical value and architectural value of the selected building type, the Hong Kong’s postwar CFMs, cannot be articulated without connecting with its social value that serves “the needs of the people”. In so doing, the author would like to approach the understanding of social value of such type of Modern Architecture by investigating how the social attachment of community stakeholders is connected with the uses of the place that serve “the needs of the people.” By establishing a social value-based assessment approach, the author aims to establish a new approach in assessing the significance of Modern architectural heritage.