Recognising modern architectural heritage : the consideration of social value in establishing heritage significance : the case of HSBC building Mong Kok

Abstract

The aim of the study is to recognise the social and architectural significance of modern architectural heritage in Hong Kong, in the context of HSBC Building Mong Kok. Hong Kong peoples’ awareness in built heritage has been arisen from recent decades and members of the general public noticed the importance of retaining built structure with rich architectural, historic and cultural merits in conserving peoples’ collective memory and protecting parts of Hong Kong’s history. The government also took their initiative in conserving the historic buildings by various policy documents problematising directives in conservation and packaged as achievable and manageable in protecting the site and engaging with the general public. In reality, however, conservation in Hong Kong is often perceived as uncomprehensive and in particular, structures built in post-war period or in general, modern architecture are left out from being conserved by the government nor being awarded as of significance by the general public. The objective of this research is to critically examine how specific worldview about modern architecture and its corresponding social merits and how such could be contextualised and contested in the case of HSBC Building Mong Kok. By observing the conservation principle and conceptualised idea of social value propounded by English Heritage and UNESCO guidelines on modern architectural heritage conservation with exemplar cases around the globe, a theoretical basis was laid to examine how the HSBC Building Mong Kok to be constituted as of social and architectural merits. Textual data were gathered from the case study. Site visits for in-depth observation to the site’s architectural features and details and also extensive desktop researches on The Hongkong and Shanghai Banking Corporation Limited (HSBC) history, the building’s background information and facts and its social and cultural influences to Mong Kok, the local residents and for Hong Kong in general. The analysis of the textual data revealed the rich social and cultural significance and connection the HSBC Building Mong Kok associated and articulated to the society of Hong Kong in general and in particular, for the district of Mong Kok. The research also indicates the architectural merit observed in the site and by its engineering standards adopted to be perceived as pioneering at the time of completion. Through the study can we also observe that raising awareness of public in concerning modern architectural heritage involves complex factors with economic concerns, political and broad sociocultural considerations. The discussion thus to be contextualised to observe how all these factors can be tackled and promote architectural conservation effectively, in particular to raise the awareness of modern architectural heritage with rich social value amongst the general public of Hong Kong and how to facilitate such to be done for future practices. Though there are publications and researches done on modern architectural heritage on various sites around the world, there is no research publication on the architectural and social significance of the HSBC Building Mong Kok, showing the lack of academic recognition of the building as a built heritage. Therefore, this case study offers the insight in observing the complication in conserving Hong Kong modern architectural heritage and the importance of various stakeholders in the midst of conservation namely the government, the public, the role of scholars and conservation professionals are also highlighted.