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Rewriting Hong Kong: A Reinvention of Nga Tsin Wai Tsuen

Part 2 Project 2020
Po Yi Ha
Chinese University of Hong Kong | China
Nowadays, "history" is mostly referred to “past events” or “factual knowledge” while fictionality or intangible elements are neglected in the narratives of events. This thesis explores the adaptive use of history and fictionality in literature in architectural design. Nga Tsin Wai Tsuen, the last walled village in Kowloon, Hong Kong, is selected as the site. Reading the layers of history of Hong Kong, from the colonial period to nowadays, and researching on the local literature of Hong Kong, both showed the inseparable relationship of the informative past also the intangible collective urban memories of the city.

This thesis consists of two parts: (1) Writing Hong Kong: Research on the written local history and literature; and (2) Rewriting Hong Kong: A Reinvention in Nga Tsin Wai Tsuen. An archive of mementos is designed for the people finding the time fragments of our city or contributing their precious memories. A continuous dramatic journey of fragmented volumes are created for the experience of the present as suspended moments in the interwoven layers of history, time and space. Fictionalization helps us travel through the real fantasy, excavate the subconsciousness of history, and hover above reality: Infinite possibilities are waiting in the chasms of time.


Tutor(s)

2020
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