楼情:香港20世纪初唐楼建筑研究及其活化利用设计

Passion for Tong Lau:Research and Adaptive Reuse Designs of the Dwelling Blocks in Early 20th Century Hong Kong

19世纪末,大量岭南人涌入香港,建造了具有岭南民居特征的居住建筑,随着强烈的人口及经济压力,迅速演变成密集而简陋的住宿环境。1894年香港密集的华人劳工住区爆发鼠疫,该事件推动香港当局在1903年颁布了第一套《建筑物及公共卫生条例》,一方面从英国引入当时最先进的结构、防火及卫生设计理念,另一方面巧妙地融合岭南传统民居的营造技术和生活模式,逐渐发展形成一种20世纪初香港特有的居住建筑模式——唐楼。今天,唐楼作为具备遗产价值的历史建筑已获得香港市民及专业界认同,并需要予以保护。文章选用几则较为成功的唐楼保护案例,展示如何通过具有创意的空间设计、细致的材料运用和大胆的技术改进,使唐楼适合现代的社区生活或商业用途,同时展示独特的中西交融的民居建筑特色。文章指出,唐楼作为一种历史建筑,其保护重点不应仅仅是如何恢复唐楼的视觉特征,而是如何体现当年的设计理念,以及20世纪初岭南民居建筑的现代化进程。

In the late 19th century, the mass influx of peoples from Lingnan immigrated to Hong Kong and built dwellings of Lingnan characters, which soon evolved into dense and poor living environment under immense population and economic pressure. The outburst of bubonic plague in the dense Chinese labourers’ district in 1984 prompted the Hong Kong government to enact the first modern Public Health and Buildings Ordinance in 1903 which on the one hand, introduced the then modern concepts of structural fire protection and sanitary building standards from Britain, while on the other hand, these concepts were cleverly integrated with the traditional Chinese construction techniques and living patterns in Lingnan vernacular architecture, evolving into a dwelling architectural form unique to early 20th century Hong Kong, tong lau. Tong lau buildings are considered by both public and professionals of Hong Kong today to be processing heritage values and to be conserved. Using several recent successful cases of tong lau conservation, this study shows how tong lau buildings can be adapted for modern communities and commercial uses through innovative spatial design, meticulous use of materials and adventurous technical upgrades, while still expressing its unique characteristics integrating Chinese and Western of vernacular architectural aspects. It argues that the focus for the conservation of tong lau buildings should not be the mere restoration of their visual features, but the representation of their design concepts and notions of modernisation of Lingnan vernacular architectures in early 20th century.