Does it present history?
In PMQ, we find that it makes an effort in presenting the history in the past. It mainly focuses on the history of the Central School which is “the first government school in Hong Kong to provide western education to the public at the upper primary and secondary levels” [1], and the Former Hollywood Road Police Married Quarter which is the first time to have the quarter for “married junior police officers” [2].
Although it tries to preserve the heritage and present the history, it just used simple and limited ways for conservation including exhibition and keeping the structure of the building at the original location. In PMQ, it strives to preserve the original design of the quarter and point out the seven historical spots like the entrance of the Central School and the Former Hollywood Road Police Married Quarter. Also, there are two rooms for exhibition. One of them is to depict the history of the Central School by timeline. The other one is used to re-interpret a domestic home of a police family in the past.
Besides, we think that it stresses more on “revitalization” than “conservation”. First, although it preserves the main design, it still changes the design of the historic building for the sake of revitalization, in order to create more space for more activity and performance. As we can see in PMQ, a large exhibition space called “The Qube” is constructed to link the two buildings together [3].
Second, some people think that it is a “renovation” rather than a “conservation” since it has become commercialized. In PMQ, there are over 80% of the units are transformed into shops, two units are used for exhibition. Especially for the one who lived in the quarter before, only one unit is used for demonstrating the look of a domestic room of a police family, and the car park in the quarter originally has gone. Due to the changes of the building, it could not evoke any memory of them in the past and let the visitors know more about lives in the quarter [4]. Therefore, they point out that the PMQ now could not present the history. Indeed, the linkage between the building and its past has been weakened.
PMQ intended to say that it shows a good balance between conservation and development. For conservation, we assume that it is not just showing the original design and telling about the historical knowledege of the building, but also constructing a picture about how the lives and society looked like in the past. However, we find that PMQ tries to communicate and preserve the heritage meaning by preserving the structure only. Preserving the original structure itself and providing text information help telling the fact that the building has a long history, and particularly related to the history of the Central School and the Former Hollywood Road Police Married Quarter. But it is hard to imagine or understand more about the lives and society in the two parts of history that it emphasizes merely through the structure. Besides, the commercialization of the building weakens the communication of the historical meaning as well, because it may turn people's attention from conservation to revitalization.
Reference:
[1] PMQ元創坊, (n.d.), History of PMQ,Retrieved from: http://www.pmq.org.hk/heritage/history-of-pmq/?lang=ch
[2] PMQ元創坊, (n.d.), History of PMQ,Retrieved from: http://www.pmq.org.hk/heritage/history-of-pmq/?lang=ch
[3] 姚梓善,〈前荷里活道已婚宿舍活化創意中心 關注組:保育應重全區整體〉,香港獨立媒體,2014-04-22,<http://www.inmediahk.net/node/1022439>【檢索日期:2014-11-28】。
[4]〈元創方活化保育變商場〉,東方日報,2014-04-20,<http://www.orientaldaily.on.cc/cnt/news/20140420/00176_029.html>【檢索日期:2014-11-29】。
In PMQ, we find that it makes an effort in presenting the history in the past. It mainly focuses on the history of the Central School which is “the first government school in Hong Kong to provide western education to the public at the upper primary and secondary levels” [1], and the Former Hollywood Road Police Married Quarter which is the first time to have the quarter for “married junior police officers” [2].
Although it tries to preserve the heritage and present the history, it just used simple and limited ways for conservation including exhibition and keeping the structure of the building at the original location. In PMQ, it strives to preserve the original design of the quarter and point out the seven historical spots like the entrance of the Central School and the Former Hollywood Road Police Married Quarter. Also, there are two rooms for exhibition. One of them is to depict the history of the Central School by timeline. The other one is used to re-interpret a domestic home of a police family in the past.
Besides, we think that it stresses more on “revitalization” than “conservation”. First, although it preserves the main design, it still changes the design of the historic building for the sake of revitalization, in order to create more space for more activity and performance. As we can see in PMQ, a large exhibition space called “The Qube” is constructed to link the two buildings together [3].
Second, some people think that it is a “renovation” rather than a “conservation” since it has become commercialized. In PMQ, there are over 80% of the units are transformed into shops, two units are used for exhibition. Especially for the one who lived in the quarter before, only one unit is used for demonstrating the look of a domestic room of a police family, and the car park in the quarter originally has gone. Due to the changes of the building, it could not evoke any memory of them in the past and let the visitors know more about lives in the quarter [4]. Therefore, they point out that the PMQ now could not present the history. Indeed, the linkage between the building and its past has been weakened.
PMQ intended to say that it shows a good balance between conservation and development. For conservation, we assume that it is not just showing the original design and telling about the historical knowledege of the building, but also constructing a picture about how the lives and society looked like in the past. However, we find that PMQ tries to communicate and preserve the heritage meaning by preserving the structure only. Preserving the original structure itself and providing text information help telling the fact that the building has a long history, and particularly related to the history of the Central School and the Former Hollywood Road Police Married Quarter. But it is hard to imagine or understand more about the lives and society in the two parts of history that it emphasizes merely through the structure. Besides, the commercialization of the building weakens the communication of the historical meaning as well, because it may turn people's attention from conservation to revitalization.
Reference:
[1] PMQ元創坊, (n.d.), History of PMQ,Retrieved from: http://www.pmq.org.hk/heritage/history-of-pmq/?lang=ch
[2] PMQ元創坊, (n.d.), History of PMQ,Retrieved from: http://www.pmq.org.hk/heritage/history-of-pmq/?lang=ch
[3] 姚梓善,〈前荷里活道已婚宿舍活化創意中心 關注組:保育應重全區整體〉,香港獨立媒體,2014-04-22,<http://www.inmediahk.net/node/1022439>【檢索日期:2014-11-28】。
[4]〈元創方活化保育變商場〉,東方日報,2014-04-20,<http://www.orientaldaily.on.cc/cnt/news/20140420/00176_029.html>【檢索日期:2014-11-29】。