With the government’s mega-projects of new urban developments like the Northern Metropolis and NDAs inevitably affecting rural areas, how can we best conserve such remaining places that contain centuries-old eco-cultural heritages? As more and more remote rural places and abandoned villages in Hong Kong are being rediscovered by hikers and frequented by visitors, what conservation efforts can give new life to such places, often already in ruins, benefit returning villagers as well as connect and enlighten visiting city-dwellers in a sustainable way? How can such efforts also involve students and youngsters, offering them a more grounded and embodied experience in their learning and all-round well-being?

Our project will pioneer a multiple partnership model for remote village revitalisation that combines site clearance, artefact conservation, built fabric restoration with community engagement, volunteer involvement and student experiential learning. Building on our team’s experience in countryside conservation and our ongoing projects Project Plum Grove at Sha Tau Kok’s Mui Tsz Lam village in particular, we will use the 360-year old Hakka village (part of the Hing Chun Alliance that includes Lai Chi Wo village) as project site to implement phased collaborative conservation, with a longer-term plan for establishing a volunteer and educational base for multiple disciplines and fields.We will co-create village vision and planning with villagers and combining reuse of locally-sourced upcycled materials with experimental fabrications at strategic locations. Our project enables community building with the social impact of multi-way interaction between villagers, professionals, volunteers and students through physical making and social bonding.

The project establishes a collaborative model of village revitalisation in Hong Kong that enables rural community building. We will strengthen the multi-way interaction between villagers, professionals, volunteers and CUHK students through physical making and social bonding. We will build on the reuse of locally-sourced, upcycled materials, and pioneer use of new media and technology in built fabric restoration for rural villages. In the longer term, we aim to establish a rural volunteer, educational and research base for multiple disciplines in Mui Tsz Lam.

- Mui Tsz Lam villagers + friends: 15-20

- CUHK Architecture Students: 30-40

- CUHK Students: 20

- Hong Kong Institute of Construction instructors and students: Around 30

- Volunteers: 40-50

- Social media outreach: over 700

2022

Architecture, Culture & Heritage