街景人情 ——香港老区民居建筑及街貌保护与活化发展

在20世纪初，英国政府为她管治的香港订立了一套划时代的《建筑及公共卫生条例》，将当时英国最先进的结构及卫生标准，融合华人起居模式与岭南营造技术，演变出一类当年特色的建筑类型，称为“唐楼”，是日战之前香港华人的主要民居建筑。我国民居研究一向偏重传统村镇的建筑，鲜有将香港20世纪初外观或工艺不起眼的市区民间屋宅纳入。然而经过分析其背景及设计，就发现“唐楼”其实是结合中西民居文化理念的历史先锋。此外，文章通过研究 “唐楼” 的价值和特色，探讨如何保护及展示其特色，以见证重要的建筑历史阶段，希望可以填补我国近代民居研究的空缺。文章亦将分析香港近年几个活化再用的唐楼项目，尝试为近代都市华人民居的可持续发展寻找新的路向。

Development of Conservation and Revitalization of Vernacular Architecture and Streetscapes in Old Districts of Hong Kong

In the early 20th century, British government implemented a set of pioneering “Buildings and Public Health Ordinance” for Hong Kong under her administration By the introduction of the then most advanced structural and health standard from England, and the integration with the Chinese living pattern and Lingnan construction craftsmanship, a characterized architecture known as “Tong Lau” was evolved, and became the main vernacular typology for pre-war Chinese in Hong Kong. Study of vernacular architecture in China has been focused on buildings in traditional villages and townships, and thus early 20th century urban dwellings in Hong Kong of seemingly unattractive appearance and craftsmanship were seldom included. However, through the analysis of its background and design, Tong Laus are actually found to be pioneers that integrated the cultural concepts of Chinese Western urban vernacular dwellings. Moreover, by studying the values and characters of Tong Lau, this article explores ways to conserve and present its characters, in order to illustrate such critical architectural historic phase, and hopefully to supplement the research gap in near-modern vernacular architecture of China. This article also studies several recent year cases of adaptive re-uses of Tong Lau in Hong Kong, thereby exploring new approaches for sustainable development of Chinese near-modern urban vernacular architecture.