About the CPD Talk

Adaptive reuse refers to reusing an old building for a purpose other than which it was originally built or designed. This conservation approach has become increasingly popular around the world. However, there are few publications that focus on its application in Asia.

This CPD will discuss the recently launched publication, “Asian Revitalization: Adaptive Reuse in Hong Kong, Shanghai, and Singapore”, particularly looking at both unique and shared aspects of adaptive reuse in three Asian urban centers. The panellists, who are also the editors and authors of the book, will talk about selected aspects of the book highlighting the definition of adaptive reuse from international and Asian perspectives as well as the relationship between adaptive reuse and sustainability within a broad urban context. The essayists of the three urban centres will discuss the adaptive reuse practice in each city and reveal the impetus behind a wide range of projects from revitalization in Hong Kong, commercial development in Shanghai, to community-building in Singapore.

With an increasing number of projects being completed and opened to the public in these three cities, it is timely to examine adaptive reuse within such influential Asian centers—particularly in terms of economic, environmental, and social dimensions. It is also important to examine such adaptive reuse projects in terms of the legal and policy frameworks that control the kind and degree of change, including place-specific constraints and opportunities.

Brief Agenda of Panel Discussion:

• Lavina Ahuja: Introduction to the publication

• Lynne DiStefano: Introduction to adaptive reuse as a conservation approach

• Ester van Steekelenburg: Understanding adaptive reuse within the context of urban sustainability, considering economic, environmental, and social dimensions

• Ho Yin Lee: Understanding adaptive reuse in Hong Kong, tracing some crucial milestones

• Hugo Chan: Understanding adaptive reuse in Shanghai, tracing some crucial milestones

• Fredo Cheung: Understanding adaptive reuse in Singapore, tracing some crucial milestones

• Katie Cummer: Analyzing and comparing the three urban centers (among each other and to Western practice) and key takeaway points

• Q&A

About the Speaker

Lavina Ahuja is an Assistant Lecturer and Senior Research Assistant in the Division of Architectural Conservation Programmes (ACP) at The University of Hong Kong (HKU). She is a registered architect with the Council of Architecture, India, as well as an Individual Member of the Indian National Committee of the International Council on Monuments and Sites (ICOMOS India).

Hugo Chan obtained his Bachelor’s Degree in Architecture and Business Administration at Carnegie Mellon University and subsequently his MSc and PhD Degrees in Urban Planning at The University of Hong Kong (HKU). He currently teaches in both the postgraduate and undergraduate programs in HKU’s Division of Architectural Conservation Programmes (ACP).

Fredo Cheung is an experienced architect and architectural conservationist. Upon his graduation from the Division of Architectural Conservation Programmes (ACP) with an MSc(Conservation), he has been involved in conservation projects as a heritage consultant with Purcell and for the HKSAR Architectural Services Department. Currently, he is the lead teacher of courses in ACP’s undergraduate program, while pursuing PhD studies in architectural conservation.

Katie Cummer is the principal heritage consultant of Cummer Heritage Consulting (CHC), working throughout the province of British Columbia in Canada. She was the founding director of the Bachelor of Arts in Conservation Degree offered by the Division of Architectural Conservation Programmes (ACP) at The University of Hong Kong. She is a recent member of the City of Victoria’s Heritage Advisory Panel and is the current Vice President of the BC Chapter of the Canadian Association of Heritage Professionals.

Lynne D. DiStefano holds a PhD from the University of Pennsylvania, is a founder and the second Director (2003-2005) of the Division of Architectural Conservation Programmes (ACP) at The University of Hong Kong, where she currently serves as an Adjunct Professor, and as well as an Individual Member of the Canadian National Committee of the International Council on Monuments and Sites (ICOMOS Canada). She is also a Faculty Associate at the School of Restoration Arts at Willowbank (Ontario, Canada).

Ho Yin Lee is a founder of the postgraduate and undergraduate programs in the Division of Architectural Conservation Programmes (ACP) at The University of Hong Kong (HKU). He has been appointed to a number of heritage conservation statutory boards and committees, including the Hong Kong Government’s Antiquities Advisory Board, Tai Kwun Advisory Committee, Tai Kwun Heritage Working Group (as Chairman), and Urban Renewal Authority Board of Directors (as a Non-Executive Director).

Ester van Steekelenburg (MSc Urban Planning, University of Amsterdam; PhD Urban Economics, The University of Hong Kong) is the founder of Urban Discovery, a social enterprise specialised in bottom-up mapping tools and feasibility studies to unlock community intelligence and promote sustainable urban regeneration in historic districts throughout Southeast Asia.