The 𝑬.𝑪𝑶 𝑹𝒐𝒕𝒖𝒏𝒅𝒂 project, organised by the Department of Architecture, HKU and co-presented by 1a space. An array of exciting and valuable public programmes will be launched this summer.

 

The 𝑬.𝑪𝑶 𝑹𝒐𝒕𝒖𝒏𝒅𝒂 Project is rooted in the advocacy of local rural cultural revitalisation through a ‘humanistic landscape strategy’. Integrating architecture, conservation, and culture with the innovative concept ‘Human Landscape – Performing Harmony’, it explores and presents a sustainable living legacy collaboratively maintained by villagers and citizens. 

 

Driven by a commitment to cultural heritage and continuous growth, the project has selected Yim Tin Tsai Village in Sai Kung. A bamboo rotunda is constructed in the rural as a place to foster a rich humanistic atmosphere through traditional bamboo craftsmanship, music, art, and other forms of expression. 

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*This is a membership-only event, anyone who registers successfully will become a member automatically.

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Human Landscape

 

‘Human Landscape’ is the idea of integrating the indigenous landscape with local culture, where humans perform activities according to their natural preferences. 

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In our modern era, the city has grown to a scale intertwined with many complexities. The initial intention of settlements, where a community of people was willing to stay together for the common good, has become latent, posing significant challenges for our communities. 

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The local rural culture relies on the territories of lands or waters that, in return, nurture the community. This cultivates the total environment that demonstrates the inseparable relationships between the community living, further empowering settlers with physical, cultural, and psychological attachments. 

 

Oriented by initiatives to revitalise local rural culture, the ‘human-landscape strategy’ aims to identify the indigenous landscape incorporated with cultural meanings in the architectural form of the E.CO Bamboo Rotunda to explore and showcase how villagers and citizens may join forces to cultivate a sustainable living heritage. 

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Bamboo-Place-People Harmony

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Bamboo groves can be seen everywhere on Yim Tin Tsai island, which was once cultivated as ‘Fung Shui Wood’ to help protect the villagers in past adverse conditions. Through a long history, the local relationship between 'bamboo’, ‘place’ and ‘people’ has become much closer than what we perceive today.

 

‘Bamboo’, apart from its symbolic meaning of resilience and character among Chinese, is a renewable and natural material applied commonly to realise eco-friendly and sustainable architecture. Local settlers of Yim Tin Tsai village also made these bamboo tools as a tradition to facilitate their agricultural or salt farming activities. Villagers’ idea of relying on renewable resource while protecting environment underpins the sustainable development of the local human landscape.

 

Upon the unique ‘place’ - Yim Tin Tsai natural landscape, we constructed the E.CO Bamboo Rotunda through an integration of the traditional craftsmanship translated by bamboo master in Hong Kong and the contemporary design concept toward collaborative place-making, to create a social-ecological platform for inheriting the craftsmanship together with relevant culture. Initiated from the bamboo construction, E.CO Bamboo Rotunda targets to motivate ‘people’ joining forces on rediscovery and co-management of the Yim Tin Tsai landscape.

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With inseparable bamboo-place-people relationship building up newly, we look for local rural culture’s sustainable strategy wherein the human-nature ‘harmony’ could be achieved. We hope the story of E.CO Bamboo Rotunda driving people to reconnect with place and nature would continue to enrich the Yim Tin Tsai culture locally, even if a time comes when the E.CO Bamboo Rotunda is no longer standing onsite.

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Organiser: Department of Architecture, HKU
Co-presenter: 1a space
Sponsor: Azalea (1972) Endowment Fund
Supporting Organisation: Yim Tin Tsai Rural Committee, The Salt & Light Preservation Centre

Collaborators: Bamboo Master Chan Yuk Kwong, Bamboo Generations

Honourable consultant: Anna Kwong (Conservation Expert)

Social Media: Instagram, @e.corotunda, Facebook E.CO Rotunda 竹 . 地 . 人 . 和

Event Registration: Eventbrite

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