ARCH5834 Hong Kong Architectural History (Culture of Building): Tourism, Hospitality and Hotels
Target Students MArch, BSSc
Course Term 1
Course Type Electives
Architects play an essential role in the process of responding to larger societal needs that can be originated in lifestyle and sociological trends by shaping environments that resound and serve them.
This course shall examine the importance and impact that recreational movement of people commonly known as tourism has on architectural design and the urban realm.
Historically driven by curiosity to explore unknown lands or searching climate respite an entire evolution of tourism as a global mass phenomenon has evolved creating a deep cultural impact on urban form and architectural design as well as a mass impact on entire societies by forming a key source of income, notably local as on of Hong Kong’s key industries.
Tourism and its building typologies have Evolved through time and already appeared during early civilisations, such as the roman empire, with recreational travel by the 19th century having become a mass phenomenon that grew into the extend we experience nowadays, evolving further.
If there were early guest houses providing safe places of rest in the past, these evolved through time to hotels with demarcated and finely defined spaces often under a global corporate umbrellas which became a commonly used infrastructure for a global society.
Students will be introduced to a historical and cultural understanding that places the build environment of tourism into a broader contextual understanding. We shall examine specific buildings that have been designed to resound not only user and technical needs but are strongly driven by commercial requirements in a multisectoral context. Throughout history hospitality related build structures have always resounded the societal context they serve which highlights the importance to undertsnad this wider context.
The series of lectures will share specific knowledge with an understanding to help contextualize it as architectural design drivers. Architectural history of buildings will transport inspirational knowledge that shall inform student projects.
