CONTENTS 2 3 5 6 8 10 12 14 16 18 20 22 23 24 25 27 34 48 51 82 86 87 88 90 94 Editor’s note: Notebook 5 Pr<strong>of</strong>. Essy Baniassad: On Reflection... TEACHING Programme Curriculum Studios Foundation Habitation Urbanization Tectonics Technics Courses Design Humanities Technology Pr<strong>of</strong>essional practice RESEARCH Faculty members Research units Postgraduate students COMMUNICATION Studio works Built & published Lectures Awards & scholarships Dates People Rooms A R C H I T E C T U R E · C U H K 2 0 0 5 – 2 0 0 6
ing, ns which t <strong>of</strong> finite lution forms lving st comdectureanizaogy, but reated by new ed e <strong>of</strong> the , and e hs, and work l builde , work, ame differm are niassad Notebook 5 After five years <strong>of</strong> re-conceptualizing all aspects <strong>of</strong> the architecture education—guided by the unique vision <strong>of</strong> Pr<strong>of</strong>essor Essy Baniassad and the steadfast efforts <strong>of</strong> those who took part, the Department has established a clear methodology in design teaching that is backed by a structured curriculum with relevant research interests. The results are evident by judging the increasingly sophisticated projects developed by the students, as well as the substantial research initiatives from the faculty members. The new Notebook 5 is one such effort. Prompted by Pr<strong>of</strong>.Tsou at the beginning <strong>of</strong> the summer, the Editor was given the task to see how a new booklet could better reflect the evolving and complex nature <strong>of</strong> our institution and by extension, <strong>of</strong> architecture and city on which the basis <strong>of</strong> our works are provided. Keeping a similar graphic representation and advancing along a consistent pedagogical trajectory as the previous four editions, Notebook 5 took on a few key points <strong>of</strong> departure. To begin with, the delivery <strong>of</strong> information is re-assembled in terms <strong>of</strong> TEACHING and RESEARCH—as the two main engagements <strong>of</strong> this Department, and the outputs <strong>of</strong> the these two domains folded into a third aspect: COMMUNICATION. The information is presented in greater resolution: in areas such as studio and course descriptions and research activities, with sufficient details and maximum transparency. Moreover, a new section is added to highlight projects by faculty members, giving platform to an increasingly critical body <strong>of</strong> work that is rooted in the reality <strong>of</strong> the built-environment. In preparing the new Notebook 5, the Editor was struck by the nuance and difficulty <strong>of</strong> this question: how does one portray the various facets <strong>of</strong> a school <strong>of</strong> architecture—its curricula, pr<strong>of</strong>iles and outputs—in the fast-changing contexts <strong>of</strong> Hong Kong and China, while <strong>of</strong>fering a collective presence <strong>of</strong> ourselves in a way that is unbiased yet gives a clear position? These pages are an attempt at that challenge. Pr<strong>of</strong>essor Liu Yuyang On Reflection . . . Two conditions seem to be necessary—even if not sufficient—qualities <strong>of</strong> the leading schools <strong>of</strong> architecture; a collective vision at the heart <strong>of</strong> the programme sustaining and supporting individual work, and an individual passion for architecture and design energizing the collective vision. . Ironically a variation <strong>of</strong> the same two conditions characterize the demise <strong>of</strong> many leading schools into mediocrity: the programme turned into dogma or passively received, and the passion turned into willful individualism With Pr<strong>of</strong>.Tsou Jin-yeu at the helm as the Acting Chair this year, the Department now 2 charts a new course <strong>of</strong> transition where the fundamentals <strong>of</strong> our programme are to be maintained, while fresh developments in areas <strong>of</strong> teaching, research, publication, and administration are to be emphasized and further strengthened. The point <strong>of</strong> this is that every time an idea must be arrived at, not received, if it is to retain its value.The power <strong>of</strong> an idea lies in the process <strong>of</strong> arriving at it. Accepting it passively is to take it up after its shelf-life. And so in a school everyday is a new day, every term, a new term, and certainly every year a new year when the programme has to be re-constructed, invoked but not imitated, in order to sustain its energy and 3 maintain its intellectual force. And the individual passion! It needs to reach beyond the individual sight in order not to diminish in self-imposed isolation. The collective vision <strong>of</strong> architecture is not something that needs to be or can be formulated at will in the fashion <strong>of</strong> a manifesto. Such a vision transcends the short life <strong>of</strong> any one school. It is part <strong>of</strong> a historically evolving idea <strong>of</strong> architecture. It is collective at many scales and times. Every notable school has expressed and formulated it in its own terms as similarly we have expressed it in our words in previous Notebooks. In the study, and practice, <strong>of</strong> architecture, we invoke such a vision at every particular occasion. Doing so critically is the source <strong>of</strong> energy that brings the idea <strong>of</strong> architecture to life and defines it afresh every time. We as students <strong>of</strong> architecture study and practice the process by which this vision has taken form and presence such that it retains its primal origins while advancing its evolution with every work. And in the process we form ourselves: EDUCATION. * Notebook 4 “<strong>Architecture</strong> as a primal human activity like language and music. It is not derived from other fields and can be studied and understood in its own terms. It is the formal extension <strong>of</strong> the common human instinct for building shelter in search <strong>of</strong> safely and the permanence. It embodies both the physical and the metaphysical, the secular and the sacred. It is the result <strong>of</strong> habitation in alls aspects and scales. And the expression in built form <strong>of</strong> all human institutions, from a primal hut to the house, the village, and the city. It is the embodiment <strong>of</strong> human intentions, myths, and traditions, past, present, and future, all unified in the eternal presence <strong>of</strong> each work <strong>of</strong> architecture.“ * Pr<strong>of</strong>essor Essy Baniassad
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