Portraits from Above: Hong Kong's Informal Rooftop Communities - Softcover

Rufina Wu; Stefan Canham

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9789889984380: Portraits from Above: Hong Kong's Informal Rooftop Communities

Softcover

ISBN 10: 9889984385 ISBN 13: 9789889984380

Publisher: MCCM Creations, 2009

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Self-built settlements on the roofs of high-rise buildings have been an integral part of Hong Kong's history for over half a century. Rooftop structures range from basic shelters for the disadvantaged to intricate multi-storey constructions equipped with the amenities of modern life. Rufina Wu (Canada) and Stefan Canham (Germany) utilize the tools of an architect and the tools of a photographer to document rooftop communities on five buildings located in older districts in the Kowloon Peninsula, slated for redevelopment by the Urban Renewal Authority of Hong Kong. Text records of the residents' stories, measured drawings of each distinct rooftop structure, and high-resolution images of the domestic interiors of more than twenty households offer an unprecedented insight into the everyday life on Hong Kong's rooftops.

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About the Author:

Rufina Wu was born in Hong Kong in 1980. She studied at the University of Waterloo in Canada where she completed degrees in Environmental Studies and Architecture. She was a CCSEP Visiting Scholar at Tsinghua University in Beijing, China from 2005 to 2006. She received AIA Medals for her Bachelor of Architecture thesis (Three Gorges Commune) in 2006 and Master of Architecture thesis (Beijing Underground) in 2008. From December 2007 to February 2008, she was artist-in-residence at Hong Kong's Art and Culture Outreach, collaborating with Stefan Canham on Portraits from Above. The project won the 5th International Bauhaus Award 2008 (3rd Prize). Her research interest focuses on informal housing tactics associated with rapid urban development and population mobility. She splits her time between Hong Kong, Vancouver, and Toronto. Stefan Canham was born in England in 1968. He studied Film at the Hochschule fur bildende Kunste in Hamburg, Germany and has been working free-lance on documentary photo and television projects since 1995. His work focuses on the usage of urban space, in particular on marginalized communities and forms of self-housing. In 2003 he was artist-in-residence at the Schleswig-Holsteinisches K?nstlerhaus in Eckernf?rde, Germany. His photographic record of the mobile squatter culture in Germany was short-listed for the 3rd International Bauhaus Award 2004 and published under the title Bauwagen / Mobile Squatters by Peperoni Books (Berlin) in 2006. He has exhibited in Germany and abroad and contributed to journals like An Architektur (Berlin), Critical Planning (Los Angeles), and Sarai Reader (Delhi). From December 2007 to February 2008, he was artist-in-residence at Hong Kong's Art and Culture Outreach, collaborating with Rufina Wu on Portraits from Above. The project won the 5th International Bauhaus Award 2008 (3rd Prize). He lives in Hamburg.

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