Publication
![[monograph] Cultural Architecture and Late-colonial Space: Constructing Cultural Centres in Hong Kong](https://threshold.blog/wp-content/uploads/2025/07/cover-cultural-architecture-and-late-colonial-space.jpg?w=1200)
[monograph] Cultural Architecture and Late-colonial Space: Constructing Cultural Centres in Hong Kong
Routledge Research in Architecture Series, Jun 2025 | The book offers the first in-depth study of three major Hong Kong public cultural architecture works built in the late-colonial years – the Tsuen Wan Town Hall, Shatin Town Hall, and the Hong Kong Cultural Centre. It traces the design and development of public cultural architecture in Hong Kong, drawing upon primary sources including architectural drawings, government documents, and key informant interviews. The research documents and analyses the dynamics of public work…
Keep readingSomething went wrong. Please refresh the page and/or try again.
Projects
OpenBox: architectural archive
Jan-Apr 2025 | co-PI: Dr Han Man | @ M+ Research Centre The CUHK School of Architecture began working with the M+ Research Centre in 2024 to explore different ways of engaging with architectural archives. It started with a…
Keep reading
Ecologies of Participation (EoP)
2024 Collaborative Research Initiative between Fine Arts, Architecture, Media and Cultural Studies | how do people, space, and technology works together in arts and cultural practice? In the last few decades, “participation” has emerged as a topic in social…
Keep reading
Ground Music
2024/25 CUHK Knowledge Transfer Fund | [Project Description] The world-famous artists and musicians performing in Hong Kong every year have inspired many young people to be interested in musical performance. However, while they take it as an extracurricular or…
Keep reading
Market Life: Domesticity in Public Space
2024 Design Trust Seed Grant | collaboration with Veera Fung as Atelier In The female as a “homemaker” is traditionally associated with the private setting of household space, yet domestic life is not confined to the home but also…
Keep reading
Public Space as Cultural Infrastructure
2023-24 Direct Grant for Research, CUHK Faculty of Social Science | Cultural infrastructure is commonly known by grand architecture such as the museums and theatres. However, the production and display of culture are not confined to architectural landmarks but…
Keep reading
Experiencing Cultural Space
2021-22 Direct Grant for Research, CUHK Faculty of Social Science | Key issues and problems Most cultural buildings in Hong Kong are publicly funded, where the cultural institution carries a public mission and in essence, public space. However, this…
Keep readingKey research area:
– Space, Network & People
– The Cultural Centre Typology
– in Spatial and Cultural Practice
Recent Presentations
Arts and Culture as Public Service: The design and planning of municipal cultural buildings in late-colonial Hong Kong
Presented at Hong Kong History Centre, University of Bristol | HKHC Speaker Series | 29 Oct, 2025 | Abstract: In the early colonial period, arts and cultural development in Hong Kong was primarily driven by…
文娛建築的多種空間:後殖民時期香港公共文化建築
Presented at Hong Kong History Centre, University of Bristol | History Salon | 11 Oct, 2025 | 自2022年香港大會堂成為首個獲得法定古蹟評級的現代建築，加上近年各地標文化項目相繼落成，使博物館和劇院等文化場所 從本來只是藝術愛好的聚集地 變成大眾關注的日常公共空間。 儘管沒有名師設計的光環和廣泛宣傳，其實自60年代，大會堂/文娛/文化中心的建設一直融合在城市發展和公共政策之中。這些公共文化建築的設計考量是什麼？它們在構建社區意識方面又扮演著什麼角色？本次分享從建築和規劃的角度追溯香港70至90年代市政文化建築的發展，探討作為福利政策延伸的休閒文化建設 當時如何塑造一個“現代城市生活”的理想模式。
Ecologies of Participation – a practice-based research collaboration across architecture, arts, and technology
Presented at APARN Conference, Bangkok | 2 Jul, 2025 Abstract The Ecologies of Participation (EoP) collaborative began in 2024 with a common interest in participatory practices across fine arts, cultural studies, and architecture. Over the…
From Cultural Service to Cultural Infrastructure
Presented at ANCER Research Camp | Most of the public cultural facilities in Hong Kong nowadays were built in the 1970s / 80s, a period of active public construction. It was followed by a second…
Architecture of Culture: designing Hong Kong’s Municipal Town Halls
Presented at the SoA Research Seminar, CUHK Hong Kong | Abstract: The last three decades of colonial rule in Hong Kong is a period of active construction of public buildings, including town halls in the…
Gendered Experience in Public Space: Design as Tool of Empowerment
Presented at the UIA Forum 2024, Kular Lumpar | co-author with Dr Veera Fung as Atelier In | Paper Abstract: Although gender-inclusive design has received increasing awareness in recent years, the nominal consultation process tends…
Something went wrong. Please refresh the page and/or try again.
Other Publications and Presentations
Melody Hoi-lam YIU (2024), “No room for culture? A brief review of cultural and urban planning in Hong Kong since the late 20th century”. In Ian Morley and Hendrik Tieben (eds.), International Planning History Society Proceedings, 20th IPHS Conference, TU Delft Open. <link>
Melody H YIU, Hendrik TIEBEN (2024), “Community Public Space Transformation – Local Sensitivity and Collaborative Networks”, HKIA Journal. Issue 79. Hong Kong Institute of Architects <link>
Resilience/Resistance – The 23rd Annual International Conference of Cultural Studies Association | “From Cultural Landmark to Everyday Public Space: An Infrastructural Approach towards Cultural Development” | Taichung, Taiwan. March 2023
G. Talamini, C. Villani, D.G. Shane, F. Rossini & M.H. Yiu (2023), “Of other waterfront spaces: mixed methods to discern heterotopias” | Landscape Research, 48:3, 375-395. DOI: 10.1080/01426397.2022.2147492
Melody Hoi-lam YIU (2022) “Cultural Centers in Hong Kong: Welfare Provision or Economic Instrument?“, Architecture and Culture, 10:1, 58-75, DOI: 10.1080/20507828.2021.2020040
Francesco ROSSINI, Melody YIU (2020), “Public Open Spaces in Private Developments in Hong Kong” | Journal of Urbanism: International Research on Placemaking and Urban Sustainability, 14:2, 237-261. DOI: 10.1080/17549175.2020.1793803
UNNC Symposium – Disruption vs Integration: pathways to Urban Transformation | “Socio-Spatial Analysis Methods: Reading Cultural Public Space through Architectural Plans” | Ningbo, China (online). July 2020
The 7th International Conference on Architecture and Built Environment | “The Formation of Public Space at Cultural Buildings” | Tokyo, Japan (online). April 2020
XXVI International Seminar on Urban Form: Cities as Assemblages | “Beyond Building Envelop: Urban Form of Cultural Public Space” | Nicosia, Cyprus. July 2019
Hiroyuki SHINOHARA, Melody YIU (2019), “Collective Form for Post-Developmental Inner-city Regeneration”. <link> | 2019 XJTLU International Conference: Architecture across Boundaries Volume 2019, KnE Social Sciences, pp 168–181. | Suzhou, China. Jun 2019
Island Dynamics International Conference: Culture in Urban Space | “Culture for a city: a brief account of the evolution of cultural buildings and its public space in Hong Kong.” | Macau. Apr 2019
International Forum of Urbanism: The Entrepreneurial City | “In between the Suburb Masterplans” & “Patchwork City” (co-author with Hiroyuki SHINOHARA) | Hong Kong. Dec 2017
threshold 內外之間 