EID Lecture — Stilt Housing in Tai O Village: Results from an ethnographic digital cultural heritage study

Researchers from the PolyU School of Design (SD), the Department of Applied Social Sciences (APSS) and the Research Institute for Land and Space (RILS) will present findings from their General Research Fund-supported project on stilt housing in Tai O Village.

Stilt houses themselves are internationally significant examples of vernacular architecture built by members of the Tanka ethnic group. They support Tai O's tangible and intangible cultural assets, remnants of which have persisted since the late Qing Dynasty. Tai O and Lantau Island, where it is situated, are incorporated in the recent regional development strategy outlined in the Sustainable Lantau Blueprint and promoted as ecotourism attractions in Hong Kong.

In this presentation, speakers will present findings from their research in digital cultural heritage and housing ethnography, focused on social and spatial patterns in stilt housing districts in Tai O Village, Hong Kong. Spanning almost three years, the project samples 20 examples of stilt housing in Tai O, with a total of 24 informants interviewed, 20 houses scanned with a 3D scanner, and content from 20 interviews summarized.

Findings from the research provide insight into unique spatial patterns in Tai O Village's stilt housing districts and close relationships between these spatial patterns, the village's social structure, and personally and historically contingent decision-making on the part of families living in Tai O's stilt houses. Other findings from the project also illustrate how digital surveying tools can support digital cultural heritage conservation in sensitive areas and in conjunction with ethnographic techniques.

Who Should Attend

Professionals, scholars, and students working in design, architecture, housing, social sciences, and cultural heritage fields are welcome to join to hear research findings and discuss cultural heritage in Hong Kong.

Participants can benefit from the project by developing a deeper understanding of cultural heritage as an emergent complex of tangible artefacts and intangible practices. The research presented will illustrate how housing, understood as a culturally specific practice, relates to houses in settlements with distinct, long-standing vernacular architecture. The study will demonstrate and recommend tools for digital conservation of vernacular architecture and demonstrate methods designers, architects, and scholars can use to describe and conserve threatened cultural resources through digital surveying and ethnography.

In general, the presentation aims to arouse research interest towards stilt housing in Tai O Village specifically, including appreciation for stilt house residents’ life ways, spatial use patterns, and distinct socio-spatial tendencies.

• All PolyU students and staff are welcome. 
• Event registration (Deadline: 26 Nov, noon) is required and on a first-come, first-served basis.
• Successful registrants will receive a confirmation email before the event.