{"id":17584,"date":"2020-11-13T22:17:22","date_gmt":"2020-11-13T14:17:22","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/varsity.com.cuhk.edu.hk\/?p=17584"},"modified":"2021-06-23T15:26:09","modified_gmt":"2021-06-23T07:26:09","slug":"preserving-the-past","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/varsity.com.cuhk.edu.hk\/index.php\/2020\/11\/preserving-the-past\/","title":{"rendered":"Preserving the Past"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Architect Shu Tan shares his design philosophy and his life in Dali and Hong Kong. <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

By Coco Zhang in Shaanxi<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Shu Tan has not seen his family for ten months. The 40-year-old independent architect\u2019s life is split in half by the coronavirus pandemic, leaving him unable to travel from Dali to Hong Kong, where his wife and two daughters are living now.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Travel Between Dali and Hong Kong<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The German-educated architect spends most of his time in Dali, a Bai autonomous prefecture in Yunnan, China, to conserve traditional style dwelling, and flies back to Hong Kong every other week to visit his family.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI always catch a red-eye flight back home so that I can use my time efficiently. When my daughters wake up in the morning, I\u2019m on their sides,\u201d Shu says. He has two daughters. His six-year-old daughter is a primary school pupil, and the youngest girl is one year old.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He drives his daughter to school, plays with the two, and spends quality time with his family. \u201cI\u2019m just an ordinary father when I am back in Hong Kong,\u201d Shu says.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Shu met his wife in Dali in 2010 after he went back from Germany. Seeking more personally satisfying work, his wife went to Hong Kong to be the director of Tanoto Center for Asian Family Business and Entrepreneurship Studies at The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology. \u201cWe choose the way we like, and we are happy,\u201d Shu says.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Shu went to Dali to pursue a career he loves. \u201cDali is a warm harbour full of inspirations,\u201d says Shu, who was born in this Bai community in 1980. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cMy designs are rooted in minority cultures\u2026 Dali helps me turn my idea into reality,\u201d Shu says. \u201cDali has land with potential for development, unlike Hong Kong where there are more restrictions,\u201d he adds.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Shu has not visited his family for ten months since January this year. He devotes his time to a rural reconstruction project in Hong He.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
Shu Tan and his colleague are at the construction site in Hong He, Yunnan Province.
(Photo courtesy of Shu Tan)
<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe folk dwellings are not only about houses but also thousands of years of Hani culture and wisdom of skillful craftsmen,\u201d <\/em><\/strong><\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

The rural district is an unexploited Hani minority region with rich tourism resources that have not been developed yet. Shu and his team are working on a project to build a collection of modern rammed earth buildings. Shu spends a third of every month in Hong He, communicating with workers, coordinating and tracking the project schedule to align the client\u2019s requirement. The project also helps promote tourism industry in Hong He.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Landslide is frequent in Hong He especially during rainy season in July and August. Most rural reconstruction projects choose to adopt modern ways to rebuild houses. Shu follows traditional building techniques to safeguard Hani cultural inheritance by building sustainable rammed earth houses.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The basic idea of rammed earth is using dirt to build a house. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe folk dwellings are not only about houses but also thousands of years of Hani culture and wisdom of skillful craftsmen,\u201d the architect says.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
Shu Tan\u2019s design in Hong He, Yunnan Provice. (Photo courtesy of Shu Tan)<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

A Spiritual Space <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Shu tries to feature the relationship between a house and the surroundings in his design. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cPeople need space for meditation,\u201d Shu says. There is a tearoom at Shu\u2019s studio where he can relax and think in this quiet space. This kind of \u201cquiet room\u201d is an essential element in his design, featuring Shu\u2019s philosophy with his architecture.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cMost of my designs are after quality of life instead of making a profit. Some of my friends or my clients ask me to design their homes, and I give them a unique space of their own,\u201d Shu says.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
Shu Tan uses film camera to capture images at the construction site in Hong He, Yunnan Province.
(Photo courtesy of Shu Tan)<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

There are many boutique accommodations at the edge of Erhai Lake. Many have rooms with a sea view for tourists. But Shu plans to build a wall on the side facing the sea to create an enclosed area for meditation. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cMy design is not just for materialistic values, but for providing a personal space where people can stop and think. I want people to build their spiritual space in my design,\u201d Shu says.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cDon\u2019t look at the sea by the sea is a higher state of consciousness. People need to build walls around themselves so that they can look inward,\u201d he says. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Shu has his \u201cquiet room\u201d, a darkroom for meditation in Dali.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As a real shutterbug, he uses a film camera to record life, especially every step of his daughters\u2019 development. \u201cThanks to the pandemic, I have time to do things that I have no time to do,\u201d Shu says. He built a darkroom in his yard to develop photographs in May.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI have hundreds of rolls of films that haven\u2019t been developed. I now spend most of my time in this darkroom. The pictures always bring me back to the days when I was with my family. That makes me feel like they are always with me,\u201d Shu says.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
Shu Tan is in his darkroom. (Photo courtesy of Shu Tan)<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

He reflects and thinks about the meaning of family, the meaning of career, and the meaning of his own life in this 20-meter square room.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI want to leave something meaningful to my daughters. Something can shape their view of themselves and the world,\u201d Shu says. \u201cI want them to know why they live in this world instead of being assigned to live in a certain way. I hope they can find their own space one day.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI want them to know why they live in this world instead of being assigned to live in a certain way. I hope they can find their own space one day\u201d<\/em><\/strong><\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

Edited by Lasley Lui, Regina Chen
<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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