How to Extend the Life of Buildings – 2025.04.23

The Rui Cunha Foundation and the Docomomo Research Center of Macau host, Wednesday, April 23rd at 6:30pm, the Launch of the Book “How to Extend the Life of Buildings”, by several authors, with the participation of guest speakers: Architect Rui Leão, General-Secretary of the International Union of Architects(UIA); Architect Cecilia L. Chu, Associate Professor at the School of Architecture Chinese University of Hong Kong; and Architect Bernard Brennan, Adjunct Assistant Professor at the Faculty of Architecture of University of Hong Kong.

The event will be moderated by Architect Francisco Ricarte. The book is available at FRC Gallery and can be purchased during the session.

A good building is much more than a functional materialization. It contains the trinity that durability and beauty add to use. So, what choices does it face when its function is unplugged or its durability comes into question?

The book “How to extend the life of buildings” is a product of Docomomo Macau`s «continued research on the most significant examples of modern architecture built along the twentieth century, aiming to bring the significance of the modern movement to the attention of the public, the authorities, the professionals and the educational community concerned with the built environment. And to foster the development of appropriate techniques and methods of conservation, while disseminating this knowledge throughout the professions», according to the authors.

In the last decades, the heritage of last century architecture appeared more at risk than during any other period. This was mainly because many of those masterpieces were not considered elements of heritage, that their original functions have substantially changed and that their technological innovationshave not always endured long term stresses.

«As functional usage may change over time, well designed buildings are able to adapt to new types of use and prolong their usefulness when their durability surpasses the role of its original tenant. After its useful life cycle, a building can be reborn with a new role, but for that to happen there must be a will to allow its adaptation to occur through proper assessments and partnerships with the relevant stakeholders», they claim.

Cecilia L. Chu is an Associate Professor in the School of Architecture at the Chinese University of Hong Kong. Trained as an Urban Historian with a background in Design and Conservation, her work focuses on the intersection of professional and popular knowledge of architecture and the built environment. She is the author of “Building Colonial Hong Kong: Speculative Development and Segregation in the City“, which received the 2023 Best Book Award from the Urban History Association and the 2024 International Planning History Society Book Prize. She is co-founder and past president of DOCOMOMO Hong Kong and an editorial board member of the Journal of Urban History, Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society Hong Kong, Surveying and Environment, and Built Environment.

Bernard Brennan is an Associate with Wilkinson Eyre and an Adjunct Assistant Professor in the Faculty of Architecture at the Hong Kong University (HKU). As a professional architect he has worked on a broad range of adaptive reuse projects in heritage settings including recently the State Theatre site in Hong Kong. He has taught courses on the Architecture and Conservation Programs at HKU since 2020. He was chair of the Royal Institute of the Architects of Ireland (RIAI) London Forum 2017-2019. He is a member of the DOCOMOMO Hong Kongworking party and was a working party member of the DOCOMOMO UK chapter from 2014-2019.

Rui Leão is an Architect whose practice covers Architecture and Urban Planningprojects, mostly in the region of Macau. He is active in architectural teaching and editorial work related with the fields of Heritage and Urbanism. He got his licentiate degree in Architecture in FAUP Porto School of Architecture, Portugal in 1993 and Doctoral degree in Architecture and Urbanism at RMIT, the Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology, in Australia in 2019. He is a founder and partner of LBA Architecture and Planning, alongside Architect Carlotta Bruni, which has been mostly developing projects on Large Infrastructure, Public Buildings and Public Space for the Macau Government since 1999, alongside private housing developments. Since 1996 he has developed his vast project activity in Macau and China.

This lecture will be held in English and has been proposed to CAEU for attribution of professional credits (1,5 credits). Docomomo Macau will charge a fee for issuing an attendance certificate. Please register on site for the certificate request.

Admission is free.
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