Comix Home Base

I love Wan Chai and love wondering the streets in this area as you can often find some wonderful things hidden in its little streets, like secret gardens and tucked away places to eat and today I stumbled upon this listed building built in the 1910’s, a Grade 2 Historical Building, renovated, and now housed the Hong Kong Art Centre, consisting of Comix Homebase, art galleries, comics library, space for events and free shows, and outdoor film screenings.
Through the entrance of the new façade, you enter a lovely courtyard with wooden benches to relax and wonder about the open space with its skywalks connecting the façade and the building. It has won the Outstanding Public Space Awards 2013.

When talking about the manga/​animé culture, what is the first thing that comes into your mind? Probably Japanese manga (actually the word Man Nga is derived from the Kanji, that has the same pronunciation and meaning. Kanji are words that entered the Japanese language from ancient China, similar to how certain French had entered the English language system), cosplay (costume play) and the annual Animé-​Manga Fair at Exhibition Centre.
In fact, comics and animation has been active in many other countries too, for example the American comics of hero stories, the Hollywood/​Disney production of (nowadays) computerized animations, the European comics often with political/​fine arts themes, the Chinese comics of Sanmao, Chinese animation of folklore stories in Chinese water and ink style (such as Journey to the West, Nezha).
Hong Kong, as such a small city in the world also have our own unique comics culture that is simultaneously influenced but different from those in China, Japan or the Western worlds, with a key focus on action, kung-​fu, and triads stories, mirroring the success of Hong Kong movie industry.
It is quite a refreshing turn of event that the government finally recognizes the importance of popular culture, and the choice of venue for commemorating the development of comics/​animation culture in Hong Kong is equally amazing.
The 10 no. s of pre-​war tenement houses at Mallory Street, affectionately named the green houses after a casual repaint by the government after acquiring them in the 60s, and subsequently categorized as Grade 2 historic building, was chosen for rejuvenation for such purpose.
The architectural team chose to gut out the narrow, dark and much deteriorated interiors of typical tenement houses and created a central courtyard area, as public space for the community, as if a secret garden hidden behind the facades of buildings.
The usable space as on one side facing this central courtyard, with 2 bridges linking at third and fourth floor to the façades kept in place on the opposite side. The top two floors are exhibition and event space for rental purpose, whilst shops and restaurants occupies the first 2 floors. The most special use here is the Animé/​Manga Salon. It is like a reference library, where important pieces of comic works are available for enjoyment within the salon. A good archive and relaxing space.
On a side note, the project won the Medal of the Year 2013 and Special Architectural Award 2013 in the community building category, issued by the Hong Kong Institute of Architects.

When a city is constantly developing, just like how a biological body will destroy the old and aged cells and replace them with new one, old buildings and regions will be demolished, tear down to free up space for new buildings to establish. Only until very recently did our government realize there is another approach to the problem; to keep external features of the building while changing the functions of the interior, this is known as «revitalization».
Wanchai is one of the places in Hong Kong that is steeped with history; and this building in Mallory Street is one of the latest examples of the revitalization projects that is performed by the HK government. Although better furnished, the colonial architectural styles of the exterior is very well preserved; stepping into the complex, the openness of the foyer allows room for tourists and passersby alike to chill and relax in this otherwise over crowded place in Hong Kong.
History is a recollection shared by the people inhabiting that particular area, sadly in the case of Hong Kong the new generations are often referred as the «rootless geneartion», the generations that the heritage is not at all cherished and valued. With efforts made to preserve the history of Hong Kong, revitalization would be key for our generation to appreciate our own heritage.