Mei Ho House, also known as Block 41 of Shek Kip Mei Estate, is a H-shaped resettlement block built in the 1950s.

Due to tremendous economic growth of Hong Kong in recent years, many of the oldest resettlement blocks have been demolished. A series of demolition at Shek Kip Mei Estate arouse public interest in conservation of historic buildings. Luckily, Mei Ho House can be escaped from demolition.

Mei Ho House is a good example of design of public housing in the early days, and it is worth preserving. In this connection, we plan to revitalize Mei Ho House. Western design will be adopted to the W est W ing of the H-shaped block , while Chinese design will be adopted to the E ast W ing of the block. Both wings are then connected by escalators, elevators and pedestrian walkways.

The first floor of Mei Ho House is "Fine Arts Gallery", which has gallery and shops for selling both Chinese and Western fine arts, such as delicate Chinese-style paper-cut and paintings, etc. The detailed and distinguishing design of "Fine Arts Gallery" may interest the public and increase the attractiveness of Mei Ho House.

Its second floor is a reception hall for the visitors to check-in and check-out, in which the hotel rooms are situated on fifth and sixth floors. The reception hall will broadcast some videos related to culture and history.

Restaurants and cafes are located on the third floor of Mei Ho House: Chinese restaurants are at the E ast W ing, while restaurants for western cuisine are on the west wing. This mix of Chinese and western cuisine is able to match the essence of revitalizing Mei Ho House, as well as to promote tourism in Hong Kong.

The forth floor is a museum introducing the history of Shek Kip Mei Estate and the process of adaptive re-use of Mei Ho House.

The fifth and sixth floors are motels for accommodation. Visitors can choose to stay in Chinese-style or Western-style rooms. Revenues from motels, food and beverages are expected to balance the expenses of the entire revitalization project and make Mei Ho House to be self-sustainable.

The seventh floor is the roof and it will be well-decorated with a fountain and a mini bamboo forest. It is definitely an ideal place for tea and coffee. While the back of Mei Ho House is a series of hills, one could enjoy to feel the breezes from the back of hills!

There is only one major objective of revitalizing Mei Ho House i.e. to arise the concerns of the public for built heritage conservation, and people can increase their cultural awareness from understanding this historic building.

Ho Pak-ming Sam
Concordia Lutheran School