Hong Kong’s Disappearing Tong Lau - A Panoramic Perspective
Hong Kong’s Disappearing Tong Lau - A Panoramic Perspective
This series of panoramic photographs offers a unique and new perspective on Hong Kong’s much-loved architecture. An international collaboration between photographer Stefan Irvine and post-production expert Jörg Dietrich, the images are a celebration of the city’s rich architectural heritage.
The series focuses predominantly on Hong Kong’s “tong lau” (唐樓), or old-style Chinese “shophouse” buildings, a type of tenement architecture once popular throughout Southern China for both residential and commercial use. Other works capture similarly distinctive, historically-significant styles of architecture, displaying influences from Hong Kong and beyond.
With much of Hong Kong’s urban heritage under constant threat of redevelopment, these photographs serve as vital historical documents for the communities they depict. Several blocks showcased in the series, including Shanghai Street's listed shophouses, have been earmarked for demolition or significant redevelopment by Hong Kong's Urban Renewal Authority.
The production process of these linear panoramas demands meticulous planning and careful attention to detail. Photographer Stefan Irvine often makes several trips to each location, painstakingly capturing the entire facade of the buildings, at precise intervals and distances, with careful attention given to moving objects and people in the scene.
These photographs from multiple perspectives are digitally merged and manipulated by Jörg Dietrich into one expansive, seamless image, creating a singular visualisation of the architecture in an entire city block. This perspective allows the viewer to experience the life of a whole city street at a glance, featuring greater detail and instilling more emotional impact than other traditional forms of photography.