Ella Chan
Ella is an architectural conservationist and CPD coordinator for the Asia Pacific Region. Part of the role of CPD coordinator is identifying gaps in knowledge and trends in the industry and arranging CPD talks for the local teams to maintain their registration. She is also a member of the Purcell Diversity and Inclusion group.
Ella previously studied a semester at UC Berkeley majoring in architecture while completing her Bachelor’s Degree in Architectural Conservation. Now based in Hong Kong, she works mainly on conservation projects carrying out archival research into the history of a place through maps and historic photos. Under the guidance of project leads she attends site visits and project meetings that help her to draft Conservation Management Plans and Heritage Impact Assessments
After enjoying history at school, Ella has once considered Archaeology and took a course at UC Berkeley. Although the ideologies were similar to those in architectural conservation, Ella's true passion was ignited working on projects that have a stronger connection to the present – historic buildings.
‘By experimenting with Archaeology, I found that I preferred to conserve what you can experience. You can really immerse yourself in the conservation of buildings, standing on site and picturing the previous uses.’
Ella’s approach to architecture is centred around gaining an understanding of a site as a whole and the philosophies behind the technical decisions to date. The technical aspects of a project aresf particular interest to her as she sees her research becoming a physical solution.
Although she favours the technical side of conservation she understands that the management part is just as important, which led her to pursue a Master’s Degree in Construction Project Management.
‘Recently conservation advocates have emphasised more and more that a conservationist is more like a project manager and mediator. When I am doing research I always think about the difference between being a historian and a conservationist, and how when I talk to historians in real life they tend to know more than I do. I think a conservationist is a role mediating between architects, historians, contractors and bringing them and their knowledge together.’
Outside of work Ella is actively involved in the profession. She was a member of the Purcell team that submitted an exhibition entry at the 2022 Hong Kong Biennale of Urbanism\Architecture, which was focussed on the environmental, social, and well-being benefits of establishing Heritage Action Zones (HAZ) in the Sai Ying Pun and Tai Ping Shan districts. More recently, she participated in the HKIA and HKIABF Exhibition titled ‘Harmony in Diversity – Connecting the Metropolis by In-Betweens’. Her entry was named ‘About Curtilage, Negative Spaces Between Heritage Buildings’.
She is a contributor to the Hong Kong Pre-war European Houses and Tong Lau Research Group, focussed around the protection of Tong Lau Buildings in Hong Kong and has had her thoughts on the retention of the city’s heritage published in Ming Pao, HK01 and various other publications.
Ella studied art at school and won the award for Outstanding Hong Kong Artist in 2017. However, she felt it was too broad and too personal to pursue as a full-time career. Architecture has more restrictions and is more for the benefit of the community rather than a single person, something she feels passionately about.
