The Influence of Asian Immigration on the Architectural Culture of Canada: A Study on the Preservation of Asian Culture and Identity in Architecture in Canada

Henry Hing-Yip Tsang(Henry Hing-Yip Tsang ) 한국캐나다학회 2017 Asia-Pacific Journal of Canadian Studies (APJCS) Vol.23 No.2

Immigrants from Asian countries to Canada has a history dating back to the 18th Century, and Asian-Canadians today make up an increasingly significant part of the Canadian population. As these communities grow over generations, they become an integral part of the culture and heritage of Canada’s own culture of multiculturalism. Originating from Asia and reestablishing themselves in Canada, immigrants carry with them culture, customs and away of life to their new home, ranging from new food, fashion, customs, language and even the way to construct buildings. This paper studies the relationship of Asian immigrant communities with the spaces and buildings they occupy, and how they inhabit and adapted spaces, buildings and cities to represent the culture and identity of their country of origin. In particular, the paper will focus on three major Asian ethnic groups: Chinese, Japanese and Korean, trace their paths and identify major tendencies in how each have attempted to preserve culture and express identity in the design of significant buildings in their communities. The research methodology consists firstly of literature review on the subject of Asian immigration and the mapping of major architectural style trends in Canada. Secondly, a selection of buildings were identified from each community for further analysis, including site visits, study of architectural drawings, plans, photographs, as well as interviews with building occupants to better understand the significance of these buildings and how they were conceived to represent their ethnic communities. Preliminary results indicate that the Chinese community, with along history of immigration to Canada, expresses identity mainly in the exterior appearance of the buildings. The Japanese community has a scattered history of immigration to Canada and the expression of identity is rather subdued and the expression is present mainly in the building’s interior. The Korean community is relatively young in Canada, and has a tendency to adapt existing spaces and buildings, while expressing culture and identity through signage and decoration.

A Brief Review of the Traditional Indigenous Architecture of Canada

Henry Hing-Yip Tsang(Henry Hing-Yip Tsang ) 한국캐나다학회 2020 Asia-Pacific Journal of Canadian Studies (APJCS) Vol.25 No.2

The identity of Canadian architecture is hard to define. Many waves of immigration of all contributed in sculpting the built environment in Canadian cities. Identity has much to do with origins, therefore tracing Canadian architecture should start by studying the architecture of our First Nations and indigenous people. This paper briefly explores the roots of Canadian architecture tracing back to the various indigenous tribes of Canada and outlines the main characteristics of the vernacular architecture built by these people. This paper review seven major typologies of indigenous architecture found in Canada: the Wigwam, the Longhouse, the Tipi, the Pit House, the Thule Winter House, the Plank House and the Igloo. Different indigenous tribes construct different styles of architecture as shelters that respond to their particular abodes and lifestyle. For instance, tribes living in colder climates construct narrow entrance tunnels for preventing cold wind drifts, whiles other tribes dig earth and construct their shelters protected by tree bark and soil. Further, living styles also influence the different types of shelters. Nomadic tribes carry thin long logs and animal hide with them and construct Pit Houses in places where they spend days chasing bison herds. Other tribes, engaged in agriculture therefore need a more permanent residence, such as the Iroquois who build Longhouses with wood bark and mats. Although this paper is brief, it lays the foundation for those who wish to understand and pursue further research into the different typologies of indigenous architecture of Canada.

Fast reconstruction of digital holograms for extended depths of field

Tsang, P. W. M.,Poon, T.-C.,Kim, T.,Kim, Y. S. Science in China Press 2016 CHINESE OPTICS LETTERS Vol.14 No.7

<P>Past research has demonstrated that a static, three-dimensional (3D) object scene can be directly recorded as a complex digital hologram. However, numerical reconstruction of the object scene, which may comprise multiple sections located at unknown distances from the hologram, is a complicated and computation-intensive process. To the best of our knowledge, we propose, for the first time, a low complexity method that is capable of reconstructing a complex hologram, such that sections at different depths in the 3D object scene can be automatically reconstructed at the correct focal distances and merged into a single image for an extended depth of field. We demonstrate an order of magnitude increase of the depth of field for binary objects. With the use of a graphical processing unit, the reconstruction of a 512 x 512 complex hologram can be accomplished in about 100 ms, equivalent to around 10 frames per second.</P>

Generation of Binary Off-axis Digital Fresnel Hologram with Enhanced Quality

Tsang, Peter Wai Ming The Korean Institute of Communications and Informa 2015 ICT Express Vol.1 No.1

The emergence of high resolution printer and digital micromirror device (DMD) has enabled real, off-axis holograms to be printed, or projected onto a screen. As most printers and DMD can only reproduce binary dots, the pixels in a hologram have to be truncated to 2 levels. However, direct binarizing a hologram will lead to severe degradation on its reconstructed image. In this paper, a method for generating binary off-axis digital Fresnel hologram is reported. A hologram generated with the proposed method is referred to as the "Enhanced Sampled Binary Hologram" (ESBH). The reconstructed image of the ESBH is superior in visual quality as compare with the one obtained with existing technique, and also resistant to noise contamination.

Nanosecond Q-switched operation of coupled Yb and Tm fibre lasers

Tsang, Yuen H,Qamar, Fadi,King, Terence A,Ko, Do-Kyeong,Lee, Jongmin Institute of Physics [etc.] 2005 Journal of Physics. D, Applied Physics Vol.38 No.9

<P>A small scale coupled Yb–silica and Tm–silica fibre laser system is described with output at 1.9 µm and with Q-switching using an acousto-optic modulator and also by mechanical optical modulation. The Yb-fibre laser pump source exhibited strong self-pulsation with high-intensity pulses due to stimulated Brillouin scattering. But regular Q-switched pulses were generated from the Tm-fibre laser with an energy of ∼2.4 µJ and duration (FWHM) of ∼280 ns for modulation frequencies of 1–20 kHz when using acousto-optic modulation. The main effects that limit the Q-switched pulse peak power are the onset of gain-switched pulsing during the low-Q state and strong pump excited state absorption.</P>

Large-eddy simulation and wind tunnel study of flow over an up-hill slope in a complex terrain

Tsang, C.F.,Kwok, Kenny C.S.,Hitchcock, Peter A.,Hui, Desmond K.K. Techno-Press 2009 Wind and Structures, An International Journal (WAS Vol.12 No.3

This study examines the accuracy of large-eddy simulation (LES) to simulate the flow around a large irregular sloping complex terrain. Typically, real built up environments are surrounded by complex terrain geometries with many features. The complex terrain surrounding The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology campus was modelled and the flow over an uphill slope was simulated. The simulated results, including mean velocity profiles and turbulence intensities, were compared with the flow characteristics measured in a wind tunnel model test. Given the size of the domain and the corresponding constraints on the resolution of the simulation, the mean velocity components within the boundary layer flow, especially in the stream-wise direction were found to be reasonably well replicated by the LES. The turbulence intensity values were found to differ from the wind tunnel results in the building recirculation zones, mostly due to the constraints placed on spatial and temporal resolutions. Based on the validated mean velocity profile results, the flow-structure interactions around these buildings and the surrounding terrain were examined.

Deposition of Pd/graphene aerogel on nickel foam as a binder-free electrode for direct electro-oxidation of methanol and ethanol

Tsang, C. H.,Hui, K. N.,Hui, K. S.,Ren, L. Royal Society of Chemistry 2014 Journal of Materials Chemistry A Vol.2 No.42

Broadband amplified spontaneous emission double-clad fibre source with central wavelengths near 2 &mgr;m

Tsang, Yuen H.,King, Terence A.,Ko, Do-Kyeong,Lee, Jongmin Taylor Francis 2006 JOURNAL OF MODERN OPTICS - Vol.53 No.7

<P>Amplified spontaneous emission broadband light around 2?µm has been successfully generated in both double-clad Tm–silica and Tm:Ho fluoride fibres using a high-power 803?nm diode laser pump source. For the Tm–silica fibre an output power was produced greater than 40?mW and with a bandwidth (full width at half-maximum (FWHM)) of about 50?nm. For output powers greater than 90?mW, the FWHM of the output spectrum reduced to about 40?nm. The Tm:Ho fluoride fibre source produced about 2?mW output power and an FWHM of about 20?nm; this was reduced to about 10?nm as the output power was scaled up to 20?mW. The central wavelength for each system was greater than 2?µm.</P>

A review on several methods for fast generation of digital Fresnel holograms

Tsang, P.W.M. Korea Society of Industrial Information Systems 2012 한국산업정보학회논문지 Vol.17 No.2

Computer generated holography (CGH) is technology for generating holograms of synthetic, three dimensional (3D) objects which may not exist in the physical world. The process, however, requires heavy amount of computation as the resolution of a hologram is significantly higher than that of a typical optical image. This paper reviews four modern techniques for fast generation of digital Fresnel holograms which are important in the development of holographic video systems. The methods that will be described include the virtual window, sub-line, wavefront recording plane (WRP), and the interpolative WRP schemes. These works share the common objective to generate digital Fresnel hologram at a speed that is close to the video frame rate, and with complexity which is realizable with affordable computing and reconfigurable hardware devices. The author will present the principles and realization of these works, as well as some potential area of research in digital holography.

Study of Green Building Certification in Canada - Limiting Factors to Attain Net-Zero Standards -

Tsang, Henry Hing-Yip 대한건축학회지회연합회 2016 대한건축학회연합논문집 Vol.18 No.4

Countries around the world are aiming to reduce carbon footprint to halt climate change. The building sector being responsible for carbon emissions, green building certification programs establish the current standards in order to construct green buildings, and such programs gradually are regularly updated to have standard levels increased. The Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) program is widely used in over 150 countries in the world, including Canada. With standards higher than LEED, programs such as the Living Building Challenge (LBC) program, targets net-zero waste, water and energy. This paper outlines the current state of green buildings in Canada and the limiting factors of these buildings to reach standards of net-zero waste, water and energy, such as described by the Living Building Challenge program. Firstly, the paper describes Canada’s current green building standards by analyzing data of LEED certified buildings provided by the Canada Green Building Council. Second, a thorough analysis of the scorecards of the Platinum level buildings will be analyzed to identify the limiting factors of these buildings to achieve net-zero standards. Results indicate that the major limiting factor for each category is Water is Innovation and Technology, for Energy is to Optimize Energy Performance, and for Waste is Building Reuse.