The book contributes to a recontextualization of authenticity by investigating how this value is created, reenacted, and assigned. Over the course of the last century, authenticity figured as the major parameter for the evaluation of cultural heritage. It was adopted in local and international charters and guidelines on architectural conservation in Europe, South and East Asia. Throughout this period, the concept of authenticity was constantly redefined and transformed to suit new cultural contexts and local concerns. This volume presents colonial and postcolonial discourses, opinions, and experiences in the field of architectural heritage conservation and the use of site-specific practices based on representative case studies presented by art historians, architects, anthropologists, and conservationists from Germany, Nepal, India, China, and Japan. With more than 180 illustrations and a collection of terminologies in German, English, Sanskrit, Hindi, Nevari and Nepali, classical Chinese and standard Mandarin, and Japanese, these cross-cultural investigations document the processual re-configuration of the notion of authenticity. They also show that approaches to authenticity can be specified with key analytical categories from transcultural studies: appropriation, transformation, and, in some cases, refusal.

This companion investigates the philosophical and theoretical foundations determining the conditions of possibility and the limits that make the conservation, readaptation, and transformation of past buildings legitimate operations. As increasing ecological and economic challenges question opportunities for new construction, the process of restoring, transforming, and readapting buildings for new or continued use is becoming an essential part of architectural practice. At the same time, the role of building conservation is changing from mere material preservation to being part of a broader strategy for social regeneration, eco-awareness, and inclusive urban planning. Chapters of this volume explore the complex set of considerations that inform decisions to merely preserve, accurately restore or variously reuse a building. They also look at the broader philosophical concerns such as ethical and aesthetic values, combined with ideas of heritage, history, and collective identity. Case studies on reconstruction after war, gentrification, the restoration of ancient edifices, reconstruction following the effects of climate change, and the use of technology solutions among many others, make this a timely and urgent volume. Adopting a broad transcultural perspective with contributions from five continents, the volume combines theoretical approaches with more practical, case study-based investigations and will be of great interest to upper-level students and academics working in the fields of architecture, conservation, urban design, aesthetics, and heritage management.

This book discusses the fundamentals and practical applications of heritage conservation as an important tool of a city's development. It presents case studies that demonstrate how to achieve a balance between the promotion of tourism industry and the generation of income while also seeking optimum sustainable methods for Conserving the City's Tradition and Identity. The book in hand offers useful insights to a wide array of audience aware of the need to preserve the architectural beauty of cities, such as architects, policymakers, investors and even the wide public who is interested in ways of conserving and protecting cultural sites.

The tradition of Chinese wooden architecture dates back to ancient times. The construction solutions developed in this country over the centuries enchant with their refined character, while the historical wooden structures delight future generations with their dignity and aesthetic excellence. China`s wooden architecture, deeply rooted in its spiritual and religious traditions, is undoubtedly the pinnacle of this type of building in Asian culture. At the same time, it is a testimony to the national identity and reflects the specificity of the country`s material heritage. The accelerated social and economic changes in China and the constantly advancing globalization of the world have contributed to this country’s assimilation of Western concepts related to the protection of cultural heritage. The issue of authenticity in the preservation of wooden built heritage proved particularly problematic. This book brings closer the theoretical understanding and practical application of the idea of authenticity from Chinese perspective. To do this, the issue of living heritage and the reception and understanding of traditional Chinese wooden architecture and its preservation as a direct materialization of Chinese religious and philosophical traditions is discussed. The above topics are treated within the cyclic concept of time, i.e. in terms of progress and repetition, with preservation being understood as a religious practice. Finally, trends in the preservation of wooden heritage in present-day China are mentioned, including new attempts to interpret the tradition and the reinvention of the tradition of wooden building. The book aims to contribute to the understanding of the protection of wooden architectural heritage in China from a new perspective, and will be of particular interest to academics and professionals interested in or involved in the preservation of built wooden heritage. ‘(...) a highly valuable contribution to the field of wooden architecture protection and preservation’, Xiaoming Zhu (Tongji University, Shanghai, China) This book ‘(...) successfully explains the inheritance characteristics of Chinese wooden architectures from the perspective of cultural philosophy for a wide audience (...)’, Yasufumi Uekita, University of Tsukuba, Ibaraki, Japan

Reconstruction and Restoration of Architectural Heritage 2021 presents contributions on various aspects of the study, protection and restoration of architectural monuments and on the reconstruction of major historical urban development sites. Moreover, various complex and problematic aspects of engineering reconstruction of monuments are discussed. A wide range of issues is considered in the process of preserving historical heritage, including: the historical formation of buildings, construction and territories; the conservation, reconstruction and restoration of buildings and constructions; the transformation of historical spaces and areas. parallels and features in the development of urban planning, architecture and construction art in Russia and Spain the fate and work of Augustine Augustinovich Betancourt This collection of papers combines contributions about the history and restoration of many of the largest nature reserves, estates, cities and monuments. It is intended for academics and professionals involved in the history and restoration of nature reserves, estates, cities and monuments.

Winner of the 2016 Antoinette Forrester Downing Award presented by the Society of Architectural Historians. In many cities across the world, particularly in Europe, old buildings form a prominent part of the built environment, and we often take it for granted that their contribution is intrinsically positive. How has that widely-shared belief come about, and is its continued general acceptance inevitable? Certainly, ancient structures have long been treated with care and reverence in many societies, including classical Rome and Greece. But only in modern Europe and America, in the last two centuries, has this care been elaborated and energised into a forceful, dynamic ideology: a ‘Conservation Movement’, infused with a sense of historical destiny and loss, that paradoxically shared many of the characteristics of Enlightenment modernity. The close inter-relationship between conservation and modern civilisation was most dramatically heightened in periods of war or social upheaval, beginning with the French Revolution, and rising to a tragic climax in the 20th-century age of totalitarian extremism; more recently the troubled relationship of ‘heritage’ and global commercialism has become dominant. Miles Glendinning’s new book authoritatively presents, for the first time, the entire history of this architectural Conservation Movement, and traces its dramatic fluctuations in ideas and popularity, ending by questioning whether its recent international ascendancy can last indefinitely.

Notions of authenticity lie at the heart of many questions about heritage and identity in the built environment. These questions are most pertinent when buildings have been destroyed in disaster or war, and the built fabric is being reconstructed to reinstate traditional or historic appearances in place of what was lost. Authentic Reconstruction examines this idea of reconstruction, using it as a prompt to examine a range of deeper issues on heritage and the built environment. From post-WWII reconstruction programmes through to the rebuilding of historic cultural landscapes lost in natural disasters, this collection of essays by heritage specialists provides a wide range of case-studies and discussions. Each presents responses to crises and lessons learned, in order to extrapolate general guidelines for future actions by politicians, architects and planners in reconstructing buildings. The book also looks beyond disaster and war, noting how authenticity bears on political intentions and image building, exploring how reconstruction is used to tell a political or historical story, so conditioning the ways in which the built environment is perceived and appreciated by its users. This is not just about the buildings as bricks and mortar, but about perceptions of identity and the social and historical values which buildings and spaces embody for a richly diverse population. This book will be valuable to all who are concerned with heritage as practitioners or consumers, particularly those concerned with reconstruction and the creation of authentic places and experiences: architects, architectural historians, town planners, preservationists, conservationists, and those involved in heritage management and material culture.

This volume contains papers presented at the Ninth International Conference on Structural Studies, Repairs and Maintenance of Heritage Architecture. The conference provides an ideal forum for professionals in the area to discuss problems and solutions, and exchange opinions and experiences.

This book is made up of contributions dealing with heritage stones from different countries around the world. The stones are described, as well as their use in vernacular and contemporaneous architecture. Heritage stones are those stones that have special significance in human culture. Examples include some very important stones that have been either neglected because they are no longer extracted, or stones that have great significance in commercial terms but knowledge of their national and/or international heritage has not been well documented. In this collection of articles, we have tried to spread awareness of architectural heritage around the world, the natural stones that have been used in its construction, and the need to preserve historical quarries that once provided the source of such stones. Historical quarries are linked to regional culture and tradition. Because of the specific technical and aesthetical characteristics of heritage stones, which have lasted for centuries, these historical quarries should be preserved to be able to use the stones for the proper restoration of monuments and historical buildings to avoid negative actions that can be observed in many places in the restoration of buildings, which are some times part of World Heritage sites. The final intention of this book is to continuosly grow the interest on this fascinating subject of heritage stones.