Conservation of historic buildings and monuments

preservation of past grammatical pulls and monumentsIntroductionThroughout the renaissance catch, preservation and overhaul remained an data-based process in which legion(predicate) of the tools, instruments and methods were selected at random. The process was move with very little critical or diachronical understanding. This led to galore(postnominal) architects much(prenominal) as Viollet-le-Duc, Sir George Gilbert Scott, keister Ruskin and William Morris voicing their comprehensions of how preservation and indemnification should restore makes to how they would have appe bed in their prime.Most of our modern principles of saving arose from the ideas of John Ruskin and William Morris from the mid 19th century. They c each(prenominal) downd how we ar merely custodians of the constructions left work our predecessors for our in store(predicate) generations. They also state how our interpellation in past buildings must be kept to a minimum and how continued re pair and aid of these historical buildings must be valued. These ideas form the basis of modern perception of preservation and restoration of our valued historic buildings and monuments.What is preservation?preservation is a way of planning designed to conserve historic buildings, areas and monuments in an safari to connect a places historical background to its population and primarily its culture. conservation is means of green building, that is, reusing the brisk building as oppose to tender social organisation for a modern purpose and drill. The four main styles of preservation of historic buildings are preservation, rehabilitation, reconstruction and restoration.PreservationPreservation is the means of charge an historic building a close as possible to its pilot film state by means of continued repair and maintenance. This focuses on the stabilization and repair of the existing stuffs in the building and the retention of a buildings state as it has evolved over mag azine.RestorationRestoration of historic buildings involves reconstructing move of the building that have fallen into decay as imitations of the highest possible quality of the master key building. This form depicts a building at peerless stage in time and often removes any record of any other period in which the building existed.RehabilitationRehabilitation sees the need to alter or extent to an historic building to meet modern demands while shut up keeping the historical character of the building.ReconstructionReconstruction re-creates vanished buildings or parts of buildings by interpretive means.Criticisms of ConservationLike many a(prenominal) developments in urban design and planning, conservation has had its share of negative perceptions. Such looking ats if this criticism includeCostStyle Mistakes makeCost implications of Conservation in that respect are many speak tos associated with the preservation or restoration of an historic building. a lot they need speciali st workmanship which dope be both time and m atomic number 53y consuming on a construction project. Delicate elements of the building often require propping or to a greater extent or less sort of support which can take up valuable infinite on site. Many of the systems in an old building need upgrading which can be difficult to install. Requirements such as skill rating and fire certificates can be strong to upgrade as often the original design of the building did non consider such modern ideas. Elements such as cavity walls or wood cladding are expensive and difficult to bring up to modern standards regarding these requirements. Structural elements of an historic building are the closely endeavouring aspects of the conservation process to purport right. Foundations are a recurring issue with many of the buildings as newer complex body parts with deeper and heavier foundations can often cause uplift of the older building. The cost of repairing the foundations of these buildi ngs are astronomical so diligent design of new foundations and supervise of existing buildings is par cadence during construction. All this adds up on a construction project which has undesired implicated cost for both contractor and engineer. redbrick style constructionDue to property price rises and limitation of space in city centres our indian lodge has constructed its buildings higher and higher to meet its purposes. This best-selling(predicate) style of higher buildings can often cause the older, smaller historic buildings to become dwarfed and lastly undesirable for its occupants. As the push towards increased numbers racket of taller sky-scrapers in urban areas is inevitable, this leaves many of the smaller older buildings redundant. Critics also ordain that the older historic buildings cannot accommodate as many people or businesses as newer developments can. This increases the rent on these buildings and causes low income retailers and residents to relocate. This has a negative restore on a city centre regarding retailing.Mistakes in conservationanother(prenominal) criticism of conservation is that it is very susceptible to mistakes being made which are ultimately to the determent of the building. Inappropriate renovations can cause impose on _or_ oppress to buildings and mould it worse off than it was before. agree to the Tipperary county council website rough of the most common mistakes made in small scale conservation in the area areRemoval of old 18th or 19th century windows to be replaced with new PVC, plastic or aluminium windowsThe removal of original designate and the replacement with imitation slate or tilesThe removal of the render.The website says how these changes can rival the ventilation systems in the building and can exacerbate any decaying or rotting that is taking place in the building. Removal of render and switch it with modern Portland cement which is a lot harder can cause cracking, admit moisture and trap it within the wall.This is just an example of a few of the mistakes that can be made during the renovation process. It is wee-wee that a large responsibility is undertaken in conducting a conservation of a building. It is the utmost enormousness that the right proficiencys and products are investigated as to preserve the building and not to elaborate or created any problems with the building or monument.Sustainability of conservationHistoric buildings are inherently sustainable. The correct preservation can maximise the use of the existing materials and infrastructure and in return smothers waste caused by demolition and energy put into the production of new materials and construction. Many of the old buildings were designed with sustainability in mind. Many features of historic buildings were create with aspects like climate and site business office in mind to give a sustainable build. If correctly conserved, many old buildings can serve future generations for many years to come.Cons ervation versus New ConstructionPreserving a building is often referred to as the ultimate recycling project. Although, as I have already outlined it has its many sceptics who say that historic buildings are beyond their use and require meaning(a) corrective measure to make them viable as a work structure. However, Green and sustainable design has become ever more favourite in todays new construction and preservation industries. A major aspect to this is the reduction in deoxycytidine monophosphate that conservation brings when compared with new construction. Concrete products, steel, transportation, heat and electricity are the main factors contributing to a projects boilersuit carbon emissions. Conservation of old buildings drastically cuts down on new concrete products and their inherent transportation costs as well as the use of electricity to operate plant that is associated with new construction.Conservation versus DemolitionThe conservation of old buildings is a much mor e sensible option than demolition in relation to sustainability. There are many times when a building is deemed geomorphologically unsound and the need for demolition is unrivalled in the interest of public safety but this should not prevent our company from conserving many of our old buildings for continued use. Conserving greatly reduces the amount of construction material being dumped in landfill. Demolition creates vast amount of crushed concrete and stone that is often unusable for construction again.ethical motive and conservationI have decided to divide ethical motive and conservation into two sub-headings that I provide discuss, they areEthics of conservationEthics within conservation.Ethics of conservationPreservation of historic buildings and monuments plays a vital role in the growth of our civilization. It is oftentimes easy to disregard the accomplishments of past generations as we try to change our societies and environments to be more suited to our present needs. John Ruskin (1819-1900) was one the low to develop the conservation movement whose ideals were that a historic building, painting or sculpture is a unique creation by an workman or artist in a specific historic context. He believed that such genuine works of art resulted from personal sacrifice and it was base on mans perception of beauty on temper, where in itself existed as a mirror image of god. (Jukka Jokilehto, A History of Architectural Conservation, 1999, page175) Such ideals led to him suitable a pioneer in wait on organise preservation of historic buildings and monuments writing many works on the subject.His principles form the basis on conservation in todays world where we see historic buildings and monuments as a link to our past and our culture. With ongoing development of our city centres and transportation networks it would be very easy to demolish the outdated and often useless buildings and monuments that get in our way. Therefore, the question arises why don t we? Conservation is an ethical subject with the determination to neglect our revered buildings and monuments a conscientious one. As John Ruskin utter many of our monasteries and churches alike are works of art in the reflection of god. It is often said that age in itself contributes to beauty.Age is a affair that is associated with wisdom and many of our historic buildings add a feeling of understanding and enlightenment to an area. Often, historic conservation of city centre can help them become more competitive with regard to retailing and business as historic, unique buildings give areas more prominence in comparison to the equivalent skyscrapers that dominate the skylines of many of our large cities.Ethics within conservationThere are many ethical values within conservation itself that regulates the nature of the industry. As one would expect it is a delicate subject whether or whether not to intervene with the natural state of a revered building or monument. Therefore, m any charters and polices have been developed and implemented over the years. The frontmost time that an international agreement was made on the principles of conservation was the capital of Greece charter of 1931. The charter was later review and update with the Venice Charter in 1964 which relates to historic buildings, the Burra charter which deals with places of historic significance and the Washington Charter which is relates to historic towns and districts. These charters were drafted by The International Committee for Monuments and Sites (ICOMOS).Conservation is regarded as the work do to prevent further decay of a building and to extend its life. Conservation can often be undertaken with the greatest of enthusiasm and best intentions. However, the conservation process should be carried out so that no damage is do to the building and no falsifying or destruction of historical evidence occurs. Lack of information or the use of incorrect in incompatible techniques can often unintentionally cause both, aesthetic and structural damage. According to (http//www.environ.ie/en/Publications/Heritage), the main principles in these charters to help prevent unintentional damage from occurring areRetention or restoration of historical significanceConservation process based on researchMinimum physical interventionMaintenance of visual settingThese are the basic principles outlined in the charters which help instil ethical practice of conservation works.Case StudiesIn this section I will report on two character studies which I researched which will highlight mistakes made in the past, ethics in conservation and the sustainability of conservation.The slopeing Tower of PisaThe leaning prevail of Pisa is one of Italys most infamous land marks. It attracts hundreds of thousands of tourists every year.Construction of the tower began in 1173 afterward a period of prosperity in Pisa. The tower began to sway briefly after the beginning of construction due to a poorly pose foundation and loose substrate that has allowed the foundation to shift direction. The tower was built in three stages over 177 years. The tower began to sink after construction was completed on the third floor. In 1272 construction was resumed with architect Giovanni di Simone decision making to build one side taller than the other to compensate for the rock music. This caused the tower to lean the other way resulting in the tower having a benderd shape.The curve and 3.97o angle to the vertical at which the tower leans caused inherent damage to structural elements of the tower as well as aesthetic damage. This led to the Italian political science to seek international aid to prevent the tower from collapsing on February of 1964. They did, however, declare that they desired to retain a certain degree of the towers tilt because of it tourism viability.Many attempts were made to rectify the foundations. Deformations were made in the obscenity through vertical anchorages and forces were utilize using weights. This was one of the most simplistic solutions but also the most ineffective as it only resulted in inducing further compression on the soil. This caused extensive damage to the tower where cracking and splitting of many of the mall columns occurred. In 1993 900 tonnes of lead weights were utilize to oppose the tilt of the structure. Additional provisional strengthening of the structure was applied with a series of circumferential steel cables.The final measure in the stabilization of the structure is to be a new technique called under-excavation. This technique consists in pulling out, about 5 m under the upstream border of the foundation, small amounts of soils, through a series of casings drilled into the soil. (www.sciencedirect.com). This it is hoped will gently cause the tower to tilt towards its desired inclination without upset the fragile columns in the structure.The leaning tower of Pisa is an example of restoration attempts where exper imental methods were used with almost dire consequences for the building. However, an ethical approached was undertaken which was based on research and an effort to minimize distortion of the appearance of the building.The ParthenonBesides the pyramids at Giza, the Parthenon is one of most revered monument in the world. It was built between 447 432 BC by Greek architects Ictinus and Callicrates. The structure underwent extensive damage over an panoptic period time. In 296 BC gold from the statues in the building was removed by the general Lachares to pay his army. In the 5th century AD the temple was converted into a Christian church. In 1460 it housed a Turkish mosque and in 1687 gun-powder stored by the Turks inside the temple exploded and destroyed the substitution area. (www.archive.com). A recent major influence in the increased alloy of the monument has been the expansion and development of nearby Athens. Urbanization has caused increased amount of carbon dioxide in the a ir which has contributed to more intense acid rain. This has hard affected the monument more so in the last 30 years than in the previous eighteen centuries.In 1975 the Greek government made a special effort to try and restore the Parthenon to some of its cause glory. After some delay, a committee was set up in 1983 which later received funding from the European Union to turn back out its works. It was investigated that some of the earlier works were incorrect and therefore conservatively dismantled and a restoration process commenced.The preservation firstly winding rectifying mistakes made by conservationists in the past. Steel beams were places within the stone structure to help support it but these were not coated in lead and inevitably rusted. The rusted beams expanded and cause the stone to crack more than it was so previously.It is impossible to restore the building to exactly how it was built first day but the aesthetics of the building were preserved by substitute any deficient columns and lintels with precisely cut marble from the original quarry. The overall idea behind the conservation attempt is to replace all missing pieces of marble in the structure where they would have been preserving the structural integrity of the building by supporting these with modern materials.The preservation of the Parthenon shows a standard of ethics that Ruskin and Morris adhered to. Although there were mistakes made in the past, a willingness to restore the monument to its former glory while still keeping the style of the original building intact is the way it should be done. Preserving this monument is paramount as it has a clear link to the nation of Greece and its culture and past. Future IdeasFrom researching this project it is clear to see that conservation of old buildings could prove extremely beneficial to society with regard to sustainable living. With a recent push towards eco-living, conservation of some of our older building as oppose to demolishin g them and erecting a new structure would be a way forward. In my opinion, future policies could incorporate full structural analysis to look for potential conservation processes before any building is demolished. This could be especially beneficial in city centres where construction of new multi-storey buildings is quite challenging.Also, regular maintenance checks of all buildings, historic or recently built, should take place on a regular basis as to provide any preservation techniques that may need be applied. This would greatly help sustain the buildings we have and reduce the need for any new construction which would have a confirming impact for the environment.ReferencesWebsiteshttp//www.nationaltrust.org.uk/mainhttp//www.wbdg.org/resources/sustainablehttp//www.environ.ie/en/Publications/Heritage/ArchitecturalHeritage/Conservation of historic buildings by Bernard m feilden, 1982http//www.culture.gr/h/2/eh251.jsp?obj_id=912 Ioanna Venieri, archaeologistwww.preservationnation .org