RE-ARCHITECTURE: A potential tool for mapping and reducing the impact of introducing contemporary architecture into historic urban landscapes

Ref.: 296
Key theme: 01 Physical integrity of historic urban landscapes
Date of reception: 26/11/2008

AUTHORS (*Main author)

PEREIRA RODERS, Ana * (Netherlands) - Eindhoven University of Technology

ABSTRACT

Over the last decades, the introduction of contemporary architecture into historic urban landscapes, through interventions of urban rehabilitation, has grown and tends to surpass the development of new urban landscapes.
When involved in these rehabilitation interventions, stakeholders either focus on lifespan - answering to the needs of present generations, but considering their impact on past and future generations - or neglect it, as the majority does.
Consequently, the impact of introducing contemporary architecture reaches much higher levels than actually required and leaves the historic urban landscapes with irreversible scars. Instead, when focusing on lifespan, the impact can be much reduced and the scars easily become minimal chirurgic interventions.
For decades, institutions such as UNESCO, ICOMOS and the Council of Europe have been very active guidelining the stakeholders of such interventions, from policymakers to craftsmen. However, when comparing the relevant documents it became clear that they harbored the same variation and ambiguity, which has been noticed among the stakeholders they aim to guide.
Designers are no exception, often shielded by their reputable 'freedom' of design concepts, processes and decisions. RE-ARCHITECTURE research has discredited this myth by identifying clear patterns in the design processes of the sampled designers involved in rehabilitation interventions, from the Netherlands and Portugal.
It proved that the theorization of design processes for such interventions is as innovative as realistic. Moreover, it proved that a raise of lifespan focus can be achieved, whenever designers periodically access process-related guidelines, sustain their design decisions on building-related evidences and target minimal actions for maximum results.
RE-ARCHITECTURE®, a design process support system freely available online, formed a valuable bridge between theory and practice. This pioneer prototype has contributed to making such process-related guidelines more dynamic and implementable on the daily practice of designers.
Moreover, designers have shown interest on sharing their design processes with the other designers and stakeholders involved in the rehabilitation interventions; as well as, to enlarge the range of stages reported, currently restricted to the ones within the design process, to the ones within building process. Particularly, the pre-design sub-stage could be most useful at a feasibility stage.
As RE-ARCHITECTURE® was especially developed for single users, this paper is willing to discuss the required adaptations and verify the potential of having it evolved into a useful virtual platform of multiple users.
Time saving and less repetitive actions would be expected from bringing more structure into the whole building process; more communication and understanding among all stakeholders from using a mutual language and making clear their tasks, aim and values; and more quality and accuracy from sharing/exchanging all related data, information and knowledge.
As a result. the introduction of contemporary architecture into historic urban landscapes is expected to become of much lesser impact, as rehabilitation interventions will get monitored not only before and after the completion of rehabilitation interventions, but during the whole building process, stage by stage.

REFERENCES

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