Historic rehabilitation of urban spaces in Eastern Europe: plans for the reuse of a public building in Disna, Belarus (original) (raw)

Aspects of Social Sustainability in Cases of Building Rehabilitations in Central Europe

The paper analyses the role of building rehabilitations based on the three pillars of sustainability: environmental consciousness, economic sustainability and social responsibility; to verify that all these aspects of sustainable development are accentuated in the rehabilitation of historic buildings. Beyond these aspects the study emphasizes the particular criteria of social sustainability highlighting the significance of contemporary use and conversion of built heritage. In the issue of historical continuity – local identity the tradition is displayed as a determinative element of the image of the local community. Related to the search for local identity the continuity of built heritage may be dominant for a population – especially in Central Europe where because of the specific political background the appearance of modernism equals a cultural rupture. Exploring the question of urban continuity – fitting it can be established that built heritage preserved by current usage enriches the city with connotational contents providing reference points in space and time for the local community. The third subtopic, the issue of functional continuity – functional change investigates the idea of integrated monument protection, emphasizing the importance of continuous usage of the heritage that is elemental for the sustainability of a monument. The examples presented in the paper, the high-quality, well-functioning projects from the last 10 years of Central European architecture justify the raison d'etre of building rehabilitations.

Adaptive reuse of commercial and public buildings in Wroclaw Old Town in Poland. The occupant’s safety and comfort versus preservation of authenticity of monumental buildings

Teka Komisji Architektury, Urbanistyki i Studiów Krajobrazowych

There are more than a hundred historic public buildings in the centre of Wrocław, adapted to fulfill modern commercial function. Against the background of today’s cosmopolitan shopping centers and office buildings, these buildings are distinguished by stylish architecture, maintained in eclectic, Art Nouveau or modernist forms. In the process of renewal of such monumental buildings, there is a need to reconcile the requirement for maximum protection of the historic material with safety and comfort of use. The multi-disciplinary construction design constituting the basis for the adaptive reuse of the heritage building must be preceded by conservation research and concept designs simulating possible program options. This allows linking the assessment of the value of the architecture with a choice of the matching function corresponding to the location and historic structure of the building. The further multi-disciplinary design process and implementation of such a project should be bas...

Revitalization of Historical Building in Wrocław’s City Centre, Poland

Advanced Materials Research, 2010

Some aspects of the revitalization of the 14th century historical building are presented in the paper. The building was originally used as a poorhouse and a hospital for children. The original Gothic masonry building on the site was a two-storey building with a cellar, situated in a corner of two streets. In the middle of the 19th century the building was converted into a school and then the first large-scale demolition of the hospital's Gothic walls took place. After the 2nd World War a school was also situated in the building, where it existed until the late nineties. The aim of the renovation process was to convert it into an exclusive office block. The design works were preceded by historical research and on-site investigations. Complex conversion of the object consisted in the reconstruction of the old building structure, creating the inner courtyard and covering it with a glass roof. In the existing part of the basement one of the longest single-nave vaults in Poland and the exquisite roof truss system with a lying bidding-rafter post deserved special attention during the renovation.

The Experience of Reconstructing Historic Buildings in Practice: Selected Cases From the Czech Republic

Sociology Study, 2016

A negative attitude to the physical reconstruction of damaged or destroyed historic structures back to their original forms has been deeply rooted in the Czech heritage conservation philosophy since the beginning of the twentieth century. Under the influence of practices abroad, Czech conservators have, however, in some cases, accepted reconstruction. This paper seeks to illustrate the process of continuously oscillating between the refusal and the acceptance of reconstruction in the Czech Republic, with selected cases taken from heritage conservation practice—namely, the facades on the north side of the main square in the historic town of Nové Město nad Metují in east Bohemia (1952-1954), the western facade of the Emmaus Abbey Church in Prague (1964-1966), Stone Bell House in Prague (1974-1988), and the spires and gables of the Lesser Town town hall in Prague (2007-2008). They show how much the quality and the regard to historical faithfulness of the execution matters in reconstruction and how useful it is in this process to follow the principles of the Charter of Venice, an international document on heritage conservation issued in 1964, which, despite some recent objections, is still far from obsolete.

Rehabend 2020 - 265: Romanian case study: Challenges in the applicability of the Leeuwarden declaration on local buildings heritage

REHABEND. CONSTRUCTION PATHOLOGY, REHABILITATION TECHNOLOGY AND HERITAGE MANAGEMENT (8th REHABEND Congress) Granada (Spain), March 24th-27th, 2020, 2020

This case study is the preliminary design stage for an upgrade intervention to one interwar heritage building, the Academic College from Cluj-Napoca, Romania. The design theme provided as public bidding was not as a part of one restoration work for the entire heritage building, after the proper practice requirements. There was asked only the intervention on a particular public space from the heritage building for achieving “design for all’ accessibility and the upgrade of the interior after the XXIth century trends, technical and aesthetical. The theoretical research touches the vision of the restoration of the building heritage before Leeuwarden Declaration, the time of the concept of the design. To preserve the untouched heritage versus upgrading a fashionable design that answers to a theme expressed by a society with his changing needs. There are three design versions with rendering images analysed with a similar SWOT method and argued with practical issues, like esthetical and technical from an architectural and historical point of view and defined by the general trends from the restoration area:  The first design version, non-interventional one, according to ICOMOS’ authenticity charter applied in the international legislation and agreed by experts from the Zonal Commission of Historical Monuments;  The second design version, the answer to the contemporary design theme requirement but according to ICOMOS’ reversibility principle;  The last one, a creative restoration with the authenticity after Francoise Choay, in some points similar to principles from Leeuwarden Declaration. Will also be remembered some philosophical notions linked to these three versions: about the falses after Umberto Eco or the revealing hidden truth after Martin Heidegger. Martin Heidegger details that when Technology achieves the Newness is just an answer to a “very insistent asking for delivery”. The asking for delivery can also be the theme to upgrade a heritage building to answer to the new needs of the society. The option for the first version was primordial justified by the local preservation of the heritage of the crafts or the professional skills that might be an essential difference in choosing a design following ICOMOS’ principles.

Restoration of traditional housing complexes

Traditional housing complexes in Bosnia and Herzegovina are sophisticated dwelling structures comprised of cubistic architectural forms, courtyards, and elaborate and decorated interior spaces. The paper deals with the case studies of restoration of four major complexes in Herzegovina (southern region), with the technical and design aspects, as well as exploration of their current use, value and meaning in contemporary architecture as testaments of history and living functioning structures.

Re-assessing Soviet Legacy as a Cultural Heritage. On the Status of Soviet Architecture in Postcommunist Minsk

(European Architectural History Network) The paper discusses how the concept of " heritage " has been employed in interpretations of the Soviet architectural legacy in the Belarusian capital Minsk, producing competing geopolitical narratives of Belarusian national development. The logic of Soviet cultural heritage-making in Belarus has been underpinned by the overlapping aims and intentions of various different actors. The paper aims to explore the correlation between professional architectural discourses on the status of the Soviet architectural legacy and strategies for the appropriation of the Soviet past in the official politics of Belarus. In the post-independence period, the professional architectural discourse reassessing the Soviet architectural legacy of Minsk so far as heritage was concerned concentrated on the aesthetic value of Soviet architecture in Minsk, but it relied implicitly upon the perception that the postwar reconstruction period in Belarus had been a " golden age " for Belarusians. While there have been recent attempts of re-framing the cultural artefacts representing socialist realism in terms of " heritage " in countries of Eastern and Central Europe. In marked contrast to the case of Belarus, however, not one of these countries sought to combine this international symbolic capital of the socialist legacy with the status of " national heritage " .