1st Edition
The Routledge Companion to the Philosophy of Architectural Reconstruction
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.
Rethinking, restoring, readapting: An introduction to the philosophy of architectural reconstruction
Zoltán Somhegyi and Lisa Giombini
PART I: Theoretical inquiries
1. Theory and practice in heritage decision-making
Derek Matravers
2. Lives and afterlives of architectural objects
Saul Fisher
3. Integrity in cultural heritage preservation: Unveiling the challenges
Lisa Giombini
4. Preservation as a moral disposition: The values embedded within cultural heritage
Eduardo Romero de Oliveira
5. Narrative meaning and the reconstruction of architectural heritage
Joshua Lewis Thomas and William Bülow
6. Questioning heritage
Max Ryynänen and Ksenia Kaverina
PART II: Applying theories
7. Regenerating heritage processes and practices in historical reconstruction
Cornelius Holtorf
8. Narrative and the legitimacy of change to historic buildings
Nigel Walter
9. How to conserve a fake ruin? Heritage dilemmas between aesthetics and practice
Zoltán Somhegyi
10. Heritage, biophilic reconstruction, and climate change
Barry L. Stiefel
11. The use of light installations in architectural reconstruction: New technological solutions for the public sphere
Ryan Mitchell Wittingslow and Sannah Lehtinen
12. Reusing Roosevelt? Tainted monuments and the architectural reuse strategy
Sandra Shapshay
PART III: Areas and districts
13. Aesthetics in a renovated city: Historical view of mundane Cityscape in Modern Japan
Daiki Amanai
14. The transformation trap: Redeveloping the historic Chinese Baroque area in Harbin
Wenzhuo Zhang
15. The question of Al Seef in Dubai. A case of historicist architecture compared to the global principles of architectural heritage
Cristiano Luchetti
16. The Swahili House - a heritage in the East African City
Peter Amalo Makachia
17. Post-war ruins: Relics of the past or unwanted "urban scars." Reconstruction of the dissonant heritage of the Recovered Territories in Poland
Małgorzata Nieszczerzewska
18. Architectural reconstruction reconsidered: Cases from the postwar reconstruction of Germany
Rumiko Handa
19. Miami Art Deco architecture, climate change, and puzzles for historic preservation
Elizabeth Scarbrough
PART IV: Buildings
20. "This magnificent pile". The cathedral of Trondheim from ruin to heritage
Anne Eriksen
21. The restoration of Chartres Cathedral: Theories and practices
David A. Scott
22. "To build still more deliberately": Architectural reconstruction and the house that Thoreau built
Ivan Gaskell
23. When memory fades and resources run dry: Three cases of neglect and loss
David A. Gerber and Carolyn Korsmeyer
24. Restoration and adaptive reuse of the Fişekhane (cartridge factory) in Istanbul – a case of sustainable rehabilitation in the context of a profit-seeking real estate development scheme
Emin Mahir Balcioğlu
25. An imitation game: Restoration and intangible heritage at the Bletchley Park Huts, UK
Johnathan Djabarouti
26. Architectural conservation in Nairobi: The Don Bosco shrine
Lydia Muthuma
Biography
Zoltán Somhegyi is an art historian, holding a Ph.D. in Aesthetics and a Habilitation (venia legendi) in Philosophy. Currently he is Associate Professor of Art History at the Károli Gáspár University of the Reformed Church in Hungary.
Lisa Giombini is a Research Fellow in Aesthetics in the Department of Philosophy, Communication, and Performing Arts at Roma Tre University.
