Republic of the Philippines

NUEVA ECIJA UNIVERSITY OF SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY

Sumacab Campus, Cabanatuan City

COLLEGE OF ARCHITECTURE

Name: DARYLL S. PARUNGAO

Subject Professor: ARCH. ANGELO A. PARUNGAO
Subject Code: AR 463
Insert 2x2 picture
Course Title: SPECIALIZATION 1
Semester: SECOND SEMESTER
Academic Year: 2021-2022
Topic: WHAT IS ARCHITECTURAL CONSERVATION?
WHY DOES IT MATTER?

ABSTRACT

Architectural Conservation is distinctly different from the physical processes of

repair and adaptation. It is an attitude of mind, a philosophical approach, that seeks first
to understand what people value about a history building for place beyond its practical
utility and then to use that understanding to ensure that any work undertaken does as
little harm as possible to the characteristic that hold or express those values. The
conservation explained in such terms. The goal is to hand the history on the future
generations

Architectural conservation means to conserve the valuable architectures or

architectural values, thus architectural conservation is a process that retains the
authentic built form of old buildings through restoration.

Architectural conservation is a process wherein objects of cultural significance

are maintained and prevented form being damaged through carefully planned projects
which are designed to either conserve or restore them. It often takes efforts of an entire
team or individual who are familiar with the objects to be worked upon, and this team
will collectively decide on the best course of action for an individual piece.
1|Page
INTRODUCTION

Architectural conservation is a field which is important to society because it

embraces the preservation of historical objects deemed to be significant to the cultural
heritage of a society. If there were no architectural conservation movement, a great
many outstanding objects from the past would literally waste away because they were
exposed to the elements, and allowed to deteriorate. People involved with architectural
conservation are generally extremely well trained in all the modern methods which are
used to preserve the integrity of artworks, and in some cases to help restore them to
their original condition, or something very close to it. In this way, pieces of historical
significance can be preserved and passed on for the enjoyment of modern-day citizens,
as well as many more in the future.

2|Page
LITERATURE REVIEW

Architectural conservation is a process wherein objects of cultural significance

are maintained and prevented from being damaged through carefully planned projects
which are designed to either conserve or restore them. It often takes the efforts of an
entire team of individuals who are familiar with the objects to be worked upon, and this
team will collectively decide on the best course of action for an individual piece. Usually
that decision is based on artistic as well as contextual values, and in some cases, it
might even be decided that no intervention at all is the best course of action. In reaching
a decision on a course of action, the conservation architect and the entire team will
generally consider all those issues which are pertinent to prolonging the life and
preserving the character of an object.

Factors which come into play are the form and style of the piece, the materials it
has been produced from, and how they would react to intervention, and how modern
methods can be applied to preservation of the piece. In a broader sense, architectural
conservation refers to societal policy for identifying and assigning value to cultural
resources having historical significance. At times, it may even take in the need to create
laws or regulations which will protect historical treasures, and to produce policies or
plans of management so these objects can be protected indefinitely, and so the public
can be educated about them. Architectural conservation professionals serve a very
valuable and useful role in society by helping to conserve treasures of the past, so that
individuals in the present and the future can continue to appreciate them.

3|Page
DISCUSSION
What does an architectural conservator do? Is architectural conservation the
same as historic preservation? How are they different? These are questions that many
folks in my field need to answer regularly. Let’s start with the basics… what is historic
preservation? Despite being constituted as an independent discipline since the 1960s,
historic preservation has a long history since its conception in the 19th century. In the
late 1800s, an era of rapid change, people, specifically the wealthy class, were
concerned about the destruction of buildings, sites, and rapid change of the urban
fabric. At that time, iconic preservation efforts such as the movement to save Mount
Vernon from demolition gained notoriety among the public. These ideas of conserving
ruins and individual sites and buildings came from Europe and eventually led to the 20th
century.

As the Federal Government continued shaping the field with New Deal programs
since the 1930s, it was in the 1950s and 1960s when everything shifted. At that time,
entire neighborhoods and communities were torn apart because of the federally and
state-sponsored urban renewal projects. American cities saw massive demolition
projects for the construction of state highways and buildings. As these situations
exacerbated, communities organized and demanded protection for their neighborhoods,
much of them which were historic. From a concern from the white elites of the 19th
century, preservation became a powerful tool to aid distressed and marginalized
communities in the late 20th century.

4|Page
CONCLUSION

The biggest reason why architectural conservation is significant in today’s world

is that it provides the best method for retaining the heritage and history of a culture, and
without it, much of that heritage and history would be lost to the ravages of time. In a
sense, it is an environmental issue, since it reduces the requirement for new materials,
and in the case of buildings, it also lowers or eliminates the cost of demolition.

In such cases, it is far more practical to make slight modifications to building materials
and structural design so that a building can meet modern codes and standards, rather
than to tear it down entirely. In addition to retaining historic value in a given object,
conservation also increases the economic value of that object. Environmentally
speaking, it allows for the reuse of infrastructure rather than the implementation of all
new infrastructure which could be costly and very time-consuming

This results in an all-around savings in the areas of material, money, and energy, so
architectural conservation has a definite environmental aspect to it. There are four
general reasons why architectural converse conservation is so important to society. The
first of these is that it preserves objects of significance by repairing existing components
of that object as needed.

Secondly, whenever any alterations or additions are necessary for its rehabilitation,
these can be carefully planned and implemented. When necessary, a program of
restoration can be undertaken, so that objects can be brought to a state close to their
original condition. Finally, the last major reason why architectural conservation is so
important in modern society is that it will also provide a vehicle for complete
reconstruction.

Sometimes that is deemed to be the most appropriate course of action for continuing an
object of significance. In 1996, the US Congress recognized the importance of
conservation practices, and passed the National Historic Preservation Act which
declared its intention to support the idea of conservation as a critical component to
national heritage.
5|Page
REFERENCES
American Conservation Experience. (2020). What is Architectural Conservation? [online]
Available at: https://www.usaconservation.org/blog-post-3-what-is-architectural-conservation/.

ION (2020). What is Architectural Conservation? – Interior Design, Design News and
Architecture Trends. [online] design like. Available at: https://designlike.com/what-is-
architectural-conservation/ [Accessed 24 Feb. 2022].

6|Page