Heritage Buildings Research Articles

The Impact of Heritage Values on Public Perception of Architectural Conservation in Suleimani City

This paper aims to discover individuals’ perceptions of Suleimani city’s heritage buildings before and after architectural conservation, as part of a thesis about heritage awareness. Acknowledging that awareness is the ability to perceive and perception is affected by different heritage values that people attach to their built heritage. However, in the architectural conservation process in Suleimani city, some heritage values are neglected, or missing, due to various reasons, and this issue has affected public perception of heritage buildings. Therefore, in this paper, several heritage values have been selected to evaluate the public perception of built heritage in Suleimani city. Because understanding the built heritage and its impact on individual and community heritage awareness depends on how the community perceives and experiences its heritage. This study explores local perceptions of heritage buildings in Suleimani city by using the Semantic Differential Scale (SDS) measure, to analyze the responses of participants in a questionnaire survey. As well as, an evaluation has been made of selected heritage buildings to clarify the reflection of heritage values in Architectural conservation. Different results were found between perceived heritage values in the conserved buildings. By examining local perceptions of architectural conservation, this study contributes to the idea of the built environment's human-centeredness. Assuming that local views of the built heritage directly impact conservation efforts and heritage-driven solutions.

SEARCH FOR CULTURAL IDENTITY IN THE TRADITION OF FORTIFIED STRUCTURES

The country's fast growth in Qatar has recently opened the door to questioning future development directions. The country's need to enhance local identity has promoted many campaigns for conserving local tradition and preserving national heritage, following an opposite direction compared to the recent construction boom in contemporary architecture. Heritage restoration and reuse can be a sustainable strategy to enhance the local tourism offer and improve country identity values with the involvement of local communities. The historical origins of the country are embedded in the defensive functions of many heritage buildings currently undergoing a series of interventions financed by governmental institutions to promote the valorization of national resources and culture. The paper illustrates the conducted analyses and shows how the defensive structures are located in the Qatar territory into three main areas to defend from the invasions from the North-West and the East sides of the country. The results show three main categories of buildings based on their traditional defensive function and location: traditional forts, fortified residential buildings to protect the population and watch towers to provide surveillance. The research highlights how heritage sites still need to be valorized and how the conservation practice can promote sustainable growth and development of the country in the post-oil area.

Economic and environmental prioritisation of potential retrofitting interventions in electricity decarbonisation scenarios: Application to a heritage building used as offices

Economic and environmental prioritisation of potential retrofitting interventions in electricity decarbonisation scenarios: Application to a heritage building used as offices

Contemporary Annex in the Context of Design and Conservation Principles

Social identity finds concrete expressions with the monuments, buildings, urban textures that constitute the cultural heritage in historical continuity. Preserving the identity of cities by ensuring historical and cultural continuity is possible by protecting the architectural heritage. While the historical buildings and settlements that in usage can easily be kept alive because of the existing maintenance, it is necessary to install new functions in order to protect the unused cultural heritage buildings and to make contemporary annexes for the emerging new usage and space needs. In this study, contemporary additions to historical textures and buildings are examined with examples in the context of design decisions, approaches and conservation principles. In this context, firstly the context of the annex was emphasized and then the repetition-imitation, the contrast and the adaptation-interpretation as design approaches were discussed with examples. In addition, the annexes were evaluated according to the physical relationship they established with the existing structure. Reflecting the era with its material, construction technique and form, annexes are an important component of cultural continuity, as they represent genuine solutions for real needs. Considering that a qualified design cannot be achieved by focusing solely on protection, it must be accepted that the new should be valued at least as much as the old.

Evaluation of decarbonisation options for heritage church buildings

Heritage church buildings are significant energy consumers and carbon emitters, but hard to decarbonise due to construction materials and designs, which presents an imperative challenge for churches that have a mission to achieve net-zero targets by 2030. The study aims to provide a clear pathway for decarbonising heritage church buildings to support net-zero planning and evidence-based decisions. The methodology involved producing a virtual replica for each building to generate valuable insight into retrofit possibilities; exploring the potential of various decarbonisation interventions using dynamic modelling simulated with site data; comparing the interventions to the baselines in terms of energy, cost, and emissions; and tailoring decarbonisation solutions according to specific conditions. The results show that for small churches, replacing the gas boiler with another technology and using existing hydronic heating could be effective for low usage, whereas replacing the current heating system with heat pumps with PV offset would be more economical for high usage; on the other hand, for large churches, heat pumps or biomass could significantly reduce emissions. It is concluded that due to the unique characteristics of heritage church buildings, there is no one-size-fits-all solution but the uniform methodology proposed in this study could be applied to support evidence-based decisions for net-zero heritage buildings. The case studies contribute towards current knowledge and understanding. The work is original as it quantifies the benefits of various decarbonisation measures in 4 case studies of different ages, sizes, and usage patterns, representing a significant portion of heritage church buildings in England.

TRANSFORMASI DIGITAL PERAN AI DALAM KONSERVASI DAN RESTORASI BANGUNAN HERITAGE

The conservation and restoration of heritage buildings represent crucial challenges in preserving human cultural and historical wealth. In the current era of digital transformation, artificial intelligence (AI) has emerged as an innovative tool playing a pivotal role in supporting efforts to conserve and restore historical buildings. This paper explores the fundamental role of AI in the digital transformation of heritage building preservation. We review various AI technologies used in this context, such as sensor-based structural monitoring, pattern recognition for damage identification, and the utilization of 3D modeling algorithms for virtual restoration. Furthermore, we discuss the positive impact of AI in digitizing historical data and creating realistic simulations that facilitate better conservation decision-making. The research aims to examine the role of AI in heritage building conservation and restoration. The research methodology employs qualitative and literature review studies

Teaching an Old Library New Tricks: An Analysis of the User Experience of Three Dublin Library Buildings

ABSTRACT This research endeavored to investigate best practices in public library design in Dublin, Ireland. It examined how three different library building types fulfil their user’s needs. A predominantly quantitative survey with some qualitative elements was sent to patrons of three selected libraries: the Dlr LexIcon, a contemporary new-build; Malahide, a renovated Carnegie library; and Rush, a converted church. The results demonstrate how these buildings successfully meet the user needs, but different factors must be considered. These include engaging patrons in the design phase of new-builds; the heritage of library buildings; and the perception of the library building in the community.

Daylighting Assessment of a Heritage Place of Instruction and Office Building in Alice, South Africa

Mitigation of post-occupancy building energy consumption has resulted in the change of building design to utilise ambient weather factors for indoor thermal conditioning and lighting. This has increased the construction of new buildings with large glazing façades and reduced adaptive use of heritage buildings as they are considered not designed to meet modern energy use requirements. This paper evaluates the daylighting performance of a heritage place of instruction and office building. A quantitative research approach based on building information simulation tools was adopted. Autodesk Revit 2021 and Integrated Environmental Solutions Virtual Environment (IESVE) 2021 were used in modelling and simulating the building daylighting performances. The building’s annual daylight performance analysed with climate-based daylight modelling shows that points in the analysed spaces were within the UDI300-2000 for more than 50% of the occupied period (07h00 to 17h00) in a year. The sDA300,50% was found to be 100% in most spaces, which is considered a favourable daylit space according to the Illuminance Engineering Society of North America (IESNA). Further, discomfort glare analysis revealed that the building daylight glare is imperceptible, with an average daylight glare probability of 21.2%. The 1:14 window–wall ratio contributes to the building daylighting relative to orientation without constituting visual discomfort. Overall, climate-based daylight modelling revealed that the building’s annual daylight level meets the IESNA requirements with an imperceptible daylight glare.

Building Information Modelling (BIM) Driven Sustainable Cultural Heritage Tourism

At present, incorrect or aggressive conservation efforts harm not only the building heritage, but also its cultural significance and authenticity. There is an urgent need to investigate existing studies that utilise proper methods and processes of the digital economy and technology to promote sustainable architecture and building heritage conservation and heritage tourism development and management to achieve the United Nations sustainable development goals (SDGs). Hence, this paper aims to explore the role of digital economy technology, i.e., building information modelling (BIM), in promoting the harmonious development of cultural architectural and building heritage conservation and sustainable cultural heritage tourism, as well as to reveal the current state of the research and hotspots in BIM-driven cultural heritage conservation for sustainable cultural heritage tourism. A mix of a macro-quantitative bibliometric method and a follow-up micro-qualitative content analysis method has been employed to highlight the significance and promise of the interdisciplinary domains of BIM, cultural heritage conservation, and sustainable cultural heritage tourism to the attainment of SDG 11 (sustainable cities and communities) focused on three specific goals, i.e., enhance inclusive and sustainable urbanisation (SDG 11.3), strengthen efforts to protect and safeguard the world’s cultural and natural heritage (SDG 11.4), and reduce the adverse per capita environmental impact of cities (SDG 11.6); and SDG 17 (partnerships) regarding four issues, i.e., stakeholder relationships, public participation, heritage conservation experts, and management. Additionally, three categories of research themes have been identified: cultural heritage conservation, heritage and tourism management, and support of emerging technology. Furthermore, the relationships between BIM and sustainable cultural heritage tourism from the last 26 years (1997 to 2022) have been revealed with visualisations of future research trends in BIM, cultural heritage conservation, and sustainable cultural heritage tourism.

Seismic Performance Assessment of the 18th Century Jesuit College in Dubrovnik’s Old City

The seismic performance assessment of heritage architecture presents many challenges due to the restrictions set forth by the conservation principles to protect the associated social and cultural values. These buildings are typically characterized by unreinforced masonry walls connected by tie-rods, vaults, and wooden floors. The era of construction dates to the time when seismic design regulations were largely unknown, making heritage structures potentially vulnerable to earthquake damage. This study presents the seismic performance assessment of the Jesuit College located in the southern part of the Old City of Dubrovnik. A series of field surveys were conducted to qualitatively examine the material composition and obtain geometrical details in part of the Croatian Science Foundation research project IP-2020-02-3531 entitled “Seismic Risk Assessment of Cultural Heritage in Croatia—SeisRICHerCRO”. The structural response is thoroughly investigated by means of a complex finite element model calibrated using the frequencies determined from ambient vibration measurements and material characteristics obtained from the literature review of representative cultural heritage buildings. The seismic performance is evaluated using linear static and response spectrum analysis in accordance with Eurocode 8 guidelines for the demand seismic action level. The numerical analysis indicates several structural components in the building exhibiting high shear stress concentration and exceeding the elastic tensile limit under the demand ground acceleration level. The assessment further reveals substantial out-of-plane bending of vulnerable wall components (identified by local mode shapes) at low peak ground acceleration levels. The stress concentration in numerous structural components leads to the identification of vulnerable zones where retrofitting measures are essentially required.

The revitalization of endangered heritage buildings in developing countries: A decision-making framework for investment and determining the highest and best use in Egypt

Background: Egypt's major cities have been losing heritage and historical buildings due to neglect and misuse, prompting non-governmental organizations, academic institutions, and researchers to advocate for adaptive reuse strategies to preserve the cities' heritage and identity. Adaptive reuse involves changing, modifying, or reusing a space based on community needs, business model, location, and proximity to facilities and services. Heritage buildings offer many tangible and intangible benefits that enhance financial returns, making them challenging but feasible and attractive for investors who value authenticity, uniqueness, and sustainability. Methods: This study examines how market value, acquisition opportunities, target clients, age groups, and socioeconomic status affect decision-making. A comparative analysis of three buildings in the Egyptian cities of Alexandria and Cairo is utilized to establish development guidelines and decision-making parameters that significantly impact project design and building functions to determine the highest and best use. In order to complete this study, AutoCAD by Autodesk was used for 2D drawings, SketchUp by Trimble for 3D models, Adobe Photoshop for diagram presentation, and Microsoft Office for tables and diagrams. Results: The comparative analysis provided valuable insights into the adaptive reuse of heritage buildings in developing countries. Findings highlighted how cultural heritage preservation could foster socioeconomic development. Key success factors included stakeholder and community engagement, financial viability, and architectural compatibility. The decision-making framework provides a practical tool for evaluating heritage building reuse. Conclusions: The analysis illustrates successful reuse strategies and considerations. Decision-making frameworks and tools offer practical guidance for future investments and decisions. These findings affect heritage conservation and urban development policymakers, planners, and investors. Stakeholders can make informed decisions and implement strategies to preserve cultural and environmental value by realizing challenges and opportunities. This study hopes to inspire more research and help preserve and revitalize heritage buildings in developing countries, preserving their cultural and socioeconomic value.

An HBIM Integrated Approach Using Non-Destructive Techniques (NDT) to Support Energy and Environmental Improvement of Built Heritage: The Case Study of Palazzo Maffei Borghese in Rome

Built heritage energy and environmental improvement is increasingly being recognised as a key driver in the fight against climate change. This effort necessitates a thorough understanding of the building to guide the selection of technologies and design solutions. To have a picture of the buildings’ characteristics and behaviour that is as complete as possible, in situ studies are essential, although the complexities and heterogeneities of historical buildings make these analyses still challenging, especially in professional practice. To address these issues, the paper describes an integrated approach including the field application of Non-Destructive Techniques (namely, Heat Flow Meter measurements, Infrared thermographies and indoor environmental monitoring) within a Heritage Building Information Modelling process. This interdisciplinary/integrated approach fostered the use of each type of analysis’s results to guide the subsequent analyses and incrementally deepen the knowledge of the building. The methodology was applied to a case study in the historical city centre of Rome in Italy. The analyses will be of service in developing dynamic building performance simulations to support the design of the interventions.

Fire risk level prediction of timber heritage buildings based on entropy and XGBoost

The complexes of historic timber-structure buildings are extremely complicated and have various fire threats. A targeted approach to fire risk assessment of historic timber structures is conducive to focused fire plans. Due to the sparsity of the historical fire event dataset, it is quite challenging to predict the fire risk of heritage buildings based on historical fire events data. In this study, a fire risk index-driven solution is proposed based on machine learning to predict the fire risk level of timber heritage buildings. The suggested fire risk index system emphasizes the specificities of timber and historic structures, and the indicators are processed on temporal, spatial, and attribute scales. Considering the uncertainty of fire risk, this approach objectively rates the historical fire risk of heritage buildings using entropy-weighted TOPSIS. The typical machine learning model, XGBoost, is enhanced by applying the spatially unique values to predict the monthly fire risk level of a single heritage building. It solves the issue that general models only take into account the attribute characteristics of heritage buildings. Through the proposed solution, the monthly fire risk level of the heritage buildings of the Palace Museum of China in 2019 was assessed by the XGBoost model using the fire risk index data of the historical years (2016–2018). The accuracy evaluation showed that XGBoost performed better than other models (GBDT, CatBoost, Adaboost, and SVM), which is expected to provide information support for the safety inspection work of the fire department in the Palace Museum.

Research on Modern Design and Functional Renovation of Industrial Heritage Buildings

When the People's Republic of China was founded in 1949, the poor and weak new China regarded building a complete industrialization system as its top priority. Therefore, the country quickly selected a large number of cities with advantages in location, economy, and resources to build various factories. These large-scale and rapid production factories have played a pivotal role in the development history of New China. They are not only the promoters and witnesses of the growth of New China, but also the memory of the times and the urban style of each city. Entering the 21st century, the process of urbanization has been accelerated. At the same time, along with industrial upgrading, a large number of old industrial buildings that have lost their functionality have been left idle or demolished. We are faced with the problem of how to deal with the development to meet the needs of social development in the new era. The main research object of this paper is the old industrial buildings left over from the upgrading and development of various cities in my country. Focusing on the many difficulties they are currently facing, the renovation design is carried out from the aspects of overall planning, building structure, building function, building shape, and ecological design.

Transition in Building Function of the Former Official Residences for Residents and Resident Assistants from the Dutch Colonial Heritage of the 19-20th Century in Madiun Raya

<em>Resident and resident assistants</em><strong> </strong><em>are designations for colonial officials assigned to assist the Governor-general of the Dutch East Indies in the administrative area of the residency level. This research aims to trace the existence of Dutch colonial heritage buildings in the administrative area of the Madiun Residency, now termed Madiun Raya, consisting of Madiun, Ponorogo, Pacitan, Ngawi, and Magetan. This research is obtained through a unit analysis research with the main subject being Dutch colonial buildings and a historical approach. The stages are heuristics (gathering sources), source criticism, interpretation, and historical writing. This research results in four findings in the form of official residences for Residents and Resident Assistants who have ruled Madiun Raya from 1830 to 1942, including the official residence of Madiun Resident, official residence of Ponorogo Resident Assistant, official residence of Pacitan Resident Assistant, and official residence of Ngawi Resident Assistant. Then, it explains the transition function of the four buildings in the present.</em>

Post-earthquake assessment of monumental building in Croatia by 3Muri software

Abstract. A series of earthquakes in and close to city of Zagreb, Croatia during the 2020 severely damaged the masonry cultural heritage buildings built in the 19th century. The article presents the assessment of post-earthquake design of retrofitting of damaged historic masonry structure of the former synagogue in city of Sisak, Croatia erected in 1890. The former synagogue was severely damaged during the recent earthquake. For the purposes of the post-earthquake retrofitting and strengthening, an analysis of the damaged and retrofitted structure has been carried out to justify the selected retrofitting measures that included a partial reconstruction of heavily damaged structure. The equivalent frame model based on the discretization in terms of piers and spandrels was created (SEM - Structural Elements Model) to obtain the simulation of earthquake response of structure using the 3Muri 13.9 software. In this paper the procedure and results of the analysis of seismic resistance of the strengthened structure is presented because of the successful cooperation of structural engineers, architects and conservators.

Determination of Ex-Colonial Buildings as Cultural Heritage Buildings and Means of Protection from Acts of Vandalism

This research aims to examine the establishment of ex-colonial buildings as cultural heritage buildings and efforts to protect cultural heritage buildings from acts of vandalism in Law Number 11 of 2010 concerning Cultural Heritage by knowing the problems of existing cultural heritage buildings based on previous research. This research is based on the concept of cultural heritage criteria in Law Number 11 of 2010 concerning Cultural Heritage by comparison with Law Number 5 of 2017 concerning the Promotion of Culture. With a conceptual approach method that aims to describe the government's determination and its problems. The results of this study when associated with public policy do need to be evaluated in the establishment policy ranging from registration to assessment so that the establishment of cultural heritage buildings is in accordance with the intent and purpose of the Preservation of Cultural Heritage. Utilization of cultural heritage buildings for the greatest prosperity of the surrounding community and society in general. There are many problems and also acts of vandalism against cultural heritage buildings so that policy analysis is needed from various disciplines including professionals and entrepreneurs and evaluation in cultural heritage building policies.

Research on the integration development path of rural tourism and traditional culture protection and inheritance based on the integration of big data

Abstract This paper studies the integration and development of rural tourism and cultural preservation and inheritance, aiming to explore new development paths for rural tourism. This paper first introduces the basic algorithm and steps of plain Bayesian, and the fusion improves the principal kernel components of the Bayesian model. Using the improved plain Bayesian model to analyze rural tourism and traditional culture protection and inheritance, the problems in the integration process are analyzed from the rural cultural tourism situation, the integration of rural tourism and cultural protection and inheritance, as well as the proposed integration development countermeasures and the construction of the integration development path. In the study of the integration situation, the single indicator of infrastructure construction under the development level system reaches 0.9578, ranking first in the ratio of all three indicators, indicating that infrastructure construction is the most important factor affecting tourism development. Policy support and the construction of the six elements of tourism ranked second at 0.453, indicating its importance. Regarding countermeasures, 90% believe that cultural heritage buildings should be protected, 95% believe that cultural connotations should be deeply explored, and 85% believe that the integration of culture and tourism should be strengthened. Integrating rural tourism and traditional culture preservation is a long-term process that requires continuous exploration and improvement.

Evaluation of strengthening approaches on a cultural heritage building in the context of structural performance and restoration principles

Mimari mirasın yaşatılarak gelecek nesillere aktarılması, özgün niteliklerin yanı sıra yapısal bütünlüğün de korunmasını gerektirir. Zamanla ortaya çıkan çeşitli hasarlar, yapıların ilk inşa döneminde sahip oldukları strüktürel performansın azalmasına, deprem gibi anlık etkilerle kısmi veya bütüncül yıkılmalara sebep olmaktadır. Güçlendirme, güvenlik seviyesinin işlev değişikliği ya da standartlar gereğince yükseltilmesini amaçlayan strüktürel müdahalelerdir. İyileştirme veya güçlendirmelerde, yapısal performansın artırılmasının yanı sıra, özgünlüğün de azami düzeyde gözetilmesi gerekir. Çalışma kapsamında, İzmir, Konak İlçesi’nde bulunan ve işlev değişikliği sebebiyle güçlendirilen yapıdaki olası performans değişikliği, sayısal model ve analiz yöntemiyle incelenerek, güvenlik düzeyinin anlamlı düzeyde arttığı belirlenmiştir. Elde edilen verilerin mühendislik dışı disiplinler tarafından da yorumlanabilir sadelikte olması hedeflenmiştir. Güçlendirme uygulaması restorasyonun temel ilkeleri bağlamında değerlendirilmiş, müdahalelerin ihtiyatla gerçekleştirildiği, özgünlük - güvenlik ilişkisinin optimize edildiği, mimari bütünlüğe zarar verilmediği sonucuna varılmıştır.

Comparative study on the similarity between ancient white bricks and the self-developed imitative white bricks

Many architectural heritages in China are built with ancient white bricks (AWB), which behave very differently from traditional blue and red bricks. Indeed, AWB buildings have undergone centuries of historical changes and weathering with time, and require urgent repair. Since replacing ancient bricks with imitative bricks when restoring heritage buildings has become a consensus, it is necessary to develop imitative white bricks (IWB) similar to AWB in many respects to be used for restoring ancient buildings. Therefore, this paper develops a novel IWB and analyses its similarity with the AWB by means of X-ray diffraction, X-ray fluorescence, mercury intrusion test, scanning electron microscopy, and ultrasonic pulse velocity. The results reveal that the self-developed IWB is highly similar to AWB in mineral and chemical composition, micro-morphology, internal appearance, apparent densities, water absorption rate, saturation coefficient, porosity, and these bricks are concentrated in micropores with similar radii. Besides, the durability is somewhat similar in terms of salt crystallization and resistance to freeze-thaw cycles. The IWB and AWB are classified as susceptible to salt crystallization, while good resistance to these white bricks' freeze-thaw cycles. The ultrasonic pulse velocity of the self-developed IWB along the height direction is close to the ultrasonic pulse velocity along other AWB directions. Besides, ultrasonic pulse velocity along the height direction is linearly correlated to the compressive strength of and the IWB and AWB, which has important reference significance for evaluating the mechanical properties of architectural heritages by ultrasonic non-destructive testing technology. These results can provide theoretical and technical support for the in-situ repair of damaged AWB and are significant for restoring and conserving brick masonry architectural heritages.