An Operative Critical Method for the Reappraisal of Vernacular Architecture
Reda Berrada | Doctoral research
In 1975, the European Charter of the Architectural Heritage recognised the “irreplaceable spiritual, cultural, social and economic value” of historic monuments, groups of old buildings and interesting sites in both city and country. This enlarged scope of what is considered architectural heritage translated a disenchantment for ‘modernity’ and a rising environmental awareness over the losses of historical and territorial structures. ‘Minor heritage’ not only became the subject of countless studies within the architecture discipline, cast as an alternative to the modernist paradigm, but more importantly as an object of preservation. However, spatial practitioners, institutional bodies and communities are ill-equipped to assess its value and design for its continuous use and maintenance. This procedural void regarding vernacular buildings is ubiquitous within preservation history, theory and practice and needs to be addressed.
The system of values established for assessing the historical monument falls short of considering the vernacular artefact within the territorial structure that permitted its existence. Effective preservation strategies need to be concerned primarily with the fabric of the territory, bringing together the material conditions for a persisting know-how invested in the architecture project and in service of community structures. Through the systematic study of well documented examples, the proposed doctoral research will attempt to critique the “Authorised Heritage Discourse” and define parameters towards the classification of minor architecture as heritage. It will then translate this project of classification into a direction of preservation for architects.