SDA-15 The Building Stock as a Cultural Resource

Syllabus

Course Leader:

prof.dr.habil.arh Hanna Derer

Learning outcomes:

The didactic activity entitled "The Building Stock as a Cultural Resource" is designed in the very sense that the legislation in force defines for the Ph.D. training program based on advanced university studies, the most important aspect taken into account being the one related to the principle(s) meant to focus the teaching on the student, a principle as well taken into account by the given institutional regulation of the university, by article 36, point a). As a result, this didactic activity primarily aims to identify those ideas, concepts and/or types of reasoning specific to the field consisting of the preservation of built cultural heritage, useful for the own specific research of each and any Ph.D. student who choses this academic discipline. This approach constitutes the framework to subsequently target the acquisition, training and strengthening of the following skills: recognition of the cultural resource, self-interrogation regarding the existence of the cultural resource, as well as the detection (therefore) of situations in which, (especially) in the absence of a legal regime of protection, collaboration with an expert of this field is required.

Content:

The general framework.
The first meeting is meant to provide an image of the multitude and variety enjoyed by built heritage when it is approached through the lenses of possible cultural meanings, so that each student can define as precisely as possible their own research interest in relation to the vision specific to the field the preservation of the built cultural heritage.

Dialogue.
Therefore, the second meeting is dedicated to inform the teacher about the particular research interests, placed in the context of the topic each future doctoral thesis is dedicated to, as well as that of the adopted research strategy (up to the start of this very teaching activity).

Interactions.
On the foundation represented by the "common denominator" created during the first two meetings, the following ones are focused on debates - guided by the teacher - regarding the topics previously defined as useful in carrying out each doctoral student's own research. For example, the concepts of authenticity, patina and memory, the quality of being specific, the status of a symbol, the relationship between presence and absence, respectively between style, local identity, and "import", were discussed with the students of the academic year 2015-2016 series, as well as recent and very recent heritage issues, but also more technical issues such as contemporary socio-economic values and the assignment of new functions, the development of vertical green spaces or ways in which architecture can be presented to visually impaired people.
In this framework, the aim is (also) to acquire, respectively train and strengthen the following skills: recognition of the cultural resource, regardless of the type of cultural values incorporated, or self interrogation regarding the existence of the cultural resource, detecting (therefore) the situations in which, (more often) in the absence of a legal protection regime, it is necessary to collaborate with an expert in the field, i.e. to develop an own but valid type of cultural evaluation reasoning.
Last but not least, these interactions are also intended to offer doctoral students the possibility of an exchange of experience in real time (and space).

Teaching Method:

lectures, discussions, as the case may be, commenting on written materials (ideas, table of contents, chapters or subchapters of doctoral theses).

Assessment:

not required.

Bibliography:

the publication series of THEOPHILOS – International Scientific Committee for the Theory and the Philosophy of Conservation and Restoration of ICOMOS (International Council on Monuments and Sites), a set of publications that approaches cultural heritage from different points of view, starting with values [Tomaszewski, Andrzej (ed.), Values and Criteria in Heritage Conservation, Florence, 2008];
the publication series of AKTLD – Arbeitskreis für Theorie und Lehre der Denkmalpflege, a set of publications that (in turn) periodically addresses current topics, such as digital techniques (Franz, Birgit; Vinken, Gerhard (ed.), Das Digitale und die Denkmalpflege. Bestanderfassung – Denkmalvermittlung – Datenarchivierung – Rekonstruktion verlorener Objekte. Chancen und Grenzen im Einsatz digitaler Technologien. Veränderungen in der Praxis von Denkmalpflege und Kulturgutsicherung. Jahrestagung 2016, Holzminden, 2017) or assigning new functions [Franz, Birgit; Scheuermann, Ingrid (ed.), Strukturwandel – Denkmalwandel. Umbau – Umnutzung – Umdeutung. Jahrestagung 2015, Holzminden, 2016], etc.;
for case studies from Romania – Derer, Hanna, Un alt fel de istorie. Valențe culturale ale patrimoniului construit, București, 2007, as appropriate, other specialized studies developed by the same author,
as well as
titles indicated in the report but the specific research of each Ph. D. student.