ASPECN1 HERITAGE RESOURCES STUDIES

2nd Semester 2014-2015 WEEK 3

VALUES AND DEFINITIONS
Architectural Conservation ( Dr. Aylin Orbasli)

The significance of a building or place of historic, architectural and cultural importance is its
most defining value, the loss of which will devalue its cultural significance.

Values are the qualities and characteristics that different users and different societies place
to the cultural heritage at different times.

In times of conflict, cultural heritage often becomes a unifying symbol of identity, in other
instances, cultural heritage can be deliberately exploited for political purposes. Cultural
significance is made up and supported by a wide range of values, some of which may be in
conflict with one another.

A VALUES BASED APPROACH

Values most commonly associated with the cultural heritage are historic, architectural,
aesthetic, rarity or archaeological values. Other values are less tangible and relate to
emotional, symbolic and spiritual meanings of a place.

A values-based approach to conservation involves the recognition of a diverse range of values

responding to their needs through appropriate intervention and management. The role of
conservation is to preserve and where appropriate enhance values.

Some buildings are built as monuments and continue to be valued in that way, others loose
their intended value and significance in the passing of time, while some gain value for the
other reasons as society attributes new values to them as the come to symbolize something
else.

The values attributed to places of cultural, historic and architectural significance may be held
by people who have never seen or experienced them, and possibly never will.

The knowledge value of an ancient site, has an impact on learning across the world and not
solely to the archaeological community or those visiting the site.

Value-based approach to conservation – analytical method

Multidisciplinary team (different techniques & approaches in assessing values)

 Anthropologists

 Social scientists

 Economists

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BIANDO - DE GUZMAN – PANOPIO 2017
ASPECN1 HERITAGE RESOURCES STUDIES
2nd Semester 2014-2015 WEEK 3
VALUES AND DEFINITIONS
Architectural Conservation ( Dr. Aylin Orbasli)

AGE AND RARITY VALUE

The older a structure is, the more value is likely to be attached to it. What may be of value
from one period may not be seen to have the same value from another.

Rarity value can also relate to the occurrence of a building type or technique in an area where
it is not commonly found.

ARCHITECTURAL VALUE

The exemplary qualities of design and proportion and the contribution that the architecture
of a building has made to the quality of the everyday experience is its architectural value.

The contribution of the building makes to the architectural style or period, being the
definitive work of a well regarded architect or the use of a pioneering building techniques,
will also form part of the architectural value.

ARTISTIC VALUE

An artistic value may also be attributed to a historic building, linked to the quality of the
craftsmanship or directly to artwork that is integral to the building, such as painted murals.

ASSOCIATE VALUE

The association that a building or place has with an event personality in history is its
associative value. The most obvious example of this is historic battlefields, where there is
little is any in the way of physical evidence of battle, yet the significance of the location
cannot be denied. The loss of life suffered will add emotional and spiritual value, and the
place of the battle in a nation’s history will give it symbolic value, although this will most
likely be interpreted differently by the two sides involved at the time.

CULTURAL VALUE

Buildings provide information on various aspects of a past period, from lifestyle to the use of
materials, crafts and techniques used in their construction. They may continue to play a role
in current cultural traditions. In Indonesia, for example, many of the motifs used to decorate
buildings from prehistoric times, continue to appear in batik and textile designs that are
being produces today.

ECONOMIC VALUE

The most highly regarded economic benefit of cultural heritage is tourism. Tourism had
become a principal reason for the conservation of the cultural heritage the world over. There
is considerable evidence of the built heritage contributing to the character and desirability of
an area and the resulting increase in property values.

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BIANDO - DE GUZMAN – PANOPIO 2017
ASPECN1 HERITAGE RESOURCES STUDIES
2nd Semester 2014-2015 WEEK 3
VALUES AND DEFINITIONS
Architectural Conservation ( Dr. Aylin Orbasli)

EDUCATIONAL VALUE

Historic sites and buildings have value in what can be learnt from them, with topics
including a period of history, a past way of life, social relations or construction techniques.
Educational value relates to a broad spectrum of learners from young children, through to
life-long learning for all age groups.

EMOTIONAL VALUE

People who use or visit buildings may feel emotional attachment to them or may be moved
by the buildings as a sense of wonder and respect at the artistic achievements in design and
craftsmanship. This could range from an emotional attachment to a local church and the
memories it beholds to a feeling of amazement at the sight of a great building such as the Taj
Mahal in India.

HISTORIC VALUE

A building or place is not only physical evidence of the fast but may also have played a role
in history or is linked to a certain events or period in history. The history embodied within
the building fabric is sometimes the only evidence to events and life in the past.

LANDSCAPE VALUE

The built heritage is an integral part of the landscape shaped by man. The appreciation and
understanding of historic building has to include their context and setting. In some instances
buildings and landscapes constitute an artistic whole where the design of the monument
buildings townscape and the landscape has been complementary. A good example of this is
the English landscape garden of the eighteenth century where ruins were incorporated into
the design landscape setting to become part of that aesthetic whole. Garden cities and
suburbs of the nineteenth and early twentieth century were specifically designed to integrate
domestic living with the landscape.

LOCAL DISTINCTIVENESS

Some of the value of the cultural heritage asset might be the contribution that it makes to the
local distinctiveness of a place, providing a unique quality that makes different from
anywhere else. This could be the use of locally available materials of certain buildings
techniques developed in the region. Historic town are often valued for their distinctive
characteristics in the face of repetitive and similar international styles of architecture.

POLITICAL VALUE

Conservations cannot be separated from politics. The favoring of certain periods over others
is often political decision taken for a number of reasons. In Morocco, the authorities have
little interest in the art deco style in building in Casablanca because they are associated with
the period of French rule. And are not seen as part of national identity, which identifies with
architecture and monuments in the distinctively Islamic style. At the same time, it falls to the
French government to pay the conservation of colonial period buildings in Laos. In other
cases, politicians see the value of cultural heritage purely in terms of tourism revenues,
which can alter the balance values and distribution of funds for conservation.

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BIANDO - DE GUZMAN – PANOPIO 2017
ASPECN1 HERITAGE RESOURCES STUDIES
2nd Semester 2014-2015 WEEK 3
VALUES AND DEFINITIONS
Architectural Conservation ( Dr. Aylin Orbasli)

PUBLIC VALUE

Public places in particular will acquire public value, especially if they have been the scene of
rallies, demonstrations or even revolutions, in which case they may also be regarded as being
of political historic value. Other places or building gain value in the public mind when they
are threatened with demolition Where the public has become organized and puts up a fight
to save a building or place of historic importance, there will be a new public opinion on
which buildings are safeguarded should not be under estimated.

RELIGIOUS AND SPIRITUAL VALUES

For worshipers, churches synagogues, mosques, temples and other places of worship
embody a spiritual meaning and value. Not only places of worship but also pilgrimage routes
nature in the forms of mountains, rivers or other natural features are considered to have
spiritual and religious value by different communities. There were also be spiritual value
embodied in places that were once places of worship but are no longer used for this purpose
such as where a pagan temple or redundant church has been converted to a new use.

SCIENTIFIC, RESEARCH AND KNOWLEDGE VALUE

Whether is it the building techniques employed or the materials used historic buildings have
scientific values in terms of the information they contain on building practices of the period,
which in turn inform conservation projects. They will contain valuable technical information
of materials, where they were sourced what types of tools were used in their construction and
what cause their decay. Buildings may also contain evidence from past conservation
interventions. The scientific research and knowledge value is linked to educational value.

SOCIAL VALUE

The meaning of a historic place to a local community often as part of an on going social
interchange, constitute its social value .A local community may take pleasure out of using a
local park or congregating in a local square irrespective of its historic or architectural value.
A central square may also be valued for its association with events and festivals.

SYMBOLIC VALUE

Erected to commemorate events in history, monuments will have intended and symbolic
memorial value. However, that memorial value change over time either through a change
political regime or simply by the sufficient removal time of a event. Triumphal arches are
now more likely to be seen as urban landmarks or symbols of past victories. The symbolic
value of The berlin wall has been constant evolution from the time of its conception, through
to its demolition and reinterpretations in Berlin. Its represent different symbolic values of
different groups within the local population and to visitors with each audience relating to it
to there on way based on their own cultural values understanding of past events. The
symbolic value continues to shift as a new generation no longer feels connected to the wall as
part of their own living memory.

TECHNICAL VALUE

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BIANDO - DE GUZMAN – PANOPIO 2017
ASPECN1 HERITAGE RESOURCES STUDIES
2nd Semester 2014-2015 WEEK 3
VALUES AND DEFINITIONS
Architectural Conservation ( Dr. Aylin Orbasli)

The technological systems used in the construction of a building and its contribution to
advancing building technologies at the time constitutes technical values. This may be the
distance an arch spans or the used and development of a material that is new for its time.
Technical value may also relate to the environmental systems incorporated into the design.
Traditional techniques used to capture cool breezes in hot climates such as the wind towers
in the Gulf region, are being used to inform ecological designs practices today.

TOWNSCAPE VALUE

In many instances it is not the individual attributes of a building, but its contribution to a
group of buildings a street or townscape that is f value. As discussed above buildings cannot
be treated in isolation from their surroundings or settings, It is often the case that the group
value is greater than the value of the individual components.

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