Reconstructing A Building Of Historic Significance Within Current Regulatory Context

The issue of how to reconstruct buildings with historic significance that have been damaged or demolished has been an important matter in places that have encountered warfare or natural disasters. Reconstructing a heritage building requires deep understanding of the significance of its character defining elements. In most of cases, it also requires adaptation and compliance to current codes, standards and regulations particularly if the building is to maintain its use. In this report, the reconstruction process is examined in two parts: assessing the principles governing the significance of historical value and applying those principles in a regulatory framework to the redesign of a demolished building. The Banff Pavilion in Alberta, a building originally designed by esteemed architect Frank Lloyd Wright (FLW) was chosen for the study. Conclusions of the first part showed how the assessment of the historic, cultural, aesthetic, social and spiritual value of buildings is specific to time and place. The second part outlined the process of reconstruction design within a Building Code framework and showed how applying the Building Code to the reconstruction of Banff Pavilion influences the preservation of some character-defining elements. In sum, this research will help heritage restoration practitioners in understanding the challenges posed to meet current regulatory requirements in heritage building restoration. Although the process was only applied to parts of the building envelope, more investigation is needed in other building elements such as the HVAC or the structural systems.

P.S. All italicized text is a direct quote extracted from an external referenced source.