Heritage and Conservation

The Indus Valley civilization flourished between 2750-1900 B.C. We present a case study for Lothal, an extension of the Indus Valley civilization currently located in the state of Gujarat in India. Their double storied buildings were clustered around geometrical grids comprising of three divisions, including a citadel, a middle town and a lower town. An on-site visit revealed that the buildings were suitably oriented for maximum solar gains. The standardised stone blocks used had thermal transmissivities (“U” values in today’s architectural parlance) that retained indoor coolth substantially. The rectangular building forms ensured the presence of active and passive zones even then.

As Mechanical engineers, we have used Autodesk Ecotect Analysis to calculate Daylight Factors, Solar Radiation and Water Usage. We have explored quantitatively the fascinating world of light and shadows, coolth and warmth, and obtained answers for the following questions:

1. Were the orientation and the clustering perfect in the city of Lothal?

2. Can these architectural designs prevail with some modifications in today’s times?

After all, modernists believe that vernacular architecture can also be sustainable.

3. How feasible is it to use engineered eco-fabrics in modern settlements (keeping in mind the versatility of traditional fabrics)?

In this paper we shall present a prototype of a new proposed city called “The Sanctuary” housing 40,000 inhabitants (possibly the population in Lothal in 2500 B.C.). Our analysis shows how architectural structures adapt to driving rain, the ingress of winds and a glaring sun. Ecotect calculations elucidate contrasting patterns of energy use in residential areas of Lothal vis-à-vis the dwellings in The Sanctuary. To our knowledge, this is a first study exploring energy efficiency in Lothal.

La ciudad, entendida como un espacio urbano en red, se compone de nodos cuya identidad espacial y/o social, se relaciona entre otros, con cierta gama de colores. A través del análisis de dos casos de estudio en la ciudad de Valdivia, Chile, se establece la relación entre color, arquitectura, contexto urbano e identidad de sus habitantes. La metodología con que se realizó el diseño de color en ambos proyectos, es parte importante de este trabajo. Como resultado, el color se revela como un
elemento que, utilizado con la metodología adecuada, puede llegar a establecerse como conector entre estos nodos urbanos, ayudando a armar espacios integrales, realzando la arquitectura, la historia, la organización, la estética y en definitiva, conformando mejores ciudades.

":چکیده
در ابتدای این مقاله سعی شده است تا به تعریفی دقیق از خمره سفالی از نظر ادبی، لغوی، فنی و همچنین از منظر کارشناسان صنایع دستی آورده شود. سپس انواع تکنیک‌های ساخت خمره‌های سفالی و تزیینات آنها شرح داده شده است. همچنین با استناد به نگاره‌های شرقی به جا مانده و همچنین نقاشی‌های غربی به اختصار و با مثال‌های موردی به ذکر موارد استفاده از این ظرف در اعصار مختلف پرداخته شده است.
در ادامه تلاش شده است تا با استفاده از قابلیت‌های موجود در این ظروف کهن موارد استفاده امروزی جهت حفظ آنها در محیط زندگی ذکر شود. از آنجا که برخی از این ظروف به لحاظ تاریخی ارزش چندانی ندارند و مربوط به دوره‌های قاجار و پهلوی هستند، حفظ آنها در موزه‌ها ضرورتی نداشته و بهتر است برای جلوگیری از نابودیشان آنها را به نحوی در محیط‌های مختلف زندگی به کار بست. از جمله می‌توان آنها را به عنوان شئ تاریخی - هنری در موزه‌های متناسب با آن‌ها از جمله موزه آب، موزه دفینه، حمام موزه‌ها، باغ موزه‌ها، خانه موزه‌های قدیمی، موزه عصارخانه‌ها، موزه‌های مردم شناسی و یا حتی در باغ‌ها و باغچه‌های خانگی مورد استفاده قرار داد تا به احیاء آنها در محیط زندگی کمک کرد و از نابودی قسمتی از میراث فرهنگی خود جلوگیری کنیم.
واژگان کليدی: خمرة سفالی، موزه، طراحی داخلی، باغ‌آرایی، شئ تزئینی"

The transition towards a cognitive and post-industrial economy has led to the emergence of new strategies of capture of the immanent productive capacities of the social forces. Heritage entities are subject to, and also participate in, processes by which common creativity and knowledge are being harnessed by novel forms of rent and control. The objective of this paper was to show that conceiving heritage as a common situated in specific contexts rather than as a universal essence can open up novel epistemological spheres of communication between different knowledge practices. Also, it can help bridge some ontological gaps among the various stakeholders in the arena of heritage, such as academics, managers, architects, local communities and market forces. This entails considering heritage as an emergent material and immaterial construction process involving many different agents. Currently, these processes tend towards the privatization of common values and the shattering of local communities. Normally, this situation entails a fundamental alienation between objects and subjects, and the reification of heritage. This paper suggests that considering heritage as a common could provide a different perspective to tackle this crucial problem. Accordingly, scholars should not only be bound to a critical discursive stance, but should also commit to ‘ontological politics’ that would situate them as mediators between the global hierarchies of value generated by heritage and the common productive potential of local communities.

What is worth waiting for is not merely the technical and the professional expertise that LAVA will bring to the project but the manner in which they are able to negotiate and reconcile their own aesthetic sensibilities to the historic, atmospheric, and archaeological character and markings in the theatre hall that it has inherited through years of abandonment, disuse, disappearance, discovery, and recovery. This is bound to be a complex project, especially as the need to provide a compelling, authentic and inclusive narrative of the building’s history and local memory will need to negotiate new technologies and controls - an outcome we anticipate with enthusiasm.

Pormenorizado estado de la cuestión sobre los hallazgos arqueológicos más importantes realizados en Huesca entre finales del siglo XX y los primeros años del siglo XXI. Se plantea la metodología más adecuada para la gestión del patrimonio arqueológico de nuestras ciudades y se propone como ejemplo la musealización del espacio conocido como "Circulo Católico".
Detailed state of the question on the most important archaeological findings made in Huesca between late 20th century and the first years of the 21st century. Raises the most appropriate methodology for the management of the archaeological heritage of our cities and is proposed as an example the musealisation of the space known as the Catholic circle.

This paper is focused on the study, from a historical point of view, of the theoretical justifications and methodologies presented by Howard Kemp Prossor, an English researcher from the beginning of 20th century, who had the opportunity to apply them in Health Centers for the treatment of patients with nervous diseases, particularly soldiers who took part in battles during WWI.