Adaptive reuse of historic buildings : revisit of "compatibility" and "distinguishability" according to the Venice Charter Article 12

Abstract

Article 12 in the Venice Charter has required new additions or restoration to integrate harmoniously with the whole while being distinguishable from the historic fabrics, in other words, it requires professionals to ensure both compatibility as a whole and distinguishability of the new be achieved at the same time. Without much interpretation, the article is argued to be contradictory and impracticable. For adaptive reuse, which is one of the most prevalent conservation approach in the contemporary field often involves new interventions with considerable scales, when they are inserted within the historic setting, they are likely to pose a stronger impact. As such, they have a higher demand in achieving “integrate harmoniously” and “distinguishability” in which these two terms have to be addressed concurrently. Inspired by such seemingly contradictory nature of article 12, this thesis is here to analyze whether “integrate harmoniously with the whole” and “distinguishable from the original” are really contradictory and cannot be achieved at the same time for new interventions in adaptive reuse project, particularly new interventions that are at a scale of a building that is juxtaposing to the historic fabrics inserted within the historic context. There are two circumstances for the design of new additions: (1) new additions that are being more distinguishable than compatible, they are additions that bear contemporary stamps and tend to be more modernistic or futuristic looking or having a different architectural style with the historic; (2) new additions that are designed to be more compatible with the historic fabrics, in this case, new additions favor aesthetic integrity and coherence of the whole more than being distinguishable to the audience, new additions tend to be more alike or similar in appearance or style with the old. By addressing how compatibility can be fulfilled for new additions that are being highly distinguishable and suggesting approaches that are useful to guide professionals to ensure the new is somehow distinguishable to the audience for new additions that are being more alike with the historic fabrics. It is therefore foreseeable that under both circumstances, “integrate harmoniously” and “distinguishability” can fully be satisfied. The approaches suggested within this thesis not only can prove that article 12 itself is not contradictory in which compatibility and distinguishability can be achieved together at the same time, but also to provide insights on how article 12 can be better translated into real-life practice by utilizing adaptive reuse case studies from around the world.