Study of the intangible aspects of the restoration of ancient buildings

2014 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 20760434
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Young Scientists (B)
• Allocation Type: Single-year Grants
• Research Field: Architectural history/design
• Research Institution: Gakushuin Women's College (2010-2014); Independent Administrative Institution National Institutes for Cultural Heritage Tokyo National Research Institute for Cultural Properties (2008-2009)
• Principal Investigator: UGO Mizuko 学習院女子大学, 国際文化交流学部, 准教授 (80470029)
• Project Period (FY): 2008-04-01 – 2015-03-31
• Keywords: 歴史的建造物 / 保存 / 修復 / 伝統技術 / 無形文化財

Outline of Final Research Achievements

This study focused on the intangible aspects of the restoration and conservation of traditional architectures, comparing the way they are perceived in Japan and in the Western world. In fact, repair works of tangible cultural properties such as historical buildings necessarily involve an appropriate use of traditional building techniques.
The awareness of the importance of this architectural knowledge has been raised also in Europe since the late 19th century, but only in Japan it was possible to preserve it by law as a relevant part of tangible heritage preservation. However, this caused at the same time the seclusion of traditional building techniques from contemporary construction industry, while in Europe these intangible dimensions of building repair started to be considered part of a broader environmental preservation issue.

Free Research Field

建築学