IN-PERSON London Heritages. Section A

Abstract

The preservation of built heritage implies constant intervention. One form of intervention is rebuilding, which, in the context of disasters, is usually understood as restoration, as a way to bring a building or site back to what it was before its destruction, implying issues of authenticity, sustainability and funding, where previous records are key. Advanced recording technologies —such as 3D-laser-scanning or LiDAR— offer unprecedented capabilities for documenting buildings regularly, as a form of digital preservation. They are also used to inform physical intervention, conservation strategies, post-disaster assessment, and mitigation, among other applications. Such records are usually invested with the capability of informing reconstruction ‘as before’ in case of destruction. While this is something that has been debated for centuries, the latest advances can facilitate uncritical applications. As a response, this paper challenges the replication of buildings in contexts of constant change, such as those produced by earthquakes, using the case study of Tarapacá, Chile, a heritage village affected by a 7.9 earthquake in 2005, that used to feature a sustainable and climatically appropriate constructive culture, reconstructed years later, and the evaluation of its long-term impacts. Using an architectural analysis based on 3D laser scan records and photography of the rebuilt buildings — from 2005 (post-earthquake) to 2013 (finished reconstruction) — complemented with social surveys, this paper proposes a critical and analytical method for the re-construction of built heritage, with further implications regarding what was considered ‘traditional’ before the seismic event and how it is currently perceived and listed.