VIRTUAL: Prague Heritages

Abstract

Modern architectural heritage in China has been threatened by bold and unsympathetic urban practices in the past decades due to the lack of understanding and appreciation of heritage values among stakeholders. This condition urges researchers to consider how they could create practical impacts on the conservation of modern architectural heritage by utilising their academic knowledge. As a response to such exigence, the researcher developed a conservation design guideline for the Baiwanzhuang Residential District in Beijing, China. Designed by the prominent Chinese architect Zhang Kaiji in the early 1950s, Baiwanzhuang is one of the earliest and biggest surviving modernist social housing estates in China. Through literature review and on-site observations, the researcher analysed the heritage values and the overall cultural significance of the place using a theoretical framework based on the Burra Charter. The researcher further analysed how such significance is embodied in tangible elements in the place. The outcome of this research is a conservation design guideline that gives recommendations on how to preserve the five essential tangible heritage elements in future urban practices. Recommendations on the conservation of each element are also accompanied by case studies. This research builds up a method of developing conservation design guidelines for modern architectural heritage based on the investigation of their cultural significance and embodied tangible elements; it also provides practical and comprehendible guidance to urban practice stakeholders in Beijing on how to formulate sympathetic practices in the Baiwanzhuang heritage site.