RESTORATION OF CULTURAL ARTEFACTS

The picture above shows the Cathedral of Immaculate Conception . This church is very old and as meaning attached to it from numerous groups. This is a very old building and by the looks of it has age a whole lot and its showing. The building sits in the heart of  Port of Spain among the changing architecture of the other buildings. This building is a religious building and thus there are strong values and meanings attached to the building. Thus this building is a cultural artefact and should be preserved as it represents great value to the community. In the picture above it is seen that there are renovations taking place on the building, therefore this cultural artefact being attempted to be restored as it is understood that this building is important within the urban space and that it represents part of the urban culture or identity of Port of Spain.       
      According to Tim Hall in Urban Geography religious buildings were in great demand in historical civilization and these buildings should be preserved as these have strong meanings attached to them. According to Aylin Orbasli in the book Architectural Conservation, conservation of historic buildings can promote national identity and also stimulate tourism. These historic buildings once regenerated add value to the cultural heritage of the city space and gives the urban space a sense of identity or individualism. These historic buildings are seen as artefacts among the ever changing city landscape. 

Here are some sites highlighting the history of the building and shows restoration efforts in the attempt to save this historical building:
http://caribbean-beat.com/issue-112/saving-soul-city
http://www.newsday.co.tt/news/0,129414.html

This site just shows some picture of the cathedral in its former glory:
http://english.cntv.cn/20120329/113765.shtml

Link showing restortion efforts elsewhere:
http://www.iarc.ie/exhibitions/previous-exhibitions/christ-church-restored-an-exhibition-marking-the-1870s-restoration-of-christ-church-cathedral-dublin/#&panel1-8


REFERENCES

Hall,Tim and Heather Barrett. Urban Geography. New York: Routledge, 2012. Print 
Orbasli, Aylin. Architectural Conservation. United Kingdom: Blackwell Science Ltd, 2008. Print 

URBAN ARCHITECTURAL "REGENERATION" :

                           A Good Idea?? 

This picture shows the national library of  Trinidad and Tobago better know as NALIS. The picture shows a very eerie view of this place. It almost looks uninviting or not approachable. However this view of the library is more a representation of the more modern look of the library. On the opposite end there is a completely different view. On that side one can take in the ambiance of an old building (old Fire Brigade Headquarters). This is a big contrast to this modern building. The library is a good example of architectural regeneration, the old building has been transform into a new more modern building while still keeping the architectural design on the old building at the surface. A lot of times in urban geography there may be views stating that there is a destruction of historic building within an urban centre, like that of the "old" building and replacing these with modern buildings however what the library in this picture shows is something totally different. This building goes a different way within the urban centre showing that historic buildings can be incorporated with newer and more modern buildings to give rise to a classic and perhaps more beautiful buildings than the occasional and more common urban buildings like that of the Nicholas Tower located in the same urban centre of Port of Spain. 

According to the textbook, historic building within the city usually have some kinda of meaning and value to the society and thus these artefacts or landmarks should be maintained. According to Aylin Orbasli in the book Architectural Conservation, conservation of historic buildings can promote national identity and also stimulate tourism. This author also mentions that historic building can be adapted and reused in the modern times and that when these buildings are regenerated the significance and meaning of the building is enhanced. There is also a need a incorporate the meaning of the building when regenerating, adapting or adding on other buildings to the historic landmark, only when these things are done, then the historic building is regenerated in a proper manner. Looking at the photograph above one could wonder if the concept described by Aylin Orbasli was successful with that project of the old building and new library or if it was unsuccessful. 

More information about the different architecture of the library can be found at the websites below:
http://thinkinginsomniac.wordpress.com/2011/05/25/architecture-sketch-old-public-library-port-of-spain-trinidad/ 
http://thinkinginsomniac.wordpress.com/tag/national-library/



REFERENCES

Hall,Tim and Heather Barrett. Urban Geography. New York: Routledge, 2012. Print 
Orbasli, Aylin. Architectural Conservation. United Kingdom: Blackwell Science Ltd, 2008. Print 

THE RED HOUSE : CULTURE BEING NEGLECTED!!

This is a picture of the famous Red House. This building can be said to be a cultural, historical and political  artefact and is a great object of value to Trinidad and Tobago. However, this picture does not depict a glorious building as describes but shows a deteriorating building. This once glorious building is now deemed unimportant and broken down by many citizens. The current Red House building was built in 1907, however, the building existed since 1844 but was destroyed by fire in 1903. As one can tell by the history of the building, there is a lot of value or meaning attached to this building. This then brings up the question of why this building is allowed to deteriorate when other new modern buildings are being constructed. Why not improve our buildings that have a high value within society first then look forward to building new contemporary building within the city. How long would our historical, cultural and political artefact be left to deteriorate until it disappears completely?????

According to the textbook, work done by Jon Goss gave the idea that there should be a rise in the idea that buildings should be categorized as either cultural artefacts, objects of value, signs and as spatial systems. Goss argued that all building have meanings and that we need to figure out what exactly is the meaning. According to the textbook, building s of value should be maintained as these building are landmarks to the beginning of civilization and as such have strong values attached to them. 

The links below give some important details about the restoration of the Red House and also the history and other important details: 

    

http://www.udecott.com/index.php/cc/cc_project_item/restoration_of_the_red_house/

http://www.wecaribbean.net/the-red-house/

http://guardian.co.tt/news/2013-02-16/deterioration-and-neglect-red-house-restoration-stalls

REFERENCES

Hall,Tim and Heather Barrett. Urban Geography. New York: Routledge, 2012. Print 

Hartshorn, Truman. Interpreting the City: An Urban Geography. United States of America: John Wiley and Sons, 1980. Print 

THE ARCHITECTURE OF CULTURE 

      This picture depicts a cathedral within Port of Spain. To be more exact this is the Holy Trinity Anglican Cathedral.The cathedral is a very old building however, the condition of it is astonishing, it looks like it hasn't age a whole lot. This could be due to the cathedral being constantly maintained . The cathedral sits in the heart of the city and among the ever changing architecture of the surrounding buildings but this building has the same architecture it had when it originally built. This building is a religious building and thus there are strong values and meanings attached to the building, therefore any changes especially in terms of "modernizing" the architecture of the cathedral would be associated by great resistance from a number of groups.
      According to Tim Hall (chapter 8 - Urban Geography), a rise in civilizations grew from the demands for religious buildings and thus a lot of these buildings within the urban space today tend to have a more older architecture quality to them.   
  
The following link is a blog entry about the history of the Holy Trinity Anglican Cathedral and also it gives great detail about the meaning and history of the architectural detail of the cathedral. Very Interesting!!
 http://thinkinginsomniac.wordpress.com/2011/07/04/architecture-sketch-holy-trinity-cathedral-in-port-of-spain-trinidad/

this link below gives a different view to religious buildings, it basically shows different pictures of different contemporary ideas for the architecture of such an important building in society, it raises the idea of maybe modernization of religious buildings is possible in a good way. Or maybe religious building should be left to their original architecture. 

http://openbuildings.com/collections/contemporary-religious-buildings-collection-48688


REFERENCES

Hall,Tim and Heather Barrett. Urban Geography. New York: Routledge, 2012. Print 
Hartshorn, Truman. Interpreting the City: An Urban Geography. United States of America: John Wiley and Sons, 1980. Print 

DIFFERENCE IN ARCHITECTURAL DESIGN AT THE SAME LOCATION - The Old and The New  

    This picture above shows two different views of the same area in the urban environment of Port of Spain. The left side of the picture shows a view of the Nicholas Tower located on Independence Square. This building is relatively new (2003) and is used for commercial purposes mainly. The building may not have any major attached feelings to it as compared to maybe a historical  building but the meaning attached to it may be perceived as solely development, meaning that people would cherish this building because to them this gives off the perception that the city is developed or developing, maybe those persons would want more building like this built around the area. 

    In comparison, the right side of the picture shows a different perspective of the particular location. In this point of view, the more "trendy" building is seen in the immediate background while there is a old building at the fore front. This old building is among several more developed buildings yet no one thinks to tear it down and build another high rise building.Why??Even though it might be a case where the owners wouldn't want to sell, it might also be because this old building can actually mean something to someone or even the owners. Maybe there are attached feelings or memories associated with the building and those feelings would be drivers to the owners or even other people to encourage leaving this building standing.

     I for one can relate to feelings or memories attached to the building, for as long as I can remember, this building was always there, it looks the same minus a few broken windows and a little weathering of the building, but every time I pass this building I am reminded about times when my father would take his car there to fix or the big mascot of the man made of wheels that always made me laugh. For me this is not a simple building but a memory in the past therefore personally this building has a lot of meaning. While historical building within urban areas tend to be more appealing to the eyes, it does not mean that the value of this building is lowered to some people. However this is the case with some people which would just decide that the building is old and run down and is not promoting beauty within the capital in any way and should just be broken down.           

           

In the past post, we see that Hall and Barrett referred to the fact  that the differences in architecture in the city relates to different meaning and different types of attachment  As seen with the Nicholas  Tower, people's attachment to this building would be based on the perceived idea of development within the city. Also with the older or "historical" building, people would have strong feelings based on memories or feelings they have attached to this place. 

You can take a look at this link, it gives good insight to protecting historical buildings within urban spaces and some cases studies are included, really interesting stuff 

 http://www.buildingconservation.com/articles/urbanbuildings/urbanbuildings.htm

The first part of this article also gives some good insight into meaning of older or historical buildings in cities.

http://www.getty.edu/conservation/publications_resources/newsletters/26_2/contemporary.html

This link is very interesting in terms of the first picture as it shows great constrast with an older or historical building surrounding by more modern building in an urban city 

http://www.melbourneplaces.com/melbourne/russell-house-the-oldest-residence-in-melbourne%E2%80%99s-cbd/

MIXTURE OF URBAN ARCHITECTURE 

This is a picture of Port of Spain, it was taken in front of city Gate, one of the main points of entry into this city. This picture depicts a mixture of different architecture within the urban space and the different buildings all have different meaning to different people and also serve different purposes within the city. As seen in the picture, there are some newer and more "trendy" building within the city as seen by the glass building in the centre of the picture for example.In the picture there are also some older buildings as seen by the more shorter buildings. The mixture of architecture within this urban space could be based on history, for example one of the Tatil buildings on the left side of the was one of the first building of that size to be built, this give a historical meaning to the building. Within this picture, one can see the different meanings of attachments of the different building based on the type of architectural design.       

 

According to Truman Hartshorn, there is a presence of strong emotions for a particular site due to some attachment or identity we have with a particular location. According to Hall and Barrett, urban buildings can be considered cultural relics and also show levels of consumption within the city. 

You can also take a look at this study that was done about a similar topic:

http://fspu.uitm.edu.my/cebs/images/stories/ajebs12may2010c5.pdf

REFERENCES

Hall,Tim and Heather Barrett. Urban Geography. New York: Routledge, 2012. Print 

Hartshorn, Truman. Interpreting the City: An Urban Geography. United States of America: John Wiley and Sons, 1980. Print 

 

INTRODUCTION

I know that architecture is life; or at least it is life itself taking form and therefore it is the truest record of life as I was lived in the world yesterday, as it is lived today or ever will be lived. so architecture I know to be a Great Spirit (Frank Lloyd Wright (1939 in Brooks et al. 1987: 7)

As the urban environment expands, the architecture of a city becomes increasingly apparent. Some urban environments incorporate the old architecture of a city with new and improved designs so as to keep the meaning of some of these buildings .These building not only contain beauty but also have some sort of meaning attached to them, be it cultural or strictly for commercial purposes. However the combination of the new and the old can either be gruesome or contain beauty. 

This blog focuses on the different architectural designs of an urban environment and explains the percieved meaning attached to these buildings. Do these buildings have any meaning attached to them at all???