It is easy, in countries where buildings can be expected to last for thousands of years if they are very well built and maintained with care, to believe that restoration back to the original is the be all and end all of preservation. But buildings of this nature are rare, and historical continuity over long periods to support continuous maintenance is close to non-existent. In addition, buildings are continually repurposed, and this will inevitably have an impact on their fabric.
Chile, with highly active earthquake zones and a rapidly developing culture and economy, is a petri dish in which concepts of conservation can be exposed to extreme challenges, and this book is a really welcome, erudite, and significant contribution to the subject. As society moves forward, it is plausible to believe that in many cases, a complete record of past buildings will become more significant than the retention of a few of the actual buildings.
Professor Stephen Gage, The bartlett School of Architecture, UCL
Relics, remnants, and records are something of the past that remains in the present, thresholds of knowledge that signify possibilities of the future. Bernadette Devilats book is bringing a novel and much needed discussion on the nature, form, and urgency of records, memory in the digital age as some form of contemporary Noahs Arch to interpret the past to preserve some form of future of architecture and built environment in general. She is offering care and cautions, erudition and innovation with what she calls re-construction to a field of practice often left in a hurry to measure success, evidence, and novelty. Across disaster studies, architecture and digital design, Bernadette Devilats book is a needed reading for all interested in an architecture of hope.
Professor Camillo Boano, Polytechnic of Turin, Italy; and Development Planning Unit, London
