C O N T E X T 1 3 6 : S E P T E M B E R 2 0 1 4 7 energy infrastructures that leave little room to be adapted by the users. Perception and opinion are an important part of the debate. Christina Marie Stuart has looked at the degree of consensus among 13 field experts on the retrofitting of historic and traditional buildings. Is it unsurprising there was agreement that energy efficiency measures needed to be done in a balanced way? The paper looks at the drivers for improvement and the range of different values these would achieve. It notes the evolving role of the heritage field –perhaps to be expected given the government’s slow recognition of the nature of traditional versus modern construction methods. The tension between the requirement to preserve external appearance of heritage assets requiring alternative internal upgrading – destroying the intrinsic value and ornamental features of interiors – is explored by Debbie Crockford. She describes three examples of Victorian, unlisted, traditionally constructed properties that have been substantially upgraded. There is brief discussion about the work done to the interiors but as these are not illustrated an assessment of the balance of heritage value and energy efficiency is difficult to assess. Another less physically obvious consequence, changes in condensation, is still being measured. The final paper in this issue is by Vareria Pracchi of the Politecnico di Milan. She expresses her concerns at the absence of proper analytical tools to classify the energy behaviour of historic buildings and the choice of parameters for comparison. The paper explains energy simulation experiments on three Italian listed buildings and makes particular observations about the replacement of traditional windows. The print versions of the Journal of Architectural Conservation continue to appear somewhat behind their intended publication date (the March issue appearing in July). The latest available issue (Vol 20, No 1, 2014) is once again wide ranging, but all but one of the papers deal with highly specialised issues from outside the UK. Probably the most interesting paper for Context readers is Nicholas Ray’s description of repairs to Pembroke College, Cambridge. It poses questions about the extent to which modern interventions are possible and appropriate in historic interiors, particularly reversing or amending where unsympathetic alterations had been undertaken, it seems quite happily, well within living memory. The history of the hall is complex. In the 19th century Alfred Waterhouse had swept away the 14th century hall into which Maurice Webb later inserted an inter-war ceiling. Ray’s task has been to unpick the recent unsympathetic work, while respecting the earlier schemes by Waterhouse and Webb, and improving catering facilities and acoustics. Ray rightly poses a key question facing contemporary architects: whether they have lost their nerve to the extent that the possibility of adding to history with new interventions can no longer be contemplated? The new work obeys the SPAB principles of making new insertions abundantly clear and respects the principle of reversibility. Ray poses a further rhetorical question (in relation to another scheme): should incompetent internal planning of the past, resulting in extraordinarily awkward ‘intestinal’ spaces be retained just because it is characteristic of what it is our duty to preserve? If you don’t know the answer, read this wellillustrated article and ponder further. Elsewhere in the Journal of Architectural Conservation, Djamel Borussaa describes the impact of rapid urban development of inappropriately over-scaled and stylistically alien modern architectural forms on the Al Asmakh historic district in Doha (Qatar), one on many historic centres in the Gulf to have been thus affected. The author detects a lack of coordination by heritage institutions and sees a steady encroachment of high-rise towers and demolition of historic buildings continuing unless better cooperation can be secured. Angeliki Papalou, Konstantina Vozikis, Christina Kamaterou, Anastasios Lambroupoulos and Yana Shvets of the Department of Civil Engineering at the Technical Educational Institute of Western Greece present the history, analysis and approach to preserving ancient rural wells. Their paper is interesting in defining the restoration and strengthening technique which accords with the principles of the Venice Charter. The question of the appropriate extent and type of repair to vulnerable materials is provided in the paper on the conservation and preservation of an 800-year-old, 20-metre-high rammed earth tower at Bofilla near Valencia. F Vegas, C Mileto and V Cristini discuss the distribution of these structures in eastern Spain, the peculiarities of the Boffila Tower and why it has remained standing for so long, before explaining clearly and in detail the careful approach to light cleaning of the exterior and the approach that led to distinctive but harmonious repair. The final paper, by Anabelle Križnar, is an analysis of plaster used to support early 15th-century wall-paintings by Frederic of Villach, one of the most important late medieval artists in Carinthia (southern Austria) and the huge influence on Slovenian gothic art. Križnar discusses the experimental investigative procedures and the composition of the plasters as a basis for ensuring their future preservation. C20, the journal of the Twentieth Century Society, continues to delight, not least with its high production values and excellent photography. In issue 2, 2014, Robert Drake writes Themagazineof the TwentiethCenturySociety Issue22014/£4.50 Cedarwood:houseofthe year in1960 Decorativemodern: PeggyAngusrecalled Passingplaces:20th centurycrematoria C20magazine/issue12014
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