22 C O N T E X T 1 4 1 : S E P T E M B E R 2 0 1 5 Place: materials – making and meaning Keynote speaker: Jonathan Foyle asset were destroyed either by natural disasters such as earthquakes or by deliberate acts of cultural vandalism. This record could be used to inform the decisionmaking process on whether to reconstruct, represent in some other way, or seek a modern replacement embedding traditional qualities. Foyle considered the concept of place under three headings: Materials Although we speak of the local palette of vernacular materials, he sought to show that in reality it was far more complex than this. The movement of materials had taken place historically and had changed to a global process today. Scarcity of materials raised important issues of what to use as an alternative. Making Equally, the decline of available craftsmen to work with certain materials was pressing in an age of ubiquitous cheap industrial production. This was not a problem unique to Britain but a worldwide issue. On a positive note, some crafts were being revived, with tourism often being an impetus for this. Meaning We might think that we understand the meaning behind the creation of a building but sometimes the more subtle messages may have been forgotten over time. A building may also have different meanings at different levels. As an example, Foyle looked in detail at the form of Lincoln Cathedral. This great building was constructed after 1072, leaving the west front within a rebuilding that followed an earthquake in 1185. Having had the opportunity to study the sculpture from high level, it was clear that at face value the building was a celebration of St Mary, to whom it was dedicated: an evocation of her paradise garden. Although Lincoln’s form was unique, this linked the building to other European places of worship, with a shared sense of place to some extent.The interior of the building was Jonathan Foyle: we need to develop global good practice of recording buildings so that a data bank of human achievement in all nations is in place. The interior of Lincoln Cathedral was laid out so that ‘goodness’ and the passage to heaven were depicted on the right hand side of the building, to the well-lit south.The north side was thought to represent ‘badness’ and hell. (Photo: James Newton) Jonathan Foyle drew on his eight years as chief executive at the World Monuments Fund Britain to give a global perspective on conserving the diversity of place. He drew on his most recent publication on Lincoln Cathedral to give a detailed examination of the cultural meaning of this building both past and present. He saw a need for global good practice of recording buildings so that a data bank of human achievement in all nations was in place. This was both to prevent the increasingly deliberate aim of cultural erasure, and to inform decision makers so that there would be a record of the structure prior to the catastrophe if a heritage
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