Context 168 - June 2021

8 C O N T E X T 1 6 8 : J U N E 2 0 2 1 focus, line of sight, framing and viewpoints. He looks at the kinetic impulse in architecture and the importance not only of space and light, but also of hearing and touch. Kerr references the SPAB approach to aesthetics; the 2020 Living with Beauty report published by the Building Better, Building Beautiful Commission, chaired by Sir Roger Scruton; and refers to Donald Trump’s extremely contentious executive order ‘Making Federal Buildings Beautiful Again’, with its requirement that the classical architectural style ‘shall be the preferred and default style’ for new and upgraded federal buildings. Kerr concludes that ‘to make architecture, a careful and informed process must be engaged.To make an aesthetical analysis, a careful, disciplined and informed process must be similarly engaged, and is the proper concern for professionals. The tools need to be made and sharpened.’ The debate, not dogma must continue. Another debate to be had is whether the lessons are still being learnt and applied from serious conflagrations.We know that a series of high-profile fires in recent years has demonstrated that it regularly inflicts sudden and devastating damage to historic buildings and their contents which are, by their design and age, irreplaceable and at grave risk. Steve Emery, the former national fire advisor for English Heritage and Historic England explores the impact of fire, its causes and behaviours, and the tools we have to mitigate it. He points out that 60 years have passed since Sir Donald Insall wrote the sobering article ‘Stately Infernos’ for Country Life , which highlighted the loss of historic houses to fire. Since then we have had three major pieces of fire safety legislation, major technological advances, a greater understanding of the dynamics of fire and a focus on fire risk assessment. But those have not stopped the frequency and severity of fires. Emery lists 25 of the most prominent conflagrations and grievous losses since 1962, referencing the terrible loss of life at Grenfell Tower and the devastation at Notre-Dame de Paris. The causes of fire and their spread, and means of prevention, are succinctly explained. The paper may be especially useful to readers in dealing with testing of fire-resisting doors (heritage bodies have been testing doors and panels for the last 60 years) and the five key steps for effective fire-risk assessment. It is a most useful overview. The two international papers are no less interesting. Tasos Tanoulas, an architect member of the Acropolis Restoration Project, Acropolis Monuments Preservation Service (1977–2016), raises some interesting issues in his paper (translated by IHBC member Eleni Makri) on ‘The Antiquities of Athens: their management and integration with the modern city’. The Athenian monuments of antiquity are symbols of the identity of the Greek state established in 1830. The study yields interesting insights into the development of conservation principles and their application, and the efforts of successive governments in Greece to connect their governance with the relics of antiquity, and with the Acropolis in particular. The author’s summary demonstrates the fluidity of those principles and values. From the outset, the new Greek state has insisted that ancient monuments have value as indisputable material evidence of art, culture and history, and are therefore protected. But in practice the management of these monuments depends on changing economic and political expediencies which are becoming increasingly threatening. Readers may ponder similar differences between rhetoric and practice in the UK as the sector grapples with projected planning reforms and post-Brexit, post-pandemic fall-out. Finally, in a paper ‘Cuba, Conservation and Utopia’, Anna Joynt, an architect and associate director at Allies and Morrison, explains that, while the international conservation principles may be the same as those with which we may be familiar, the problems and the resources are on a vastly different scale. The task facing the Cuban authorities, although staggering, is accompanied by a vision, the results of which may be thought provoking. Association of Preservation Technology Bulletin The Association of Preservation Technology Bulletin (Vol 51, No 4, 2020 is another excellent issue, devoted principally to mitigating vibration damage, a subject on which the literature is somewhat sparse. When thinking of stained glass, ecclesiastical buildings perhaps come most readily to mind but excellent glass can be found widely in secular buildings. In a paper of note, the late Dean Koga (a past president of the APT and inspiration for this issue), Erica Morasset, Raymond Pepi and David Woodham examine the methods of protecting stained glass from vibrations caused by construction operations. They advance the view that with the correct monitoring programme, immediately adjacent (city-centre) demolition works do not necessarily require invasive and potentially damaging interventions. As is often the case in the bulletin, a case study is presented with the methods for documenting the windows clearly explained; the checklist for carefully recording the repair and precautionary works; and a resume of the protective methods. The second paper of note, by SiohamWatts, Richard Lithgow