The planners cannot go out today from a 'tabula rasa' situation anymore.
Environmental and sustainability issues have already formed the public
idea that a 'greenbelt' of our cities is necessary, a kind of
fortification leading to intensive development in towns inside a clearly
delimited area within the surrounding nature. Since building on the
periphery is limited, and the existing built substance has a certain
cultural, architectural or at least environmental value, upgrading of
existing buildings gains more and more ground from the design of new
buildings. Masonry has been already recognised as construction material
par excellence for historic structures. Reinforced concrete has not been
yet. The reason for this may lay in the fact that concrete has not been
employed for long, thus buildings with concrete structure are generally
regarded as 'not old enough' to be considered historical. But the
International Council on Monuments and Sites at a joined seminar with
UNESCO and the International Centre for the Study of the Preservation
and Restoration of Cultural Property in 1995 in Helsinki deemed the
systematic documentation of the 20th century heritage, when these
buildings were raised. The book includes chapters on these components of
the building stock which have not been covered by previous studies, with
architectural or cultural value. Special attention was given to a
recommendation of the ICOMOS seminar in Helsinki, which concerns
encouraging research programmes on specific problems concerning
techniques and materials in restoration work, taking into consideration
their aesthetic qualities. ICOMOS members are authoring chapters in the
book.
