By Atsushi Wadamine
Queensland’s Chief Architect Philip Follent says the preservation of older buildings is crucial to retain a city’s historical memories. “They still provide us with the stories about architectures of the days gone by,” he says.
“Keeping old buildings and places of significance is a very physical and a very accessible way to actually chart history.” Mr Follent cited the Treasury Building in the CBD and the McWhirters Building in the Valley (pictured), as among the preserved historic buildings that “definitely enhance Brisbane’s attractiveness”.
Mr Follent said historic buildings served as a powerful reminder of histories they have had, as well. “It is wonderful to see the physical remnants of history in front of you describing how people may have lived or worked even though the buildings very often changed their use. They often provide a wonderful shelter for human activity,” Mr Follent said. The old buildings also help to develop their a clear and broad understanding of their designs, techniques, materials and other architectural historical materials.
“If we photograph the building and demolish it and we look at it in the [a] book, it is far less tangible and it is far less real to us. History disappears more easily if we don't keep some physical pieces of it."
But, according to Mr Follent, the architectural conservation was not part of original Australian culture.
“We have come to realise historic buildings are quite precious,” he said. “When we travel to the other cities throughout the world, we see a range of buildings from very old time, sometimes the buildings built in 14th, 15th or 16th centuries right through to today.”
As far as residential architectures is concerned, Brisbane also retains some almost 100-year old residential buildings as well as commercial or public structures.
By contrast, except for historical architectures under the government management, Japan has downplayed the durability of houses especially since the last war, despite its longer history than Australian. Kyoto Tachibana University Professor Kiyoaki Takeyama, a first-class certified architect, pointed out the negative effects of Japanese "scrap and build" architectural culture, compared with British architectural custom.
“The lifetime of ordinary Japanese residential buildings is generally 25 years while that of British homes is 100 to 200 years,” he said.
“Most Japanese have responsibility to pay the total amount of construction cost because modern Japanese houses lack their strong durability and they need to build a new house from scratch.
“But British house owners just spend a small budget on the refurbishment of their houses their ancestors built in the past.” As for the modern Japanese residences, he said Japanese constructors still built new houses which lasted only for 30 or 40 years.
“The most important issue on the 'scrap and build' policy in Japan is it prevents the financial and social value accumulation of the houses and their surroundings as well as the waste of natural resources and the neglect of high-quality residence construction,” Mr Takeyama said.
The movement in Japan to respect architectural sustainability would gradually become mainstream due to, while inadequate, enactment of Landscape Act. And government and forward-thinking developers' efforts to promote and construct residences in harmony with cityscapes.
Mr Follent suggested the importance of historic building preservation played another important role refreshing citizens’ fond memories.
“The ancient architectures remind you of your old and favourite experiences in your childhood.
“Physical buildings are a little bit of a link to our memories. The main interest of the treatment is most people remember about the outside of that building and the marks of the place where people have the memories,” he said.
Mr Follent added governments and citizens are tackling structure preservation efforts although they have some problematic issues on conservation projects and are in trouble with the owners of the properties they want to preserve.
“Every city tries to deal with preserving enough places and buildings to allow people to remember where the city came from,” he said.
