Menu Close

Articles on Heritage conservation

Displaying 1 - 20 of 21 articles

The skylight of the Weskoppies Chapel in Pretoria. Alain Proust/Hidden Pretoria

Between care and neglect: Pretoria’s grand architectural legacy

Pretoria’s institutional buildings are majestic, but crumbling. Weskoppies, the first psychiatric hospital in the region, is a good example of the state of the city’s heritage architecture.
Good Shepherd Chapel (c.1969, architect: A. Ian Ferrier) in Mitchelton, Brisbane, was demolished in 2004. Ferrier Slide Collection, used with permission

Uneasy heritage: Australia’s modern church buildings are disappearing

Of the thousands of churches erected to serve the fast-growing communities of post-war Australia, very few are protected. Are we happy to lose buildings that are so much part of our modern heritage?
The old Pratt Street power plant in Baltimore in the US is now home to commercial uses. But the heritage preservation is compromised by advertising that is not sympathetic to the building style and design. Wikimedia Commons

Sustainable re-use and recycling work for heritage buildings and places too

Adaptively re-using buildings can preserve heritage while enabling new uses that help make cities more liveable and sustainable.
The Sirius building and the Heritage Act are both products of a significant part of Sydney’s history: the Green Bans movement. Dean Lewins/AAP

Saving Sirius: why heritage protection should include social housing

Social housing can certainly have heritage significance. Over more than 100 years, it has been shaped by contemporary architectural and political ideas, sometimes in an exemplary way.
The Otsuka Museum of Art in Tokushima features a full-sized replica of the Sistine Chapel. Kzaral/Flickr

Imitation game: how copies can solve our cultural heritage crises

Increasingly sophisticated technology allows us to make close-to-perfect copies of everything from paintings to burial chambers. Can a replica bring artefacts to new audiences?
The size and pace of activity in Tokyo can be overwhelming, but at the human scale the city has an incredibly rich layering of experiences built over generations.

Lessons in living heritage from Tokyo to Adelaide

The concept of living heritage can help us make decisions that go beyond preserving historical facades to protect and add to, rather than freeze, the stories and layers of the past.
One of the architects of 443 Queen Street says: ‘The Queenslander – elevated on stilts and open to natural ventilation – was an inspiration for the tower’. Artist's Impression

How can a city keep its character if its landmark views aren’t protected?

Landmarks identify and define cities. Town-planning instruments should protect these landmarks from new development that does not respect the setting.
A prehistoric scene showing ancient penguins, elephant seals and giant marsupials. A rich diversity of both marine and land creatures once lived at Beaumaris, Melbourne, about 7 million years ago. Peter Trusler, Monash University

We need to protect the fossil heritage on our doorstep

Palaeontologists say it’s rare to find a rich fossil site in an urban area. That’s why they’re worried such a site near Melbourne could be threatened by proposed development.
A traditional clay minaret stands in the Malian city of Timbuktu. Structures such as these are being destroyed as a result of conflict. Adama Diarra/Reuters

Africa’s rich heritage is under threat

Africa is losing rich heritage and historical structures through conflict.
That’s another way of looking at things. Antony Pidduck

3D models can bring quicker, greener, cheaper construction

The latest advance used to help design new buildings and conserve our historic ones is a range of 3D modelling technologies. Using 3D models at the design stage improves better information to reduce production…

Top contributors

More