A common mantra in the Heritage world is as little as possible and as much as necessary and its amazing how frequently this can be applied to a project in order to help achieve a good outcome.
Heritage NSW, the overseer of heritage listings at state level, offers advice to developers state-wide looking to upgrade old buildings.
[Developers should] do as much as necessary to maintain [the building] and keep it useful, but change as little as possible to conserve important fabric,” Chair of NSW Heritage Council Stephen Davies said.
This does not mean change is not possible, but it must be carefully considered… copying of historic detailing is not necessarily required and good modern designs which consider the heritage context may be possible.
– extracted from tenplay.com.au (17.01.17 – article below)
What this approach does best is help provide authenticity. Buildings that have been reused and adapted to suit a new use are often the most interesting, they’re full of character and they work so well because they can’t be replicated. They’re one of a kind, and if designed carefully, retaining original features and complementing them with new interventions, there’s nothing better.
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