Funded projects

Endangered architecture: In 1897, The British colonial government in Nigeria started the construction of railway infrastructure to access raw materials and food production from the hinterlands of Nigeria. Ebute-Meta was going to be the central yard for the Lagos railway infrastructure which is the terminal city to the harbour. The wooden buildings to be surveyed were part of the residential and station infrastructure built by the British government within the compound during the first phase of construction between 1897 - 1920.  Different housing typologies were made for the different cadre of railway personnel, the British colonial-style houses typically have deep verandas around the house (on lower and upper floors). The roof was made from shingles, but most have now been replaced with long-span cement composite roofs. The joinery details of the building are such that very few nails were used in the joinery. There is divided opinions on where the wood came from, with some suggesting it was shipped prefabricated and assembled on-site while others believe wood importation only happened at the earlier stages of construction. Most of these wooden buildings have been lost in recent years due to dilapidation, development needs, and other safety and economic reasons.

Aims: The aim of the project is to document each typology of the wooden buildings that exist in the compound and in the neighbouring Ibadan railway compound, spatial layout, construction methodology, and ethnography through photogrammetry, BIM modelling, photography, 3D point cloud and interviews of record keepers, former or current inhabitants, and people who were involved in restoration work (carpenters, mason, architects etc).

Project Lead: Tubi Otitooluwa

Collaborators: Chuka Uzo, Norbert Edomah 

Location of Research: Nigeria

Host Institution: Pan-Atlantic University

Collaborating Organisations: James Cubitt Architects, Legacy 1995

Type of Grant: Small Grant

Ilukwe House (Quaters 21), Railway 

Endangered architecture: The First Nation dwellings in Baviaanskloof, South Africa, date back over 100 years and represent a building tradition that has been handed down from generation to generation. The dwellings are self-built on common land owned by the indigenous community, using local materials such as bamboo, reeds and mud. The valley was relatively isolated allowing these traditions to continue. However, tourism and economic activities are bringing more people to the valley and with increased contact the traditional building techniques are becoming lost as new, more ‘modern’ materials are adopted. An ageing population is also resulting in poor maintenance and abandonment of many dwellings. 

Aims: This project aims to survey a minimum of 15 dwellings in the Baviaanskloof valley. Being an oral tradition there is no record of the traditional ways of building and so this project will produce the first ever archival and documentary record of this cultural tradition.

Project Lead: Magda Minguzzi in coordination with Gaos (Chief) Margaret Coetzee of the Inqua People

Collaborators: Lucy Vosloo, Yolanda Navarro, Kim Harmse

Location of Research: South Africa

Host Institution: Nelson Mandela University

Collaborating Communities: Gaob Thomas Augustus;  Gaob Daantjie Japhta; Gaob Brato Malgas; Xam ≠ Gaob Maleiba; Paramount Chief Gert Cornelius Steenkamp; Chief Wallace Williams; Gaos Anna Williams; Head Person Flip Pieterse, Sappie Kleinbooi and Inqua People of Baviaanskloof.

Type of Grant: Small Grant

Baviaanskloof house © Magda Minguzzi  

Endangered architecture: This project will document the structures, forms, construction, social life, and repair processes as well as the traditional knowledge system of Urhobo vernacular architecture. The forms of architecture include a dwelling; a shrine; a kitchen; an oven; a traditional altar; a traditional wooden pulley mill press system for pressing grind cassava; and a yam barn. These structures have various components that are made with wood, bamboo, palm fronds, and other plant parts. The architecture is historically significant because of its ties with the early migration of the Urhobo people through riverine territory before settling in the hinterland. Threats to the vernacular architecture of Urhobo include flooding, globalisation, and urbanisation. 

Aims: The aim of the project is to document, promote and preserve the dying traditions and this knowledge system. The project will take place in Eghwu-Oto, Olodiama-Eghwu, Oria-Abraka, and Okpe-Olomu communities in Delta State, southern Nigeria. Working with commissioned local collaborators and consultants, the project will use architectural drawings, hand draft prints, 3D design, photographs, audio and video recordings to document the tradition.

Project Lead: Uyoyou N. O. Edewor

Collaborators: Sunday Adunbi Omosayan, Augustine Oborakpororo Omohwo, Emily Akpomedaye

Location of Research: Nigeria

Host Institution: Akpo Re Ufuoma Development Initiative

Collaborating Organisations: Edoid Cultural Heritage Enterprise

Type of Grant: Small Grant

Endangered architecture: Hamer Woreda in Ethiopia, contains three unique architectures: 1) the Hamer field hut, a very rare example of a fully conical dwelling within the African continent,  2) village huts built by women,  and 3), village huts built by men. Each type exhibits a type of coded system found rarely in architecture, in that locals who can read the buildings know the status of the occupant (and their children), through adaptations made to the building itself. All three types are short lived ephemeral architectures that last little more than ten years without being substantially rebuilt. However, change is coming quickly to southern Ethiopia with the building of a major road that is leading to industrialisation and modernisation of the whole region. Consequently, the conical field shelters are now rarely built, and most are disappearing from the landscape.

Aims: The project aims to record three structures within one community along with their compounds, and to map the village layouts. This project will considerably increase the depth of detail known about these architectural types, as it will not only explore the finished form of the building but also document  the construction materials, management, tool use and patterns of occupation of the whole village area. 

Project Lead: Gordon Clarke

Collaborators: Linda Hurcombe, Takele Merid Afessa

Location of Research: Hamer Woreda, Ethiopia 

Host Institution: University of Exeter

Type of Grant: Small grant

Endangered architecture: The reed architecture of Marsh Arabs of southern Iraq represents the survival of one of the oldest known building traditions in the world. The most distinctive architectural form is the Mudhif; a large meeting hall, usually commissioned by a sheikh and used for community gatherings and the entertainment of guests. These halls are made entirely of reed, consisting of a long tunnel-like structure formed by large reed arches bound together under tension. Between these arches, woven reed mats form the walls and roofs of the mudhif, while the end walls often feature elaborately woven designs. In-depth knowledge of the various reeds which grow in the Iraqi marshes are also essential as different types of reeds are needed for different structural components. Having barely survived the deliberate draining of the marshes in the 1990s, the Marsh Arab communities now face an even greater threat; climate change and dam building, which have reduced the flow of water into the marshes to a critical level.

Aims: The project will seek to document the reed structures, the method of construction and the specialist knowledge required. The latter will include issues such as what sort of reed is used for what part of the building, what time of year building takes place and how the work is organised. The buildings will be recorded through photogrammetry (drone and handheld) and through the production of detailed diagrammatic records.

Project Lead: Mary Shepperson

Collaborators: Jassim al-Asadi

Location of Research: Iraq

Host Institution: University of Liverpool

Collaborating organisation: Nature Iraq

Type of Grant: Small grant

Mudhif near Chibayish, Iraq

Photographer: M. Shepperson 2016

Endangered architecture: Throughout history, teak – from farmer to king – was the mainstay building material and holds a special place in the consciousness of the Burmese people. The harvesting of teak required ceremony and blessings; its handling was a matter of respect. Teak, in the context of a monsoon climate, resists decay, rot, and insect infestation, and its strength is ideal for supporting tremendous weight. The basic form is a stilted elevated platform upon which is erected a structure of singular or multiple gabled roofs. Columns are usually sturdy vertical teak logs embedded below ground, a superstructure perforated with a mortise-and-tenon system of joinery supporting a uniquely Burmese network of girders, joists, and boards. The destruction of Myanmar's teak farmhouses is part of a larger rapid socio-economic transformation that undermines the survival of traditional architectural forms and building craft. The combination of industrialized building materials, a tightening of teak markets, and recent political turmoil are placing incredible pressures on surviving traditional farmhouses, and in doing so, the lifestyles of their inhabitants.

Aims: This project aims to support the documentation of Burmese Teak farmhouse typologies in Myanmar. Engaging with farmhouse owners, the project will contribute to the understanding of Myanmar’s rich vernacular architectural legacy and provide the foundation for future research on its evolution and regional and ethnic variations.

Project Lead: Jeffrey Allen

Collaborators: U Aung Soe Myint, Htet Htet Phyo, Ko Soe Naing Oo

Location of Research: Myanmar

Host Institution: World Monuments Fund (https://www.wmf.org/)

Type of Grant: Small grant

Ko Kyi Naing Win’s home in Mawlaik, Myanmar exemplifies the overlapping residential and agricultural uses of architecture being surveyed under this grant. 

Photographer: Tim Webster, September 16, 2017

Endangered architecture: The Tamang Heritage Trail (THT)in Nepal  was introduced as part of the Tourism for Rural Poverty Alleviation Program (TRPAP) to showcase local culture and heritage. Traditional houses here consist of dry-stone masonry (gable-end and rear walls) and wooden elements incorporating load-bearing elements, balconies, and a roof structure, as well as a wooden carved wall on the front façade. Most traditional houses are built in a row, inducing a high interdependency of these constructions. The dwellings and settlements are notable for their cultural significance, their adaptation to daily and seasonal uses and their adaptation to the local climate. However, the Tamang built heritage is currently under severe threat. Almost all the houses have been damaged (at different levels of severity) due to the 2015 Gorkha earthquakes. Despite their will to preserve their cultural heritage, inhabitants have had to make repairs using non-traditional methods such as RCC frame to meet the government building standards and regulations, and in many cases, they have been forced to rebuild a new house in spaces formerly dedicated to other uses or still live in their damaged house. 

Aims: This project aims to document buildings and settlements at varying scales along the Tamang Heritage Trail, with a primary focus on the village of Gatlang. The project will build on research by ASF Nepal and AE&CC-CRAterre to involve inhabitants, artisans, and communities in its documentation of the technical elements of this built heritage and the   local cultural knowledge and practices that shaped it. This documentation will aid in the support of reconstruction projects and self-recovery.

Project Lead: Reshma Shrestha

Collaborators: Minar Thapa Magar, Salena Sangachhe, Philippe Garnier

Location of Research: Nepal

Host Institution: CRS Nepal

Type of Grant: Small Grant

The image above shows a traditional housing pattern in the village of Gatlang, Rasuwa, a few months after the 2015 Gorkha earthquakes.

Photographer: Remi Buscot, July 2015.

Endangered architecture: The wooden townhouses (havelis) of Gujarat are of high historical, cultural and architectural significance owing to their elaborate decorative motifs, which developed out of an amalgamation of Hindu, Jain, Islamic, Mughal and European design traditions. In addition, the houses are excellent examples of how local construction techniques responded to the availability and management of scarce resources, as wood is not abundant in certain regions of Gujarat and each region developed its own system of design. Today many of these traditional buildings are in disrepair or being demolished and local building knowledge is being lost. Gujarat is also in an earthquake prone area and regular small tremors are slowly but steadily causing the townhouses to collapse.

Aims: This project aims to document up to 100 wooden havelis in Gujarat through 3D LiDAR scanning technology and architectural drawings. The project will record representative typologies and variations in construction techniques, as well as the knowledge of construction systems, ideologies of ornamentation and community histories. Archival research and oral histories will be used to support the surveys.

Project Lead: Jigna Desai

Collaborators: Gauri Bharat, Brinda Pancholi Shah, Ashna Patel, Shriraj Gohil, Mrudula Mane, Shaily Gandhi

Location of Research: Gujarat, India

Host Institution: Center for Heritage Conservation, CEPT Research and Development Foundation

Type of Grant: Large grant

Wooden House in Dharmaj, Central Gujarat is an example of elaborately carved wooden houses, now in a state of disrepair. 

Photographer: Jigna Desai, June 2021.

Endangered architecture: There are three variants of timber-laced masonry constructions that have been in practice in Kashmir, Frontier Pakistan and Himachal Pradesh. A popular construction system, particularly in Frontier Pakistan (regionally called bhatar) and parts of Himachal Pradesh and Kashmir, employs a technique in which horizontal timber bands are embedded within the masonry walls. The alternating horizontal courses of these timber bands, usually placed at regular distances, act as seismic bands and have been widely adopted in new builds in the earthquake- prone areas of Pakistan after the devastating earthquake of October 2005. The second variant of the timber-laced masonry construction is the cator and cribbage construction – which is mostly seen in buildings of religious significance (such as khanqahs and mosques) in Kashmir, dating back to at least the 15th century. Until the turn of the 19^th century, there were many surviving khanqahs built in this technique in Kashmir. However, only 3 such khanqahs of high architectural value survive today. Further, the cator cribbage is a declining form of construction, owing largely to the fast-depleting deodar (cedrus deodrara) forests and the introduction of modern building material and techniques. These buildings are also vulnerable to fire and two khanqahs have already succumbed, being rebuilt in modern materials, thus losing not only the construction techniques but the spirit of the structure.

Aims: This project aims to survey the three-surviving wooden Khanqahs in Kashmir. Measured drawings using traditional methods will be complemented by digital scanning techniques to develop richer and more accurate detailing of joinery and other timber and composite masonry details. 

Project Lead: Mohammad Ajmal Shah

Collaborators: Saima Iqbal, Takeyuki Okubo

Location of Research: Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir, Indian

Host Institution: University of Kashmir

Type of Grant: Large grant

Khanqah of Shah Hamdan, Srinagar, UT of Jammu & Kashmir © Archaeological Survey of India

Endangered architecture: Mohannas, an indigenous community of fishermen in Pakistan, live on boat-houses along the banks, lakes and islands of the Indus River in Sindh province. The Mohanna villages comprise of fleets of varying sized house-boats and other smaller vessels, forming the tangible expression of the cultural landscape. The Indus boat-houses are richly ornate and uniquely designed flat-bottomed vessels, specially developed to navigate the shallow and turbulent waters of the unpredictable Indus River. Custodians of ‘Indus Boat-House’ culture are today faced with displacement, and deprived of their ancestral livelihood due to pollution, reduced freshwater supplies, and other industrial exploitations that have played havoc with the ecology of Manchar Lake. Many boat-dwellers have either shifted to affordable housing on adjoining lands or migrated to other locations along the Indus, in search of livelihoods.

Aims: This project aims to document this dying culture of Indus boat-houses to generate a visual and technical record of the processes and traditional ways of boat building and their maintenance. Being an oral tradition there is no record of the traditional ways of building the boat-houses, nor is there a record of the rituals related to this unique lifestyle. The produced documentation will be a first-time attempt at creating an archival and documentary record of the central and most tangible material aspect of this cultural tradition. 

Project Lead:  Anila Naeem and Farida A. Ghaffar

Collaborators: Shazia Abro, Muhammad Ahmed

Location of Research: Sindh, Pakistan

Host Institution: N.E.D University of Engineering and Technology

Type of Grant: Small grant

Mohanna Boat-houses banked on Indus near Sukkur up till 2010 (now displaced)

Photographer: Anila Naeem, December 2004

Endangered architecture: Once an important tributary to the historic Silk Route, Gurez valley contains some of the last vestiges of early medieval traditional wooden architecture in Kashmir. The present study is focused on the population of 38,000 Shina-speaking Dards of the Gurez valley in the Indian-administered part of Kashmir. Various varieties of cedar (deodar) are the most preferred construction material for the houses, mostly in the form of stacked undressed simple wooden logs or dressed planks. The multi-storeyed structures with truncated apex, have gabled roofs ascending in tiers of pyramidal form, with overhanging eaves. The traditional ways of life and the cultural landscape of the region are rapidly disappearing under the combined impacts of armed conflict, the new wave of adventure tourism, and ambitious redevelopment. Consequently, the local population is forced to transform their traditional ways of living, threatening the continued use of traditional techniques and styles of construction which have been practiced since early medieval times.

Aims: This project aims to locate and survey at least 10 of the most significant and endangered wooden structures in the Gurez valley. This study will also collect oral histories and plans to open possibilities for integrating local communities and heritage conservation.

Project Lead: Rafiq Ahmad

Collaborators: Fayaz Ahmad, Aamir Latief Wani, Emily S. Doerner

Location of Research: Kashmir, India

Host Institution: Govt. College for Women Nawakadal

Type of Grant: Small grant

 A residential log-house in Tulail, Gurez, Photographer: Rafiq Ahmad

Endangered architecture: The Dong people are a marginalized minority group who have been living in peripheral southwestern China for more than 600 years. Unusually with no written language until the 1950s, Dong has carried on their distinctive orally-based culture. The social and cultural identity of the Dong is intimately tied to their most important public building type: the drum tower. The construction technique, craftsmanship and inhabitation ritual of drum towers in Dong villages constitutes the group’s shared living heritage and is a cornerstone of Dong society, space and everyday practice. There are only around 600 drum towers on record, with 167 of them in Congjiang county, which is this project’s focused fieldwork location. Over the last 20 years rapid development and intervention from the modern economy, transportation, material and construction technology, the Dong people’s production system, construction system, cultural customs, and daily activities are all undergoing drammatic changes. This has resulted in the rapid decay and destruction of traditional Dong buildings. 

Aims: The project aims to digitally document the drum tower wooden heritage at risk, together with its immediate historic surroundings (ca. 15 drum towers and ca. 35 surrounding wooden structures), across the Dong minority’s vernacular villages of Congjiang county in southwestern China. The project engages with Dong minority groups and carpenters in the digital documentation process, to better understand cultural meaning and tacit knowledge of the drum tower and Dong minority group through an interdisciplinary collaboration of architecture and anthropology.

Project Lead: Xiang Ren

Collaborators: Derong Kong

Location of Research: China

Host Institution: The University of Sheffield

Collaborating Organisations: Beijing University of Civil Engineering and Architecture 

Type of Grant: Large Grant

The heaven, the land and the drum tower © Derong Kong

Endangered architecture: The Wancho people reside in secluded villages at the border region of India and Myanmar. The villages are divided into ‘khels’, which represent residential divisions. The traditional architecture is visually distinct, and it is closely associated with age-old socio-religious beliefs and practices. Building construction is carried out as a community activity by the men, while the women’s role is in the preparation of food for the ritual feasts that are hosted for the workforce by the house owner during the period of construction. The family homes and community centres of the Wancho cultural tradition are constructed of locally obtained materials: wood, bamboo and palm leaf thatch. The knowledge about the architecture and the building techniques that have been practised since time immemorial is now threatened and endangered, as the loss of local knowledge is accelerated by the pressures of modernization.

Aims: The project will survey and document the traditional male dormitories (Paa) and chiefs’ houses (Wang-kam) in several Wancho villages of the upper region of Longding District, in Arunachal Pradesh. The surveys will produce not only architectural drawings and 3D documentation, but also observations and interviews on the cultural knowledge relating to the traditional building construction. 

Project Lead: Tara Douglas

Collaborators: Jatwang Wangsa, Changam Wangsa, Arnav Saikia, Amol Mankeekar

Location of Research: India

Host Institution: Adivasi Arts Trust

Collaborating Organisations:

Type of Grant: Small Grant

The family home of Chawang Wangham, Chief of Kamhua Noknu village, 2023 © Tara Douglas

Endangered architecture: Shimla, India, was established as a sanatorium during the British Raj in the early 1820s, and by 1864 it had evolved into the Summer Capital of the British Empire in India. The architectural vocabulary and spatial planning of these structures highlight Colonial Architecture of the hill stations established in the early phase of the British Empire. Shimla's wooden architectural heritage demonstrates the evolution of the use of wood from a basic load bearing Dhajji structural system (wooden bracing with stone or brick infill and mud plaster) to an articulated facade and interiors. Due to developmental pressures and growing affinity towards modern construction methods the buildings are being insensitively maintained, ignoring the traditional crafts, and causing a decline in the traditional knowledge system.

Aims: The project aims to document around 30 buildings in Shimla producing architectural drawings and 3D documentation.  

Project Lead: Dr Amritpal S Sagoo

Collaborators: Saumya Sharma, Lovnish Kumar

Location of Research: India

Host Institution: Nottingham Trent University

Collaborating Organisation: Panjab University 

Type of Grant: Large Grant

A listed heritage structure on the verge of becoming a ruin due to neglect and constant disrepairs © Saumya Sharma, 2016

Endangered architecture: Filipino Bahay na bato at Kahoy (lit. `House of Stone and Wood`), is a building type unique to the Philippines which evolved in the 17^th and 18^th centuries. It reached its peak in the 19^th century but then completely disappeared shortly after World War II. It originally evolved from the native and rural Austronesian Bahay Kubo (lit. `Farmer`s House` of wood, bamboo, and thatch) into its urban counterpart and is the quintessential Filipino-Hispanic house of the Spanish and US-American colonial periods. It is perfectly adapted to the frequent earthquakes and tropical climate of the Philippines, combining the wooden structural framework of the Bahay Kubo with Spanish-imported stone architecture and Chinese, Japanese, and Middle-Eastern elements (clay tile roof, shell windows, enclosed wooden balconies that maximize natural cross-ventilation). Today only a few examples survive, often in advanced stages of neglect and decay, threatened by redevelopment.

Aims: The project will document six historic wooden houses of the Bahay na bato type in the Philippines, producing architectural drawings and 3D documentation.  

Project Lead: Erik Akpedonu

Collaborators: Javier Galván Guijo, Cheek Fadriquela, Marianito Luspo

Location of Research: Philippines

Host Institution: Ateneo de Manila University

Type of Grant: Small Grant

Chan Camarin, San Nicolas, Manila, 1860s: One of the oldest remaining houses of Manila, and the only one in Metro Manila that has preserved its original Spanish-era clay tile roof. (Image courtesy of Andrew Chester Ong, 2012)

Endangered architecture: The distinctive conical houses of wood, bamboo and thatched construction reaching 15 meters high, known as Mbaru Niang, are representative of the living culture of Wae Rebo, a remote village located within the regency of Manggarai in the rainforest mountains of Flores, Indonesia. These dwellings are the communal domestic and ceremonial space for an entire clan, sheltering up to eight families, their crops, food and ritual belongings, over five storeys. There are some species of plants used by the community of Wae Rebo for the manufacture of their traditional houses, but since the forest is now a protected forest, it is hard for people to get the woods. Similarly, Todo village is one of the oldest traditional villages in Manggarai, located at the foot of Mount Anak Ranaka and has several typical traditional houses including Niang Todo, the traditional high cone-shaped thatched roof. Wae Rebo and Todo have historical, cultural, and architectural significance for Manggarai people. Being an oral tradition there is no record of the traditional ways of building and much of this knowledge is now lost. 

Aims: This project aims to document the traditional vernacular houses within the Wae Rebo and Todo villages, producing architectural drawings and 3D documentation.  

Project Lead: Yulia Nuriani Lukito

Collaborators: Miktha Farid Alkadri, Gunawan Tjahjono, Gregorius Antar Awal

Location of Research: Indonesia

Host Institution: Universitas Indonesia

Type of Grant: Large Grant 

Traditional Village of Wae Rebo in Manggarai, East Nusa Tenggara, Indonesia © Gregorius Antar Awal, 2014

Endangered architecture: The Bajau Laut are regarded as one of the major maritime communities of both ancient and modern Southeast Asia. Until the mid-1950s, the Bajau Laut of Semporna district, Sabah, lived a nomadic life entirely on houseboats. These houseboats, called lepa, served both as a family’s living quarter and as its principal productive asset. Many important rituals, symbolic and cultural meanings are attached to the boat-dwellings, however, there is a lack of understanding over contemporary practices, changes and challenges. Due to resettlement on land and reduced access to wood and fishing grounds, the boat building skills and the living heritage of lepa are declining rapidly.  

Aims: This project intends to take urgent steps to document the Bajau Laut’s fast-disappearing seaborne lifestyle and the unique boat-dwelling traditions. The project will produce a wide range of documentation outputs, comprising sketches, digital 3D models, maps, photographs, drone footage, recorded interviews, and interview transcripts. 

Project Lead: Keng-Khoon Ng

Collaborators: Mukmin Nantang

Location of Research: Malaysia

Host Institution: National University of Singapore

Collaborating Organisations: Borneo Komrad

Type of Grant: Small Grant

A scattered Bajau Laut village in Timbun Mata Island © Keng-Khoon Ng, Dec 2023

Endangered architecture: The Classic Māori Period was one of architectural distillation, creating Māori whare (house) distinct from Polynesian fale (house). Unlike the fale, which visibly binds the frame together with rope acting as a connector, the whare used a hidden building system called mīmiro, which transversely post-tensions the entire building frame. Built not from the ground up with the roof laid on top of supporting walls, the whare is constructed from the roof down. The only remaining whare to have been built using mīmiro, Whakaata in Okains Bay Museum, was carved and built by John Rua and Murray Thacker in 1976. A traditional whare, Tānewhirinaki, built in 1874 using mīmiro has been in storage for 100 years and is scheduled to be reconstructed in 2023. Documenting the reconstruction of this whare will preserve this rare building tradition and uphold cultural identity in a transcolonised society.

Aims: This project will record the dimensions, materiality, and morphology of the components in detailed drawings and document the processes of fabrication and assemblage in photography and animation. Related research will also record lateral movement and seismic resilience.

Project Lead: Anthony Hoete

Collaborators: Ngāti Ira O Waioweka, Dante Bonica, Jeremy Treadwell

Location of Research: Aotearoa, New Zealand

Host Institution: University of Auckland

Type of Grant: Small grant

Te whare rangitupu, Photo: Anthony Hoete, 2022

Endangered architecture: The Churches of Chiloé represent an architectural tradition begun by Jesuit itinerant preachers in the 17th and 18th centuries; a successful fusion of indigenous culture and European techniques. There are a total of 151 still-standing churches across the remote Chiloé Archipelago. Located in the south of Chile, these wooden buildings withstand a cold and rainy climate that forces constant maintenance and replacement of structural materials due to pathologies caused by different types of rot. The physical conservation of these buildings is difficult, due to a lack of local knowledge of wooden building techniques, which has gradually been lost, and the need for regular professional inspections to assess their state. Out of the 151 Churches of Chiloé, 16 were added to the UNESCO World Heritage List in 2000 as a unique example of religious architecture in Latin America, being one of the seven listed sites in Chile.

Aims: The project will document around 15 Churches in Chiloé, important wooden structures currently at risk, some of which are listed as UNESCO World Heritage. The churches will be selected according to their state of conservation and cultural significance, directing the efforts where most needed. The accurate three-dimensional documentation of these structures will provide a virtual platform for disseminating vernacular wooden building techniques and allowing expert technical assessment to ensure their physical conservation. Using mixed methods of terrestrial LiDAR, drones and photogrammetry, the churches and their immediate surroundings will be documented and shared online, making them available and virtually visitable by a global audience. 

Project Lead: Bernadette Devilat

Collaborators: Umberto Bonomo, Natalia Cruz, Lorenzo Berg, Gamal Abdelmonem, Felipe Lanuza, Andrés Morales and Santiago Bernales.  

Location of Research: Chiloé, Chile

Host Institution: University of Nottingham 

Collaborating Institutions (Chile): Centro del Patrimonio Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile (CENPUC); Fundación Iglesias de Chiloé; Facultad de Arquitectura y Urbanismo Universidad de Chile (FAU), Nottingham Trent University (NTU) 

Type of Grant: Large grant

Church of Caguach, UNESCO World Heritage Site. Chiloé Archipelago, Chile. 

Photographer: Natalia Cruz (Fundación Iglesias Patrimoniales de Chiloé), 2021

Endangered architecture: Within the Ribeira Valley in Brazil, 14 buildings are today listed as Japanese Immigration Cultural Assets. These buildings represent a unique hybrid form of Brazilian wooden architecture that combines the architectural traditions of Japanese immigrants who settled in the region during the early 20th century with the knowledge, skills and crafts of the Indigenous and Maroon groups already present in the region, resulting in a unique wooden architectural tradition that successfully merged disparate architectural traditions while being adapted to the Brazilian landscape and climate. Most of the hundreds of houses that were built at the time no longer exist today, while the remaining ones are uninhabited and in a precarious state, partially deteriorated, destroyed, or at risk of imminent collapse. 

Aims: Using a literature review and detailed architectural survey methods (including descriptions, drawings, plans and photographs), this project aims to record an exemplar of these unique Japanese immigrant houses, identifying construction components, jointing systems and the construction processes of the carpenters within the wider cultural context. 

Project Lead: Akemi Hijoka

Collaborators: Alain Briatte Mantchev, Hector Yuji Yokoyama Inafuku, Makoto Kawajiri

Location of Research: municipality of Registro, Brazil

Host Institution: Institute of Education, Science and Technology of São Paulo

Collaborating institutions: FUNARBE, (Arthur Bernardes Foundation)

Type of Grant: Small grant

Endangered architecture: The Aysen region in Patagonia, the last region in Chile to be inhabited, is currently the most isolated region in the country. Its wooden architectural heritage was built by inhabitants who spontaneously arrived in the region from other areas of southern Chile and from Europe, between 1910 and 1960. The vernacular architecture reflects the traditional occupations, techniques and tools that were introduced in the area by inhabitants from different places of origin, which together define a unique Aysen cultural and heritage identity. Marked technical differences can be seen between the structures, with wooden structures combined with baked bricks, thatch or stones and wooden shingle. There are also constructions of carved sticks and/or logs of the "palo amordazado" [“gagged sticks”] type. The architecture is currently in an advanced state of deterioration due to abandonment, the devaluation of native wood, the loss of traditional occupations and construction techniques, and the arrival of new construction materials and industrial production.

Aims: The project aims to carry out a survey of around 30 wooden structures that represent the self-made building systems of the Aysen region, in addition to gathering complementary data. With these records, a consolidated database will be created, which will allow for a more nuanced analysis of the vernacular architecture in the Aysen region.

Project Lead: Carlos Nicolás Castillo Levicoy

Collaborators: Constanza Pérez Lira, María Ximena Urbina Carrasco, Amalia Nuevo Delaunay

Location of Research: Chile

Host Institution: Corporación Memoria Austral

Type of Grant: Large Grant

Old administration house Estancia Ñirehuao, built in 1913 (XX Century), Coyhaique, Aysén Region, Chile. © Carlos Castillo Levicoy, 2022.

Endangered architecture: As the major port of the region from the mid-19th century to 1914 (when the Panama Canal was opened), Valparaiso, Chile, is a singular representation of early Latin American industrial heritage. The period saw the construction of homes, as well as the most advanced technologies for urban development, including mechanical elevators that connected the lower part of the city with residential hills. These buildings were varied in architectural styles and were predominantly built with local wood or north-American Oregon timber, which was one of the first standardized materials to abundantly arrive in Chile as ship ballast. Specific techniques were based on vernacular knowledge, which was greatly influenced by the arrival of migrant craftsmen. Architectural styles included horizontal and vertical wooden frames that were filled and clad with earth. A desire for prefabrication influenced more sophisticated systems such as the adobillo: a specially formed block with wooden dry joinery that is only registered in Chile. Many of these structures are under threat due to environmental impacts, such as insect infestations and earthquakes, as well as inappropriate interventions to conserve the buildings that have compromised their integrity. 

Aims: The project aims to register cases within Valparaiso’s heritage protected areas and conduct an in-depth survey of a minimum of six significant examples of its architecture, producing architectural drawings and 3D photogrammetry. These will include different examples of Ascensores (Larraín, Artillería…), as well as representative examples of housing typologies and architectural styles. 

Project Lead: Carmen Gómez

Collaborators: Tomás Bahamondes, Cristopher Vrsalovic, Cristian Ribalta, Luis Cuevas, Luis Torres

Location of Research: Chile

Host Institution: Fundación Instituto Profesional Duoc UC

Collaborating Organisations:  Ministerio de Obras Públicas, Servicio Nacional de Patrimonio Cultural, Corporación La Matriz

Type of Grant: Large Grant

Ascensor Lecheros. Gómez, 2023.

Endangered architecture: The wooden churches of Romania date back to the 16^th century and represent architecture at the crossroad of several cultural and religious influences in eastern Europe. In 1999, eight wooden churches of the Maramureș region were added to the UNESCO World Heritage List, highlighting their significance. Today over 1400 churches exist, demonstrating several different building techniques: A) horizontally stacked logs jointed at the corners (also known as the blockbau system), B) vertically framed logs jointed with horizontally stacked beams, C) wattle and daub, and D) earth-lodging (similar to the folk pit-houses, which were mostly semi-recessed into the earth with a roof standing out). Today these churches, some in small remote villages, are being abandoned and damaged at increasing rates. There is also much to be recovered and understood about traditional carpentry by preserving and thoroughly documenting these buildings.

Aims: This project aims to ensure the long term 3D digital preservation of 30 endangered and valuable wooden churches in Romania. The project also aims to set up a regional technology teaching hub integrating the project equipment into future training and recording programmes.

Project Lead: Cosmin-Bogdan Ilieș

Collaborators: Ileana Burnichioiu, Călin Șuteu, Celina Gora, Mihai Moldovan (RA)

Location of Research: Romania

Host Institution: Monumentum Association 

Collaborating organisation: Wooden Churches Association (Asociația Biserici Înlemnite), Universitatea “1 Decembrie 1918” Alba Iulia, National Heritage Institute (Institutul Național al Patrimoniului)

Type of Grant: Large grant

The "Saint Paraskeva" Wooden Church of Mirosloveşti (Iaşi county, RO), dating back to 1756, with an architecture that displays a unique influence, usually found in the brick and stone masonry of the regional monasteries and known as the "Moldavian style".

Photo credits: Călin Șuteu, 2022

Endangered architecture: Traditional wooden architecture has historically been widespread in the continental part of Croatia. Today the greatest concentration is found in central Croatia, in the regions of Banovina/Banija, Pokuplje, Posavina and Turopolje. The local environment, terrain, abundance of timber and ways of farming influenced the typology of rural settlements and the characteristics of traditional architecture in the region. The houses are typically constructed with hewn planks, joined with wooden wedges, making it possible to disassemble and reassemble the units. Walls are typically smeared with mud, earth, or clay with mixtures of chaff or chopped straw, and then whitewashed with lime. Carvings or decorations may appear on parts of the buildings, usually on the street or courtyard façade. Unfortunately, the wooden architecture in the Banovina/Banija, Pokuplje and Posavina regions has been highly endangered for several reasons, including damage and demolition from earthquakes, depopulation, and neglect.

Aims: This project aims to develop a multidisciplinary methodology for documenting historic environments and structures, survey over 100 villages, and record in detail houses within eight villages. Importantly, it aims to raise awareness of the wooden heritage in the region by recording village histories, the ways of life and usage of buildings and spaces, life stories of families and individuals, and woodworking skills and traditions. In particular, the project will organise a crowdsourcing campaign with high school students in order to collect information on wooden buildings and craftsmen in the region.

Project Lead: Sanja Lončar

Collaborators: Goran Andlar, Hrvoje Tomić, Filip Šrajer

Assistants: Tanja Kremenić, Grga Frangeš, Davor Konjikušić

Location of Research: Banovina/Banija, Pokuplje and Posavina Regions, Croatia

Host Institution: Društvo "Terra banalis" / Association "Terra banalis" (https://terrabanalis.wixsite.com/terrabanalis)

Type of Grant: Large grant

Neglected house in Bok Palanječki, Municipality of Martinska Ves, Sisak-Moslavina County, Croatia 

Photo: Sanja Lončar 2021

Endangered architecture: Croatian chardaks are structures that have several meanings and appearances. One type is an elevated storage for corn that can still be found in rural settlements as an element of the traditional farm households and yards. Corn storages along the Drava River were made as baskets woven from willow and hazel branches, but only few of them can still be found nowadays. The structures are raised on wooden supports (transverse logs) and usually placed in an open place in the yard where the air flow allows better drying of the cobs. They were usually decorated with carvings on nicely shaped beams. Another type of chardak found in Osijek-baranya County is a more utilitarian kind of corn storage building that can be up to two stories with a masonry base and wooden upper floor. Due to depopulation in the countryside and modernisation these structures are not maintained and many of the skills to build them are being lost. 

Aims: The goal of this project is to create a database of chardaks for around 45 villages along the rivers Drava and Danube, documenting volume, material, construction, design, building technology, location, and so on. The field research will also include the collection of stories about the use of chardaks and their construction. For each typology, several chardaks will be selected and recorded in detail. Two workshops will be organized in which local artisans will demonstrate the construction techniques for chardak construction. 

Project Lead: Dina Stober

Collaborators: Jasenka Kranjčević, Danijela Domljan, Margareta Turkalj Podmanicki, Sanja Lončar Vicković, Damir Doležal, Vasilije Vranić, Darija Kuharić

Location of Research: Croatia

Host Institution: Faculty of Civil Engineering and Architecture Osijek

Collaborating Organisations: Institute for Tourism, Faculty of Forestry and Wood Technology, The Academy of Arts and Culture in Osijek (The Centre for Cultural Heritage)

Type of Grant: Large Grant

The chardak in Kenđelovec, Saint Ivan Žabno municipality, Koprivnica – Križevac County, Croatia, ©  Jasenka Kranjčević, 2023