Print Email Facebook Twitter Acknowledging the Dignity of Architectural Heritage Title Acknowledging the Dignity of Architectural Heritage: Adding a Fourth Virtue to the Vitruvian Triad Author Clarke, Nicholas (TU Delft Heritage & Architecture) Kuipers, M.C. (TU Delft Heritage & Values) Date 2023 Abstract Addressing the complex legacies of the past in architectural education and built constructions, calls for a reconsidering of the principles of architectural design and conservation. The current challenges of housing, sustainable development and heritage adaptation present huge dilemmas for architects. Yet today architects are only by exception trained to detect heritage values prior to drafting their interventions for adaptive reuse or upgrading. To this day, Western architectural thinking is influenced by the Vitruvian triad Firmitas, Utilitas and Venustas, and the truncated maxim ‘Form Follows Function’ as disseminated by the protagonists of the Modern Movement. These established a divide between the design for new-build and the care of already existing buildings. This divide is marked by the two Charters of Athens: the 1931 Carta del Restauro adopted at the First International Congress of Architects and Technicians of Historic Monuments, and La Chartre d’Athènes presented by Le Corbusier as a result of the 4th CIAM Congress on the Functional City (1933). This paper attempts to bridge the identified divide by adding the idea of ‘Dignitas’ (dignity) as an equal virtue to the Vitruvian triad. Though not new for itself, this concept may aid to raise awareness of architectural dignity in extant buildings. Subject architectural theoryarchitectural educationconservation theoryrenovation challengedignitas To reference this document use: http://resolver.tudelft.nl/uuid:9526fff4-b294-4c9e-89a2-25a5d3a345a0 DOI https://doi.org/10.30958/aja.9-3-1 ISSN 2407-9472 Source Athens Journal of Architecture, 9 (3), 257-280 Part of collection Institutional Repository Document type journal article Rights © 2023 Nicholas Clarke, M.C. Kuipers Files PDF 2023_9_3_1_Clarke.pdf 751.12 KB Close viewer /islandora/object/uuid:9526fff4-b294-4c9e-89a2-25a5d3a345a0/datastream/OBJ/view