the challenges of vernacular architecture Toshiyuki Kono
President of ICOMOS International (2018-2020)
Art.1 of the World Heritage Convention stipulates that “monuments”, “groups of buildings” and “sites” shall be considered as “cultural heritage” under the Convention. Thus, “groups of buildings” define the scope of application of the Convention. In fact, the World Cultural Heritage properties which were inscribed for the first time in 1978, already included “groups of building”, as the City of Quito, and the Historic Center of Krakow. Vernacular architecture, as an essential element of “groups of buildings”, started to play a crucial role in the World Heritage system from the beginning. Vernacular architecture is however fragile in many ways. If a natural disaster occurs or urban development is intensified, private owners of vernacular houses in the affected area may demolish or sell their properties to avoid various burdens. Traditional skills and craftsmanship applied to vernacular buildings would be more easily lost than those applied to monuments, since the job market of carpenters with traditional skills has been shrinking, while the craftsmanship of the highest quality would be subsidised and maintained, in order to keep up monuments. One cannot freeze the lifestyle of local residents. It is therefore difficult, to prevent modern influences, not only on their lifestyle, but also on their traditional houses. This timely publication contributes to raising awareness of the importance and the challenges of vernacular architecture, not only for policymakers, but also for regular citizens. Applying advanced digital technology is a resource for heritage communities, to be further explored. Under the current difficult situation of a pandemic, the approach of digital transformation gains more significance than ever. This project is one of the pioneer works where the vernacular architecture and the digital transformation are well integrated. I congratulate the project team on this impressive outcome! Yours, Toshiyuki Kono
opposite page Historic windmills on the Island of Pátmos, Greece (© L. Dipasquale, 2015)