Public debate: Material culture - a broader vision on heritage

22 October 2024 19:00 till 21:00 - Location: Faculty of Architecture and the Built Environment, Berlage rooms - By: Circular Built Environment Hub | Add to my calendar

Does our understanding of a Circular Economy necessitate a broader perspective on heritage? On 22 October, the sixth debate in the 'Making the Circular Built Environment a Reality' series focuses on the cultural dimensions of transitioning to a circular built environment. This conversation introduces a fresh viewpoint on cultural heritage, focusing on historical and aesthetic values embedded in materials.

Topic

All buildings are composed of finite materials, whether or not they are protected by heritage regulations. The need for a new ecological culture, one that prioritizes the intrinsic value of materials regardless of their historical significance, should be debated. Simultaneously, efforts to renovate buildings to enhance energy efficiency, as part of the European Renovation Wave, should align with an expanded conception of cultural heritage. By integrating material conservation, historical narratives can be honored while meeting environmental objectives. The discussion will explore how to balance heritage preservation with ecological responsibility, and how renovation, heritage, and landscapes can coexist in harmony.

Programme

Three guests will be joining us for this highly interactive session: Ana Roders (Faculty of Architecture and the Built Environment, TU Delft), Chiara Pradel (Faculty of Architecture and the Built Environment, TU Delft), and Aditya Parulekar (Royal HaskoningDHV).

They will share their lessons learned and help us to understand:

How can we extend our cultural understanding of heritage? And what measurements should be done?
How should we establish a structure that protects materials the same way as buildings?
Can we protect buildings that are not regarded as culturally valuable?
How can buildings be renovated and preserved in a circular way?

After three presentations, participants will divide into four groups, each focused on a case study of a circular renovation project. With the guidance of our guest, they will elaborate on these questions. A plenary session in the second half of the event will allow us to contextualize and reflect on the insights gained, considering the impact of material preservation. Should we scale these efforts up or make them more widespread? What can we learn from both their successes and failures?

About the speakers

: Chiara Pradel, architect PhD, graduated in architecture from IUAV in Venice and earned a master's degree in territorial architecture research from AAM in Mendrisio.
She practiced as a landscape architect in Switzerland with Prof. Arch. Paolo Bürgi from 2007 to 2020, participating in numerous projects and competitions in Europe, such as the design for the emblematic plaza at the entrance of CERN in Geneva.
In 2022, she earned her PhD in Architectural, Urban and Interior Design from Politecnico di Milano, with a thesis titled "Monumental Ground. Infrastructures, Construction Sites, Landscape". Her drawings and texts have been published in various national and international journals and exhibited at the 10th International Architecture Biennale in Rotterdam, "It's About Time". She is currently a postdoctoral researcher at the Faculty of Architecture and the Built Environment, TU Delft, Situated Architecture chair.
Her current research is titled “Material Garden. Between construction, deconstruction and maintenance”.
: Ana Pereira Roders is currently Professor in Heritage and Values, UNESCO chair on Heritage and the Reshaping of Urban Conservation for Sustainability, at TUDelft (The Netherlands). Ana graduated as an Architect at University Lusíada (Portugal) in 2002; and obtained a PhD in Building Technology in 2007 at TU/e (The Netherlands), focused on what we would call today, the modeling and testing of a design process for a circular renovation, bridging heritage and sustainability. Since then, she kept working both at the building and urban level, given policies were among the key bottlenecks of circularity – still today two decades later. She worked at universities in the Netherlands, Portugal, Belgium, UK and Mozambique. Her contributions to science, known to be innovative, interdisciplinary and methodical, are disseminated in hundreds of publications and events. In 2015, Ana gave a TEDx Talk in Hamburg (Germany) on how cities become resource efficient.
: Aditya Parulekar graduated from TU Delft Building Technology track in 2020 and joined the Sustainable Buildings team of Royal HaskoningDHV the same year. He has a strong drive to contribute to the sustainable development of the built environment through his work. He works as a consultant and project manager on energy transition and sustainability related projects within the built environment. Aditya likes to develop sustainability strategies for complex buildings or building portfolios in which multiple stakeholders are involved. In his projects he tries to find the right balance for his clients between operational carbon, embodied carbon, cost, and time. Projects he has worked on include various train stations of NS, hospitals, embassy buildings of Netherlands in different countries, offices and labs of ASML and RHDHV’s new office at Mijnbouwstraat 120.

Registration

The debate is free of charge, but registration is mandatory. The number of participants is limited to 50.

Further information

This debate is organised by the Circular Built Environment Hub as part of the 'Making the Circular Built Environment a Reality' series. Organiser of this edition: Magadalena Zabek.

Read more about the 'Making the Circular Built Environment a Reality' series.
Read more about the Circular Built Environment Hub.
Please feel free to contact the Circular Built Environment Hub for further information.