AVS. Arkitektúr verktækni skipulag - 01.06.2003, Side 16

4. Fyrirhugað hótel á horni Túngötu og Aðalstrætis. / Proposed hotel on the corner of Túngata
and Aðalstræti.
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Conservation:
| A Snail in a Square Shell
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The foundation for all discussion
U-1 about the conservation of build-
ings is the fact that all buildings
must disappear from our eyes
0 one day. The oldest cities of the
world are 6,000 to 8,000 years
old and none of their original
buildings are still standing. Like
cells in a living tissue, buildings
and whole city districts are
renewed. The lifetime of buildings
is short, whereas cities can live
for an undefined time.
Conservation of buildings is
therefore only for today’s com-
munity.
Why do we conserve buildings
and whole districts?
The basic reasons for conserva-
tion are twofold:
1) Protection of historic buildings
that in some way are connected
to events or people who have
influenced the development of
society, in order that they teach a
certain history to current genera-
tions.
2) Outstanding or imposing
design protected as an outstand-
ing work of art.
If one looks realistically at the
lcelandic scene, there are not an
awful lot of buildings that would
meet these criteria. The architec-
tural history of the country is not
old and one could not say that
many buildings are connected to
revolutionary social change.
Tensions can, however, arise
between building conservation
and societal needs. All develop-
ment must take into account that
the built environment is only a
physical manifestation of the soci-
ety living at any given time. One
can liken the built environment to
a shell and the society to a snail.
The snail makes its shell accord-
ing to its needs and physical con-
dition. The shell offers the snail
protection against external forces
and forms to its body. The snail
fits very badly into a square shell,
and such shells are therefore
rare. The built environment must
be capable of adjusting to the
conditions and needs of society.
Unfortunately, it often so happens
that the ideals of buiding- and
district conservation vanish into
the glory of history to such and
extent that existing society is for-
gotten.
It was a great loss to modern
society when the building
Fjalaköttur in Reykjavík was
demolished, almost during one
night (1). The prevailing ideology
was that everything should be
new. Today, everything should be
old, even the new.
Today everything is conserved
from Norwegian unit houses (2) to
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