effective medium documenting historical building chapter 2 latest.doc

A Study Of Effective Medium Towards Documenting Historical Building

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CHAPTER 2

2.1 International guidelines USA Heritage Documentation Program

Secretary of the Interior’s Guidelines for Architectural and

Engineering Documentation (USA) state the following guidelines on how

to produce architectural and engineering documentation.

The Guidelines are organized as follows: Definitions. The following

definitions are used in conjunction with these guidelines:

Documentation—measured drawings, photographs, histories, or

other media that depict historic buildings, sites, structures, objects or

landscapes.

Field Photography—photography other than large-format

photography (usually 35mm), intended for the purposes of producing

documentation.

Field Records—notes of measurements taken, field photographs

and other recorded information intended for the purpose of producing

documentation.

Large-Format Photographs—photographs taken of historic

buildings, sites, structures, objects, or landscapes where the dimensions

BY: RADZY OMAR

MASTER IN VISUAL COMMUNICATION AND NEW MEDIA (AD773)FACULTY of ART AND DESIGN

UNIVERSITI TEKNOLOGI MARA (UiTM)

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_________________________________________________of the negatives are either 4″ × 5″, 5″ × 7″ or 8″ × 10″ and where the

photographs are taken with appropriate means to correct perspective

distortion.

Measured Drawings—drawings produced according to

HABS/HAER/HALS guidelines depicting existing conditions or other

relevant features of historic buildings, sites, structures, objects or

landscapes.

Written Data—inventory forms, data sheets, historical reports, or

other original, written works of varying lengths that describe a building,

site, structure, object, or landscape and highlight its historical,

architectural, technological, or cultural significance.

Photocopy—a photograph, with large format negative, of a

photograph or drawings.

Select Existing Drawings—drawings of historic buildings, sites,

structures, objects or landscapes, whether original construction or later

alteration drawings that portray or depict the historic value or significance.

Sketch Plan—a floor or site plan, usually not to exact scale although often

drawn from measurements, where the features are shown in proper

relation and proportion to one another.

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_________________________________________________Goal of Documentation. The Historic American Buildings Survey

(HABS), the Historic American Engineering Record (HAER), and the

Historic American Landscapes Survey (HALS) are the USA’s historical

architectural, engineering and landscape documentation programs of the

National Park Service. The goal of HABS/HAER/HALS documentation is

to provide architects, engineers, scholars, preservationists, and interested

members of the public with comprehensive information on the historical,

architectural, technological, or cultural significance of a building, site,

structure, object or landscape. Placed on permanent deposit at the Library

of Congress, HABS/HAER/HALS documentation serves as a permanent

record of the growth and development of the nation’s built environment.

As of November 2011 in accordance to the USA Heritage

Documentation Programs (HDP) where documentations produced through

the programs constitutes one of the nation’s largest archives of historic

architectural, engineering, and landscape documentation. Records on

over 40,000 historic sites, consisting of large-format, black and white

photographs, measured drawings, and written historical reports, are

maintained in a special collection at the Library of Congress, available to

the public copyright free in both hard copy (at the Library of Congress

Prints and Photographs Reading Room) and electronic formats (via the

BY: RADZY OMAR



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_________________________________________________Library of Congress' website: http://www.loc.gov/pictures/collection/hh/).

HDP establishes the standards for the production of drawings,

histories, and photography, as well as the criteria for preparing

documentation for inclusion in the Collection currently recognized as

the Secretary of the Interior’s Standards and Guidelines for Architectural

and Engineering.

2.2 International guidelines Object ID

In Europe, documentation guidelines are in accordance with

Recommendation R (95) 3 of the Committee of Ministers of the Council of

Europe. Member states coordinates documentation methods and systems

related to historic buildings and monuments of the architectural

heritage.Core Data Index to Historic Buildings and Monuments of the

Architectural Heritage.

Theoretical Framework Elements within the core data standard has

been devised to four elements: The core data standard has been devised

within a theoretical framework consisting of four elements: there are

Archaeological Item, Archaeological Group, Physical Space, Physical

Group.

BY: RADZY OMAR



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_________________________________________________As the research of this paper involved 4 mosques in Melaka and

belongs in the Physical Group, the particular framework element is further

elaborated as: A physical group is a collection of physical spaces which

form larger spaces within which archaeological items and groups may

occur. Examples would include the areas of land that constitute a

statutorily protected monument, or the group of excavation levels or

contexts which make up a ditch and its fill. They need not be contiguous,

as for instance where parts of a linear feature are divided by modern

intrusions which totally destroy the archaeology.

2.3 The Importance of Historic Building Documentation

In a book commissioned by Getty Information Institute on behalf of

Getty, ICOMOS and CIPA, entitled Documenting the Cultural Heritage

(Robin Thornes and John Bold, 1988) documentation play a definitive role

as inventories in the management of the cultural heritage. They are

indispensable, for purposes of identification, protection, interpretation, and

physical preservation of movable objects, historic buildings, archaeological

sites, and cultural landscapes. They have a significant place in all the

major international conventions relating to the protection of the heritage.

BY: RADZY OMAR



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_________________________________________________The 1972 UNESCO Convention Concerning the Protection of the

World Cultural and Natural Heritage included the provision that a World

Heritage Committee be established, to which each party state would

submit an inventory of its national heritage. Article 2 of the Council of

Europe’s Convention for the Protection of the Architectural Heritage of

Europe (Granada, 1985) states that:

For the purpose of precise identification of the monuments, groups

of buildings and sites to be protected, each Party undertakes to maintain

inventories and in the event of threats to the properties concerned, to

prepare appropriate documentation at the earliest opportunity.

Similarly, Article 2 of the Council of Europe’s Convention on the

Protection of the Archaeological Heritage (Valletta, 1992) requires each

party to make provision for "the maintenance of an inventory of its

archaeological heritage and the designation of protected monuments and

areas."

2.4 History of Photographic documentation

According to Phyllis Lambert (1977), photographic documentation

began in France in the 1850s and maintained the tradition already

established by graphic artists of representing the stature of the

BY: RADZY OMAR



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_________________________________________________country through its buildings. In a more romantic sense, but still based on

national pride, lithographers and photographers in France contributed to

ambitious publications describing historic monuments and remains as well

as the landscape.

Lambert asserted that The Roman ruins were the first subject of

picturesque views between 1544 and 1577 initiated by the great print

publisher, Antoine Lafrery. Early photographers, who continued this

tradition, began to have their images widely distributed in the 1860s when

developments of printing techniques permitted the manufacture of large

quantities of uniform prints.

She further explained that by the 1880s, such photographer-

publishers as Alinari in Florence distributed large numbers of images of

buildings as souvenirs for a modern version of the Grand Tour which

now included many more people from a greater range of society

travelling more rapidly to traditional and new attractions throughout

Europe. These prints and albums, along with the more formal treatises,

accelerated and broadened the national and international dispersal of

architectural concepts while providing source material for

scholars,especially architectural historians, who were becoming

increasingly imbued with the notion of empirical evidence. Above all, this

distribution of quite exact information through a popular new medium

served to encourage an appreciation even beyond the scholarly

community for the structures depicted.

This growth of knowledge and thereby respect for buildings in turn

stimulated further photographic documentation as a technique for

accurate representation preferred above hand-drawn examples.

BY: RADZY OMAR



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Photographic Documentation Equipment

The following is a list of recommended equipment to produce large-

format photographs that meet the Secretary’s Standards.

Camera: A large-format view camera with ample movement for

perspective correction must be used. Acceptable film formats are 4x5,

5x7, and 8x10. The 5x7 size has long been preferred due to its ability to

capture context and structures both long and tall.

Lenses: The minimal complement of lenses includes a sharp rectilinear

wide angle, a normal, and a mildly telephoto lens. In the 4x5 format, this

would translate to a 65mm, 90mm, 150mm and a 210mm lens. It is very

important to choose lenses that will allow ample movement of both front

and rear standards of the camera without vignetting.

Filters: Use of yellow, orange, and Polarizing filters are recommended in

appropriate conditions because of their ability to clarify and reveal details

and other information about the structures being documented.

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_________________________________________________ Film: Use polyester-based film when producing HABS, HAER, or HALS

photographs. Acceptable polyester-based films include those of medium

and slow speed (100 and 400 ASA) produced by Kodak, Ilford, and others.

BY: RADZY OMAR



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