Tectonics of conservation technology

Tectonics as the visual communication of creating buildings by linking the construction processes with structural form should inform the dialogue between new and existing fabric at interventions in historic buildings, but has not been mapped in the relevant theoretical debate. This paper attempts this mapping by highlighting two underlying concepts: firstly, how such a component in the vocabulary of designers informs their role in conservation; secondly the value of this communication for the user, i.e. how to appreciate historical fabric by connecting with more familiar forms and matter from contemporary architecture. The study develops around modern traits in tectonic explorations that can be used to preserve and communicate the historical ways through which construction produced architectural space: the generation of structural form and its relation to the construction processes around the nature of the main material systems (existing and new). The tectonics of composing historic and modern material systems is explored, including innovative materials like mass timber.