Iconic Architectural Heritage in Banda Aceh: Remembering and Conservation in Post-Disaster Contexts

Abstract

The aims of this thesis are threefold. Firstly, it aims to contribute to an ongoing re-theorization of the idea of architectural heritage. Secondly, it aims to examine the social and cultural roles of architectural heritage, and the importance of both architectural form and function in the post disaster context of Banda Aceh. Thirdly, it aims to reconsider to how architectural reconstruction and conservation maybe conducted in an Islamic context and in the face of disaster. To do this I draw on debates from within the critical heritage studies movement that argues that heritage is a cultural performance linked to activities of remembering and identity formation. This definition requires us to move beyond the idea that heritage is merely material, and asks us to acknowledge the importance of understanding how material culture is used. However, in debates over the idea of heritage as performance, the importance of materiality, of form, can be obscured. Thus, I argue that the relationship between form and function should be central in understanding the significance and nature of architectural heritage. It is in the interrelationship of form and function, of material and its use, that architecture becomes a cultural tool in the facilitation of the activity of remembering and identity formation. The thesis examines these issues with particular reference to remembering and identity formation in terms of cultural resilience in the face of natural disaster, drawing on examples from Banda Aceh post the 2004 Tsunami. In exploring the relationship between form and function, the thesis uses an architectural anthropological method which documents both architectural spaces and the social activities in and around them. I argue that traditional architectural conservation, including adaptive reuse that stresses the importance of building form, misunderstands the nature of heritage values, particularly in post-disaster contexts. Instead, the thesis offers the idea of adaptive reform where by function is privileged to the extent that form may be altered, even completely changed, to accommodate the resurrection of traditional uses and cultural meanings. It is argued that this is particularly important in both post-disaster and Southeast Asian cultural contexts, especially in regard to Islamic culture where materiality is viewed as impermanent. Show more