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EVALUATION
OF THE ARCHITECTURAL HERITAGE OF MYEIK (MERGUI)
This
page briefly the different features of our architectural field study
of the city of Myeik (Mergui), integrated to our research program.
This project aims to establish a scientific database, which should
allow to valuate the region's architectural heritage. The work will
be carried out by a group of four young architects (Nadia
Carlevaro, Anne
Dupraz, Guillaume
Roux-Fouillet and Christophe
Fouad)integrating the MAP-RAID, and who will be responsible
for the field work as well as the publication.
Project
choice
-top-
Because of its past, Mergui is a city which deserves to be known
and above all, preserved. Unfortunately, lack of resources from
the inhabitants and total absence of heritage preservation rules
have lead to the construction of new buildings regardless of local
architecture and environment. The city that was preserved until
now by history could disapear in a few years.
The
destruction is progressive ; few people can allow themselves to
build their house in one go. The building grows slowly, according
to the income of money : one day, the basement becomes concrete.
Then take off the wooden top, and the inhabitants continue to live
in the shambles during the transformation. Concrete is covered with
exuberant tiling, an iron curtain to smarten up the whole thing
and a balcony with totally useless pink coloured columns is added.
Such houses have already shown up in the city.
In
this sense, it is getting urgent to make a diagnostic of the city,
and to study its architectural heritage, in order to draw the attention
of the concerned persons on the value of the site and slow down
its fast destruction.
Objectives
-top-
We are
initiating an architectural preservation process in the region,
by setting up a concrete and technical data base which will be useful
for building renovation as well as for urban planning and good insertion
of new buildings in the existing environment.
This data base will be based on scientific research in the Mergui
archipelago and will combine :
- A general
diagnostic of the city, based on the historical, geografical and
sociological approaches. This first part will allow a global presentation
and introduces the architectural analysis.
- A historical
review of construction in the Mergui region, drawing a list of the
different streams that have influenced the city's development and
the construction of its buildings and monuments.
-A typological
classification of the buildings, related to their environment and
use.
-A technical
description of the traditionnal construction techniques, considering
Construction as a progressive and continous process, which allows
a global understanding of the buildings and their evolution.
-A document
containing the technical sheet. These cards analyse each particular
building individually with plans, sections, construction details,
fotos, watercolours and historical information.
An additional
booklet will give a more sensitive view of Mergui, seen through
the eyes of four foreigners.
The work
is meant for scientists as well as for persons and institutions
implicated in construction and urban development. The outcome will
be accessible in illustrated publications and an Internet site.
Projecting
the publication -top-
Avoiding
too strict choices on the representation of the work, some indications
on the organisation of the book are useful to understand its scope.
Two levels of analysis will be used, to allow distinct but complementary
approaches of the urban environment:
- first,
a theoretical level, which presents the information, typologies
and other elements globally affecting the city as a whole;
- second,
a more pragmatic level, which proceeds with the study of the individal
buildings or architectural groups with the technical sheets, and
thus illustrates the elements presented before in concrete situations.
An additional
approach, which could be called "crossing views" on the
city, will complete the analysis resulting from the two previous
levels of reflexion with a less formal view on the city and on people's
lives.
Thus, based on an easy-to-read and generously illustrated book,
the work will be striving to produce an analysis of the urban environment
of Mergui covering general issues as well as particular details.
It will also provide a more sensitive approach to illustrate better
the lifestyles that take place between the walls of the city.
Theoretical analysis
-top-
Urban
network articulation analysis
This
part will gather the necessary knowledge for the comprehension of
Mergui's built environment.
It will
proceed with the presentation and analysis of the present urban
morphology to understand its evolution.
It will
also discuss the elements which articulate the urban morphology
(road network, rivers, topography), the various growth phases of
the city, land use and distribution of man activities in the urban
network
Diagnostic of the
built environment
This
part completes the previous one in the diagnostic of the urban environment,
but on a smaller scale.
The natural
environment of the city, especially the physical caracteristics
(climate, topography, vegetation), and the sociological aspects
(population, culture) will be presented. This allows mainly to understand
the solutions developped by man to adapt themselves to this precise
environment and produce a particular vernacular architecture.
A historical
review will then illustrate the various architectural streams, detail
the traditional and contemporary construction techniques and define
the different architectural typologies, so as to make a classification
of the buildings possible.
Technical sheets
These
documents will enable the reader to consider each building or architectural
set through their origilatity and in relation to their importance
in the architectural heritage of the city. They constitute a logical
and essential sequence in the evaluation of the architectural heritage
of Mergui, as they are the concrete examples that illustrate the
theory.
The technical
sheets will help to locate geographically the buildings, date them
and understand their present state in relation to their evolution
in time. They will also provide their construction caracteristics,
descriptions of their state of conservation and comments on whether
they have undergone modifications.
The choice of the buildings will be motivated by their belonging
to various architectural typologies and sonstruction era, by their
situation in the urban network, by their use and by their state
of conservation.
As a
matter of fact, the technical sheets will facilitate the constitution
of a data base (unexistant today) on architecture and construction
techniques in the city of Mergui. They are an essential instrument
to value the traditional techniques and materials for future constructions
and interventions, if one considers the impact of modern construction
materials on the image and the built environment of the city.
But apart
from being a meticulous study of buildings, the technical sheets
will also be a factor for consciousness of the worth of built heritage,
and a concrete reference when urban planification related decisions
will be taken in Mergui
"Crossing views" on the city of Myeik
-top-
This part
will gather the testimonies and impressions of four strangers in
the city of Mergui. It will add to the previous analysis a less
formal approach, reflecting on a more sensitive and personal way
the activities, lifestyles or inhabitants which the city accomodates
and which are also what gives life to it.
It is
of course difficult to be more specific about the subject of such
testimony or even its form before knowing the city itself...
Methodology
-top-
The work
is divided in two phases :
Stay in Myanmar
- It
will be a 3 month stay. On a theoretical level, a research will
be done in libraries, covering history of Merguy, geography and
climatology of the Tenasserim region and sociology.
Besides, maps of the city and region will be collected from the
national institute of cartography, as well as various information
affecting construction rules or building materials, to constitute
a sufficient basis for the work.
-On a
more practical level, measurements will be carried out on the selected
buildings and houses, as well as on streets and districts, in order
to provide detailed dimensions and locations. This will be done
with fotos, sketches, plans and sections. The collected material
will be used for the classification in various typologies.
A special attention our contact with the local population will be
kept throughout the work, so that the result can integrate impressions
and testimonies, and be more sensitive.
Back in Switzerland
This
will be the time for the writing and the publication of the book,
and if needed, translation. The Internet site will have to be up
dated and an exhibition could be organized.
Bibliography
-top-
Guillaume
Roux-Fouillet, Christophe Fouad, Alternatives pour la réalisation
de logements par auto-construction, Santa Clara, Cuba, 2004
Guillaume
Roux-Fouillet, Christophe Fouad, Evaluation
du patrimoine architectural de San Lorenzo, Tarija, Bolivia,
and the fiches
2001
Nadia Carlevaro,
Anne Dupraz, Between polts and flats, Une alternative à la
réhabilitation des bidonvilles de Dehli, Inde, 2004 |
