Restoration and urban imaginary: some anthropological-architectural observations on the idea of heritage

Abstract

This article proposes some observations that stem from an anthropological point of view with an architectural way of thinking and doing, as they emerge when intervening in/restoring a building of historical value: the Ehrenfeld house, at present the Universidad Austral de Chile’s (UACh) Conservatory of Music, located in the city of Valdivia. Considering that buildings experience heterogeneous materials, actions and actors, a series of processes, both architectural and social, are highlighted that reveal other echoes in urban space and lead us to broaden our perspective beyond the given building and its immediate heritage context. Thus, a number of material appropriations are discerned that open new spaces of interpretation concerning notions of heritage and urban typologies.