[Article] Architectural heritage crumbles.

January, 10 2011 | Viet Nam News

THUA THIEN HUE — Historic buildings in two localities that functioned as commercial port towns during the Nguyen dynasty are in a severely dilapidated condition.
The Bao Vinh Town, which hosted a busy port in 18th century, had 39 old buildings standing at the end of the American War.
Meanwhile, Gia Hoi, a bustling port town in early 19th century, had 140 old buildings featuring traditional Vietnamese, Chinese as well as French colonial architecture.
These buildings have been so badly damaged by the rampant urbanisation of last two decades, that only 15 of them still stand in Bao Vinh, while Gia Hoi has 55.
Residents complain that they are caught in a bind. One the one hand, they cannot repair their houses to make them safe or expand it to meet their needs because authorities have banned such actions. On the other hand, the authorities themselves have taken no action to preserve the old buildings.
"Many old houses in Bao Vinh are in ruin and vulnerable to floods and hard weather," said Nguyen Van Bon, chairman of Huong Vinh Commune.
A conservation project to protect the two towns was set up by Thua Thien Hue Province in 2003, but only three houses were repaired with funds from the French Parliament. In Gia Hoi, one pagoda had its gate and entrance restored.
Experts have called on authorities to act before it is too late.

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Safe as houses? This unique two-storey wooden house in Gia Hoi Old Town is in a bad shape, but local authorities remain unsure how best to protect it. — VNA/VNS Photo Thai Loc

[Article] Majapahit capital may be larger than previously believed.

01/07/2011 | The Jakarta Post | Indra Harsaputra, Mojokerto

A recent archeological find in Puri village, Mojokerto regency, East Java, thought to date from the ancient Majapahit empire indicates that the capital of the empire may have been larger than a municipality in Jakarta.
Lead archeologist from the Indonesian Ancient Relics Conservation Bureau (BP3), Danang Wahyu Putro, said this hypothesis was supported by the fact that the new find was located 12 kilometers from Trowulan village, believed to be the center of the Majapahit town.
“Some academics have concluded that the capital spanned 99 square kilometers,” he said, saying this evidence may prove that the capital was larger than this, only a little less than the size of West Jakarta and almost twice the size of Central Jakarta.
Preliminary studies of the 196-square-meter find and several relics found in the vicinity point to the site being built toward the end of the Majapahit empire in the 15th century.
A surviving ancient script, the Negarakertagama, indicates that Majapahit may have been to be the largest empire in the region, with confederation states comprising the current territory of Indonesia and several neighboring countries.
The early concept of Indonesia by the country’s founding fathers were said to be based on Majapahit’s past glory, despite the fact that the country comprised areas colonized by the Dutch.
A complete historical reconstruction of the ancient capital has proven difficult, with archeological sites scattered across more than 100 square kilometers around Trowulan.
At the latest find in Puri village, archeologists found ceramics and porcelain jugs as well as earthenware from the Ming dynasty. The earthenware bore the Pataka Surya Majapahit, the Majapahit empire’s eight-pointed star regalia.
“We can’t concluded whether it was a royal residence or an housing area for commoners,” Danang said, despite the fact that the relics at the new dig were similar to earlier findings in Trowulan.

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[Colloque] L'architecture carcérale - "Des mots et des murs".

Du Mercredi 1er déc. à 14h au Vendredi 3 déc. 2010 à 13h.
Lieu : Ecole nationale d'administration pénitentiaire, 440, avenue Michel Serres, Agen (47000).

 

Dans le cadre du 10ème anniversaire de la délocalisation de l'Ecole nationale d'administration pénitentiaire à Agen, l'Enap organise un colloque sur l'architecture carcérale.

Les murs s'imposent aux hommes, ce n'est certainement jamais aussi vrai qu'en prison. Et pourtant, ce sont bien des hommes qui font d'une prison ce qu'elle est, à travers leurs idées ou leurs rêves, leurs contraintes et leurs stratégies, leur travail ou leur résistance. C'est pourquoi un établissement pénitentiaire, comme tout bâtiment, ne correspond jamais à ce que l'on en attendait, il n'est jamais la simple réalisation d'une idée. Comprendre ce qu'est une prison suppose donc de suivre le processus complexe de son émergence. Il faut, en particulier, saisir comment s’articulent les différentes logiques en jeu à toutes les étapes de sa conception et les décalages qui s’introduisent, à chaque fois, entre le souhait et la réalité et, plus précisément, entre l’utopie et le projet (la prison idéale), entre le projet et la construction (la prison réelle) et entre la construction et les usages (la prison habitée).

Consulter le programme : cliquez sur le lien.

Plus d'informations : sur le site de l'Enap.

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