Maintaining the Character of a Place: Critical Approaches to Built Heritage in Newfoundland

Abstract

Newfoundland has an evolving and dynamic culture of repairing, maintaining, and adapting buildings as their function changes. This thesis highlights the pluralist viewpoint of Bonavista and its capacity to absorb many international architectural styles, develops the local theme of flexible space, and embraces changing technology and innovation of materials. The context is established through a brief history of architectural conservation, a review of existing approaches in the cultural and built heritage of Newfoundland, and a critical examination of contemporary architect-led examples. I advocate for an approach that characterizes the place by challenging the process of preserving artifacts and static traditions. Exploring four styles of learning—student, interpreter, apprentice, and participant—I reimagine a vacant school as a place for knowledge transmission. I establish a framework to address the evolving conditions that reflect the realities of life in Bonavista using the site as a laboratory for participation in the heritage process.