Exploratory study: Conservation practices and the role of architect

Conservation practices are comprehensive and multidisciplinary, both in substance and process. Based on a review of 30 randomly selected conservation writings, the papers review revealed that 3% of the articles discussed the development of heritage buildings conservation, 23% of them described the roles of stakeholders related to conservation practices, 13% discussed scientific or multidisciplinary in conservation practices, 54% explained several techniques in conservation practice, and 7% identified several challenges and obstacles in conservation. The previous research result indicated that specific research on architects’ role in conservation practices was still lacking, while this is partly useful for formulating conservation education programs. This paper aims to present the results of exploratory research on the role of architects in preparing, planning, and implementing conservation. The research used a qualitative-exploratory approach through precedent studies and in-depth interviews with conservation practitioner architects. The information units were inductively classified into themes and formulated into conceptual models. The research found that architects’ roles in conservation practices were flexible, either as the main actor (leader) or as a technical assistant involved in parts or all stages of activities: recording and documenting, analysis, decision making, and drawing work.