A Study Of Effective Medium Towards Documenting Historical Building

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CHAPTER 2

2.1 International guidelines USA Heritage Documentation Program

Secretary of the Interiors Guidelines for Architectural and
Engineering Documentation (USA) state the following guidelines on how
to produce architectural and engineering documentation.
The Guidelines are organized as follows: Definitions. The following
definitions are used in conjunction with these guidelines:
Documentationmeasured drawings, photographs, histories, or
other media that depict historic buildings, sites, structures, objects or
landscapes.
Field

Photographyphotography

other

than

large-format

photography (usually 35mm), intended for the purposes of producing

documentation.
Field Recordsnotes of measurements taken, field photographs
and other recorded information intended for the purpose of producing
documentation.
Large-Format

Photographsphotographs

taken

of

historic

buildings, sites, structures, objects, or landscapes where the dimensions

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BY:
RADZY OMAR
MASTER IN VISUAL COMMUNICATION AND NEW MEDIA (AD773)
FACULTY of ART AND DESIGN
UNIVERSITI TEKNOLOGI MARA (UiTM)

A Study Of Effective Medium Towards Documenting Historical Building

_________________________________________________
of the negatives are either 4 5, 5 7 or 8 10 and where the
photographs are taken with appropriate means to correct perspective
distortion.
Measured

Drawingsdrawings

produced

according

to

HABS/HAER/HALS guidelines depicting existing conditions or other

relevant features of historic buildings, sites, structures, objects or
landscapes.
Written Datainventory forms, data sheets, historical reports, or
other original, written works of varying lengths that describe a building,
site, structure, object, or landscape

and highlight its historical,

architectural, technological, or cultural significance.

Photocopya photograph, with large format negative, of a
photograph or drawings.
Select Existing Drawingsdrawings of historic buildings, sites,
structures, objects or landscapes, whether original construction or later
alteration drawings that portray or depict the historic value or significance.
Sketch Plana floor or site plan, usually not to exact scale although often
drawn from measurements, where the features are shown in proper
relation and proportion to one another.

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BY:
RADZY OMAR
MASTER IN VISUAL COMMUNICATION AND NEW MEDIA (AD773)
FACULTY of ART AND DESIGN
UNIVERSITI TEKNOLOGI MARA (UiTM)

A Study Of Effective Medium Towards Documenting Historical Building

_________________________________________________
Goal of Documentation. The Historic American Buildings Survey
(HABS), the Historic American Engineering Record (HAER), and the
Historic American Landscapes Survey (HALS) are the USAs historical
architectural, engineering and landscape documentation programs of the
National Park Service. The goal of HABS/HAER/HALS documentation is
to provide architects, engineers, scholars, preservationists, and interested
members of the public with comprehensive information on the historical,
architectural, technological, or cultural significance of a building, site,
structure, object or landscape. Placed on permanent deposit at the Library
of Congress, HABS/HAER/HALS documentation serves as a permanent
record of the growth and development of the nations built environment.

As of November 2011 in accordance to the USA Heritage

Documentation Programs (HDP) where documentations produced through
the programs constitutes one of the nations largest archives of historic
architectural, engineering, and landscape documentation. Records on
over 40,000 historic sites, consisting of large-format, black and white
photographs, measured drawings, and written historical reports, are
maintained in a special collection at the Library of Congress, available to
the public copyright free in both hard copy (at the Library of Congress
Prints and Photographs Reading Room) and electronic formats (via the
3
BY:
RADZY OMAR
MASTER IN VISUAL COMMUNICATION AND NEW MEDIA (AD773)
FACULTY of ART AND DESIGN
UNIVERSITI TEKNOLOGI MARA (UiTM)

A Study Of Effective Medium Towards Documenting Historical Building

_________________________________________________
Library of Congress' website: http://www.loc.gov/pictures/collection/hh/).

HDP establishes the standards for the production of drawings,

histories, and photography, as well as the criteria for preparing
documentation for inclusion in the Collection currently recognized as
the Secretary of the Interiors Standards and Guidelines for Architectural
and Engineering.

2.2 International guidelines Object ID

In Europe, documentation guidelines are in accordance with
Recommendation R (95) 3 of the Committee of Ministers of the Council of
Europe. Member states coordinates documentation methods and systems
related to historic buildings and monuments of the architectural
heritage.Core Data Index to Historic Buildings and Monuments of the
Architectural Heritage.
Theoretical Framework Elements within the core data standard has
been devised to four elements: The core data standard has been devised
within a theoretical framework consisting of four elements: there are
Archaeological Item, Archaeological Group, Physical Space, Physical
Group.

4
BY:
RADZY OMAR
MASTER IN VISUAL COMMUNICATION AND NEW MEDIA (AD773)
FACULTY of ART AND DESIGN
UNIVERSITI TEKNOLOGI MARA (UiTM)

A Study Of Effective Medium Towards Documenting Historical Building

_________________________________________________
As the research of this paper involved 4 mosques in Melaka and
belongs in the Physical Group, the particular framework element is further
elaborated as: A physical group is a collection of physical spaces which
form larger spaces within which archaeological items and groups may
occur. Examples would include the areas of land that constitute a
statutorily protected monument, or the group of excavation levels or
contexts which make up a ditch and its fill. They need not be contiguous,
as for instance where parts of a linear feature are divided by modern
intrusions which totally destroy the archaeology.

2.3 The Importance of Historic Building Documentation

In a book commissioned by Getty Information Institute on behalf of

Getty, ICOMOS and CIPA, entitled Documenting the Cultural Heritage
(Robin Thornes and John Bold, 1988) documentation play a definitive role
as inventories in the management of the cultural heritage. They are
indispensable, for purposes of identification, protection, interpretation, and
physical preservation of movable objects, historic buildings, archaeological
sites, and cultural landscapes. They have a significant place in all the
major international conventions relating to the protection of the heritage.

5
BY:
RADZY OMAR
MASTER IN VISUAL COMMUNICATION AND NEW MEDIA (AD773)
FACULTY of ART AND DESIGN
UNIVERSITI TEKNOLOGI MARA (UiTM)

A Study Of Effective Medium Towards Documenting Historical Building

_________________________________________________
The 1972 UNESCO Convention Concerning the Protection of the
World Cultural and Natural Heritage included the provision that a World
Heritage Committee be established, to which each party state would
submit an inventory of its national heritage. Article 2 of the Council of
Europes Convention for the Protection of the Architectural Heritage of
Europe (Granada, 1985) states that:
For the purpose of precise identification of the monuments, groups
of buildings and sites to be protected, each Party undertakes to maintain
inventories and in the event of threats to the properties concerned, to
prepare appropriate documentation at the earliest opportunity.
Similarly, Article 2 of the Council of Europes Convention on the
Protection of the Archaeological Heritage (Valletta, 1992) requires each
party to make provision for "the maintenance of an inventory of its
archaeological heritage and the designation of protected monuments and
areas."

2.4 History of Photographic documentation

According to Phyllis Lambert (1977), photographic documentation

began in France in the 1850s and maintained the tradition already
established

by

graphic artists of

representing

the stature

of

the
6

BY:
RADZY OMAR
MASTER IN VISUAL COMMUNICATION AND NEW MEDIA (AD773)
FACULTY of ART AND DESIGN
UNIVERSITI TEKNOLOGI MARA (UiTM)

A Study Of Effective Medium Towards Documenting Historical Building

_________________________________________________
country through its buildings. In a more romantic sense, but still based on
national pride, lithographers and photographers in France contributed to
ambitious publications describing historic monuments and remains as well
as the landscape.
Lambert asserted that The Roman ruins were the first subject of
picturesque views between 1544 and 1577 initiated by the great print
publisher, Antoine Lafrery. Early photographers,

who continued this

tradition, began to have their images widely distributed in the 1860s when
developments of printing techniques permitted the manufacture of large
quantities of uniform prints.
She further explained that by the 1880s, such photographerpublishers as Alinari in Florence distributed large numbers of images of
buildings as souvenirs for a modern version of the Grand Tour which
now included

many more people

travelling more rapidly to

from a greater range of society

traditional

and new attractions throughout

Europe. These prints and albums, along with the more formal treatises,
accelerated and broadened the national and international dispersal of
architectural

concepts

scholars,especially

while

providing source

architectural historians, who

material
were

for

becoming

increasingly imbued with the notion of empirical evidence. Above all, this
distribution of quite exact information through a popular new medium
served

to encourage

an appreciation

even beyond

the scholarly

community for the structures depicted.

This growth of knowledge and thereby respect for buildings in turn
stimulated further photographic documentation as a technique for
accurate representation preferred above hand-drawn examples.

7
BY:
RADZY OMAR
MASTER IN VISUAL COMMUNICATION AND NEW MEDIA (AD773)
FACULTY of ART AND DESIGN
UNIVERSITI TEKNOLOGI MARA (UiTM)

A Study Of Effective Medium Towards Documenting Historical Building

_________________________________________________
Photographic Documentation Equipment
The following is a list of recommended equipment to produce largeformat photographs that meet the Secretarys Standards.

Camera: A large-format view camera with ample movement for

perspective correction must be used. Acceptable film formats are 4x5,
5x7, and 8x10. The 5x7 size has long been preferred due to its ability to
capture context and structures both long and tall.

Lenses: The minimal complement of lenses includes a sharp rectilinear

wide angle, a normal, and a mildly telephoto lens. In the 4x5 format, this
would translate to a 65mm, 90mm, 150mm and a 210mm lens. It is very
important to choose lenses that will allow ample movement of both front
and rear standards of the camera without vignetting.

Filters: Use of yellow, orange, and Polarizing filters are recommended in

appropriate conditions because of their ability to clarify and reveal details
and other information about the structures being documented.

8
BY:
RADZY OMAR
MASTER IN VISUAL COMMUNICATION AND NEW MEDIA (AD773)
FACULTY of ART AND DESIGN
UNIVERSITI TEKNOLOGI MARA (UiTM)

A Study Of Effective Medium Towards Documenting Historical Building

_________________________________________________
Film: Use polyester-based film when producing HABS, HAER, or HALS
photographs. Acceptable polyester-based films include those of medium
and slow speed (100 and 400 ASA) produced by Kodak, Ilford, and others.

9
BY:
RADZY OMAR
MASTER IN VISUAL COMMUNICATION AND NEW MEDIA (AD773)
FACULTY of ART AND DESIGN
UNIVERSITI TEKNOLOGI MARA (UiTM)