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Knowledge and skills associated to craftsmanship for built heritage conservation and rehabilitation: Case study—Historic Cairo
Published in Koen Van Balen, Aziliz Vandesande, Professionalism in the Built Heritage Sector, 2019
Ingy Waked, Koen Van Balen, Daniele Pini
The notion of craftsmanship is linked to dexterity and experience while producing something manually utilising specific materials, tools and techniques. Nowadays, traditional craftsmanship in architecture is recognised as a shared value and a resource for sustainable development. In Historic Cairo, as well as in other places in Egypt, distinctive tangible and intangible heritage values exist; furthermore, building crafts present a living tradition of thousands of years that integrates specific knowledge, skills and materials. As the historic centre of the largest capital in the Middle East and Africa, Historic Cairo became vulnerable due to pressures and suffers from an accelerating decay; it lacks a management system, as well as recognition of cultural and economic heritage values especially among the local people. Moreover, its built heritage needs interventions that require the integration of traditional construction techniques.
Rhythms
Published in Stuart Walker, Design for Life, 2017
In contrast, there are direct, positive benefits to engaging in activities conducive to right-hemisphere, holistic thinking. Moreover, doing things for ourselves at the local level can be inherently meaningful, contributing to the development of our values and our notions of the good. Sennett offers two interrelated arguments to support such practices. First, because the ecological crisis is a human-made problem linked to industrialization and technological expansion, to rely on technology to regain control may be an unreliable strategy. Second, expecting the general public to deal with the problems associated with manufactured products after the fact – once they have been produced and distributed – is highly problematic because the condition is then irreversible. Instead, he suggests that engagement in creating material things should start much earlier so that people gain a better, more comprehensive understanding of the processes involved. Making our material culture ourselves matters, he says, because of what we can learn about ourselves through the things we make. We learn to care about the right way to do things, the qualities of materials, the taste of well-cooked foods, and these things naturally lead us towards notions of the ‘good’ and spiritual and social values.13 Essentially, craftsmanship is about doing a job well for its own sake, for its intrinsic rewards, not as a means to some other end. This stands in stark contrast to the ideologies of competition and market forces that have come to dominate most spheres of human activity today.14 Research studies about creative occupations suggest that they are one of the essential ways in which a person can attain a sense of competence and achievement, express their true selves and achieve a sense of continuity in their lives.15
Fundamentals of Quality in Manufacturing
Published in Jong S. Lim, Quality Management in Engineering, 2019
Training and Practices: Craftsmanship is a skill, and excellent skills are taught by one person to another through apprenticeship. The learned skills should go through numerous practices to make them a part of a person's own body and mind. Good practice makes perfect.
The notebook and the laboratory – types of knowledge in German piano-making, 1880–1930
Published in History and Technology, 2019
Willi took over the technical leadership, and the company grew into a large factory. In 1924, the area of the factory was 30,000 square meters. Around 900 workers were employed across a huge machine park that included a hydraulic veneer compactor, storage for wood, a mill and other buildings and devices. The company and its machines were documented in 1924 in an unpublished description of the factory called, ‘Tour Through the Factory’ (Rundgang durch die Fabrik), and in 1929 by a series of photographs, later collected in an album.28 No less than 20 different production steps were identified, including wood cutting, drilling and varnishing of the cast iron frames, soundboard making, soundpost making, veneer cutting, veneer gluing, polishing, mechanical creation and adjustment of keys, tuning and intonation. Single production steps were differentiated inside the company but machine work and craftsmanship stood side-by-side. The importance of the craftsman’s knowledge of materials and kinesthetic sense, to use Douglas Harper’s terms, as well as the importance of science, is clear in a quotation from Eilert: Each single [material] group requires specific experience for handling and maintenance […]. The quality of the instruments is neither the result of an indiosyncrasy nor one single experience, but a chain of attention to all factors, careful maintenance of each material, and the awareness of all scientifically proven impacts that made an instrument deserve ‘peak performance’ indicator.29