Architectural Ruins: A Geoheritage Essay on the Anatomy of Buildings
Abstract Ruins are a statement on the building materials used and the construction method employed. Malta is the smallest European Union Member State with a significantly high density of cultural heritage. Casa Ippolito, which is now in ruins, is a typical representative of seventeenth-century aristocratic country residences on this Central Mediterranean island. This paper scrutinises these ruins as a primary source in the reconstruction of the architecture of the building. It considers the building elements and materials as the essential tissue of architecture. Such ruins are not just geocultural remains of historical built fabric. They are open wounds in the built structure; they underpin the anatomy of the building and support insights into its dynamics when it was in operation. Ruins are an essay in the geoheritage of material culture and building physics. By reconstructing the mechanics of the building one can strive to comprehend how it functioned in terms of serviceability and well-being, how it provided both shelter and sensory nutrition. Architectural ruins of masonry structures are geoheritage rendered in stone. These ruins facilitate not only the reconstruction of spaces but also places for its users; they are a statement on the well-being of humanity throughout history.