Towards sustainable restoration: learning from the past, a challenge

In many cultures in the past, sustainability used to be an integral concept, related to building traditions, crafts and daily life.With the increasing complexity of our society and the progressive shift from the local to the global scale the past sustainable building tradition has often faded out, without being substituted by a new, equally effective one. Often in the past tradition, real nature-based and climate adapted construction methods have been used. An example is described and observations are made of an ensemble of vernacular architecture and its intrinsic sustainable approach. Part of the buildings concerned is nowadays qualified as UNESCO world heritage. The way conservation of the heritage has been approached in this situation during the 20th century is exemplary for the (mis)belief that technology can solve everything.A new direction for technical conservation was finally chosen, showing that a combination of vernacular approach and modern technology can offer new perspectives for sustainable conservation