Conservation approach to the knowledge and skills of traditional building masters

Traditional building masters have played crucial roles in both conservation and restoration processes and also in the production process of the traditional architecture. Building masters have produced traditional architecture as a result of a complex process handling environmental characteristics and the needs, expectations and values of local people and expressing their creativity. Nowadays, the building masters experienced on traditional techniques could not been found; and, we are confronted with the disappearance of the knowledge related to traditional construction techniques. In this respect, it is noticeably significant to document and transfer the knowledge related to the construction techniques of traditional building masters to future. Arising from this problem, the Living Human Treasures of Traditional Architecture Project (LHTTA) has developed several approaches to continue the knowledge, skills and experiences of master craftsmen by providing the inclusion of the students of fine arts faculties in conservation process in Selçuk University. Within the scope of this article, the experiences gained from the LHTTA Project, which has developed specific conservation approaches to the transmission of knowledge and skills of masters to the future, are analyzed. After the introduction of the theoretical background and legal framework of the project, the process of the LHTTA project will be summarized in three sections: preliminary studies, the experiences of symposium, workshop and exhibition, and the analyses of experiences for contributing to future studies focusing on traditional building masters.