Systematic Approach to Rehabilitation of Historic Buildings in Bhutan

Abstract

This paper presents the systematic approach of rehabilitation which is aimed to identify the damages caused, assess the feasibility of repair, study the challenges related to rehabilitation works, and analyze the corresponding rehabilitation techniques. The study was carried out based on visual inspection and field evaluation of two sites: Jasa Lhakhang and Puro Ta Dzong. A questionnaire survey was carried out to study the challenges faced during execution of works. Preservation of cultural heritage was found out to be the most challenging of all. After studying the rehabilitation works systematically, a roadmap is proposed based on the study approach. A comparative analysis between traditional (wall stitching using mud mortar) and modern (using cement mortar) techniques was carried out using Multi-Criteria Decision Making (MCDM) Method. Based on a number of criteria set by the decision maker, normalizing the alternatives and the results (for traditional: C1​=0.84 ; for modern: C1​=0.166 ) showed that the traditional method of rehabilitation is better than the modern methods of rehabilitation techniques.