Reconstruction in architectural conservation is the returning of a place to a known earlier state by the introduction of new materials.[1] It is related to the architectural concepts of restoration (repairing existing building fabric) and preservation (the prevention of further decay), wherein the most extensive form of reconstruction is creating a replica of a destroyed building.
More narrowly, such as under the Secretary of Interior's Standards in the United States, "reconstruction" is "the act or process of depicting, using new construction, the form, features, and detailing of a non-surviving site, landscape, building, structure, or object to replicate its appearance at a specific time and in its historic location".[2]