Historic Preservation Projects Research Articles

Capturing the Haipai Spirit: Garden Villa Interiors and the Preservation of Prada Rong Zhai

In 2017, Italian fashion house Prada unveiled to the public its preservation of a century-old mansion in Shanghai, named Rong Zhai.1 In the media, this historic preservation project was widely hailed as a success for its extraordinary craftsmanship and beautifully restored interior elements, displaying a combination of Western cultural influences alongside traditional Chinese architectural details. Rong Zhai is categorized as a Garden Villa, a special type of detached residential architecture that emerged during Shanghai’s “semi-colonial” past.2 Also emerging in the same period is the concept of Haipai, a term that represents both Shanghai’s unique architectural style and the regional culture that embraces multi-culturalism and cosmopolitanism. The following analysis highlights the connection between the Garden Villa and Haipai, arguing that Rong Zhai is a representation of Haipai, particularly evident in the inclusion of interior design elements from both European and Chinese architectural traditions. This connection provides an essential context to understanding the restoration and reuse of Prada Rong Zhai, its popularity, and limitations. Finally, through an investigation of Rong Zhai, we highlight the contributions of Haipai to our understanding of Chinese historic interiors.

Cheap Old Houses, Critical Content and Roberts Media

<i>Cheap Old Houses</i>, Critical Content and Roberts Media

The New Apprentice: Teaching Digital Technologies in Collaborative Historic Preservation Projects

The New Apprentice: Teaching Digital Technologies in Collaborative Historic Preservation Projects

Heritage risk index: A multi-criteria decision-making tool to prioritize municipal historic preservation projects

The current pressure on the built historical heritage requires a global evaluation to develop strategies for its preservation. A combined vision of the state of conservation of architectural heritage is essential to highlight the vulnerabilities of the structure from which harmonized measures can be proposed for its mitigation.This study proposes a multi-criteria analysis methodology that considers a qualitative and quantitative approach to organize the global conservation state of heritage buildings hierarchically. A global index can be determined on the basis of the generation of an interoperable data matrix by defining a set of indicators to assess different components of a building. This index describes the risk with respect to the stability, safety, and habitability of the building.This methodology aims to achieve the state of the building in an integral way by obtaining a simple and objective index that enables efficient comparison among different buildings. The application of this methodology to a historic area allows creating a hierarchical map of risk to stablish priorities for intervention and enable a sustainable and critical management and planning over the actions of maintenance, conservation, and restoration. In this way, a holistic vision of the complex reality of built heritage and the urban landscape is obtained to identify critical areas of priority intervention.

Preservation Education for the Next Generation

ABSTRACTStudents participate in historic preservation projects that fall along a continuum of student participation. Adults and students need to work to push more projects to be student led rather than students working for adults. A variety of example projects are presented and show how they fall on the continuum. In addition, an example of projects that resulted in being demolished is provided to show what happens when students and adults do not work effectively together.

The Archaeology of Race in the Northeast. Christopher N. Matthews and Allison Manfra McGovern, eds. Gainesville: University Press of Florida, 2015, 392 pp. $84.95, cloth. ISBN 978-0-8130-6057-6.

<i>The Archaeology of Race in the Northeast</i>. Christopher N. Matthews and Allison Manfra McGovern, eds. Gainesville: University Press of Florida, 2015, 392 pp. $84.95, cloth. ISBN 978-0-8130-6057-6.

Off Course? A Career in Archaeology Outside of the Academy

Off Course? A Career in Archaeology Outside of the Academy

Professional Insight—Brittany K. L. Mabry

Interview An interview with Brittany K. L. Mabry, a graduate student at the University of Arkansas and a 3D Laser Scanning Technologist with Morrison-Shipley Engineers. In the Department of Geosciences she is researching the urban morphology of coastal northern Mediterranean World Heritage Cities and aims to extend her research to coastal lidar mapping. She also teaches a 3D documentation summer field school with the Initiative for Heritage Conservancy in Nafplion, devoting part of the year to historic preservation projects in Greece. Representing the ASPRS Heartland Region, Brittany is a former Student Advisory Council member, a member of its LiDAR and Professional Practice Committees, and on the planning committee for UAS Mapping Reno. She is further interested in UAS-integrated surveying systems and in developing curriculum for terrestrial laser scanning, especially as applied to cultural heritage management.

Preservation at the Grassroots: Pittsburgh’s Manchester and Cincinnati’s Mt. Auburn Neighborhoods

This article analyzes community-based organizations’ (CBOs) use of historic preservation as a means of stabilizing low-income neighborhoods. It chronicles the experience of two foundational cases— Pittsburgh’s Manchester Citizens Corporation (MCC) and Cincinnati’s Mt. Auburn Good Housing Foundation (MAGHF), which undertook nationally recognized historic preservation projects in the 1970s. The MAGHF, although a precedent for the more successful MCC, ultimately dissolved under the weight of resident dissent and financial pressures. The research discusses the complexities of using preservation in low-income areas and assesses the reasons leading to success and/or failure.

THE EMERGENCE OF THE NEIGHBORHOOD CONSERVATION IDEAS IN THE HISTORIC DISTRICT OF SEATTLE

The purpose of this study is to explore the preservation concepts of the Pike Place Market Historic District in Seattle, which was one of the earliest examples in the U.S. that included ideas of neighborhood conservation. To analyze the way to raise the concepts I studied the ideas and opinions expressed by the citizens' group advocating to preserve the district, especially by Victor Steinbrueck (1911-1985), an architect and the leader of the group. The study shows that the preservation concepts based on Steinbrueck's socialism and regionalism were emphasized more clearly through a criticism on gentrification after the late 1960s. At that time Pioneer Square District, another historic district in the downtown, had succeeded in revitalizing by adaptive reuse of historic buildings, but at the same time low-income residents were forced out by steadily rising land prices and rents. Concerning that the communities around the Market would be lost for the same reason, Steinbrueck and other activists insisted to maintain communities and their activities as well as to preserve the market buildings. Thus the neighborhood conservation ideas were raised from a criticism against not only the urban renewal plan but also the historic preservation project that aim primarily to vitalize real estate market, and after the 1970s, such ideas were adopted in historic preservation policies of Seattle and other American cities.

The Impact of Evolving LEED Standards on Historic Preservation Projects

The Impact of Evolving LEED Standards on Historic Preservation Projects

Study on Possibility of Subsidy System Introduction to Historic Preservation Project in Beijing, China

Study on Possibility of Subsidy System Introduction to Historic Preservation Project in Beijing, China

The Sustainability Gap

Cathy Stieg is Director of Interior Design at Bassetti Architects in Seattle, an architectural fim established in 1947, specializing in institutional, public and historic preservation projects. Previously, Cathy was the owner of Stieg Design Associates, designing corporate and public space projects. For the past ten years, Cathy has focused on sustainable design, and she was the first interior designer in Washington State to become a LEEDTM Accredited Professional. She is also an experienced educator, having held faculty positions at Radford University in Virginia and Cornish College of the Arts in Seattle. At present, she teaches sustainable design and design studios at The Art Institute of Seattle. Cathy is active in the Northern Pacific Chapter of IIDA, currently serving as Vice President of Professional Development.

John Davis Wirth (1936–2002)

John Davis Wirth (1936–2002)

Urban development discourses, environmental management and public participation: the case of the Mae Kha canal in Chiang Mai, Thailand

This paper discusses issues of political influence and power struggles in connection with environmental projects, in the context of a low-income settlement in the city of Chiang Mai in northern Thailand. This low-income settlement has been included in the interventions of four different projects/programmes in the last five years: a community-driven initiative implemented with the support of a public organization and an NGO; the Chiang Mai 30-year master plan designed by architectural consultants to Chiang Mai municipality; a project undertaken by the Department of Town Planning within Chiang Mai provincial government, following an initiative by the prime minister, Mr Taksin Shinawatra; and an historic preservation project being implemented by the National Department of Fine Arts.

Changing Approaches to Historic Preservation in Quedlinburg, Germany

This article examines the changing approaches to historic preservation of half-timbered houses in Quedlinburg, Germany. Under the East German (GDR) regime, the scarcity of funds and materials limited preservation measures. After the German reunification, the conditions improved significantly, and Quedlinburg became the largest historic preservation project in the country. The difficulties in enforcing the high preservation standards and the conflicts arising over certain aspects of the project clearly demonstrate the need for integrating historic preservation projects with general urban planning to meet the needs of both preservationists and inhabitants of the city.

Monuments Conservation Practice in Ghana: Issues of Policy and Management

AbstractThe conservation of historic monuments is a responsibility of governments, and this is increasingly recognized. Ghana was one of the first African countries to do so, and this paper acknowledges the government's commitment to that responsibility. In this paper, the author—monuments conservation consultant to the government of Ghana for the Central Region Integrated Development Programme and technical consultant to the Historic Preservation (Forts and Castles) project component funded by USAID—reviews current conservation practice in Ghana, as applied to a major group of World Heritage monuments—St George's Castle and Fort St Jago at Elmina, and Cape Coast Castle.Good conservation practice requires that the historical integrity and authenticity of any monument is protected, demonstrated and maintained. This can only be assured if the monument is properly used and managed. With reference to specific aspects of the conservation of die three monuments that are the subject of the Historic Preservation ...

Myths of Permanence and Transcience in the Discourse on Historic Preservation in the United States

The definition of the past, and especially its presentation through the opposition of the myths of permanence and transcience, is a crucial historiographic issue for the discipline of historic preservation. In this essay, I investigate how historic preservation extends beyond the protection of a single building district ensemble. I argue that historic preservation plans symbolize the architecture of the past through myths of permanence. Read as a text—that is, a narrative act that identities, coordinates, and evaluates built objects—the myths of permanence underlying historic preservation project an ideology of stability onto historic architecture. Counteracting the American fascination with mobility and novelty, preservation plans conflate the cultural variability inherent in architecture with images of homogeneous national community.

The Impact of Seismic Strengthening and Code Related Issues in Restoration, Renovation, and Re-Use of Historic Buildings

The need to reconcile seismic strengthening and other code-related issues with historic preservation objectives poses a variety of challenges for the design professional. A thorough knowledge of the local, state and national regulatory contexts, along with an understanding of two underlying principles, equivalency and life safety, provide a necessary framework for undertaking renovation projects. Two case studies involving important Los Angeles historic buildings, the Wiltern Theater and Grand Central Square, illustrate the complexities of code compliance with respect to preservation and programmatic goals, specifically in the areas of seismic retrofit, fire-life safety and disabled access. Successful historic preservation projects can benefit from a thorough pre-design phase and an experienced project team. Modifications and refinements to regulatory procedures, particularly at the local level, could also significantly facilitate restoration, renovation and re-use of historic buildings.