Reclaimed Spaces

Making the Past Part of Our Future
by Michael J. Mills, FAIA
Chairman of the Advisory Group, Historic Resources Committee

Human beings have an elemental need for familiar buildings and spaces to remind them of what their lives have been, and how their lives are changing. Old buildings, neighborhoods, and landscapes serve as reference points that establish a stable image of our environment and our lives. As Christian Norberg-Schulz wrote in Existence, Space, and Architecture, “The center [meaning a familiar place] represents to mankind what is known, in contrast to the unknown and somewhat frightening world around him. These places are the goals where we experience the meaningful events of our existence, but they are also points of departure from which we orient ourselves and take possession of the environment.” The need for places and a sense of identity within those places lie at the heart of building preservation.

Reclaiming Spaces in Historic Buildings
by Stephen J. Farneth, FAIA
Architecture Resources Group

In the 25 years since our firm opened its doors, the work of historic preservation, in which we specialize, has been transformed considerably—the underlying assumptions and related considerations as much as the methods and materials. Looking back across a quarter-century of projects, a number of these changes stand out.

If You (Re)Build It, They Will Come
by Howard Zemsky

I’ve lived in Buffalo, N.Y., for the past 25 years, and I know it sounds corny, but I’ll say it anyway: I love it here. Yes, we have snow—point conceded. I should also concede that things haven’t changed as much as they should have over the course of that same quarter-century, but they’re starting to, which is the point of my story.

Renovation and Restoration: Is It Design?
by Robert D. Loversidge, Jr., FAIA
CEO, Schooley Caldwell Associates

“In a restoration, it is unclear whether you are rewarding archaeology. In other words, if you haven’t disrupted someone else’s architecture—you haven’t ruined someone else’s building—why is that meritorious? . . . Because of the struggles that people were going through about architecture, we couldn’t compare those kinds of projects against new work.”

—May 1997 Architectural Record
1997 AIA Honor Awards Jury Comments, Malcolm Holtzman, FAIA, Jury Chair

From Veneration To Reclamation
by Daniel Bluestone
Director, Historic Preservation Program, University of Virginia, Charlottesville

Schools of architecture and programs in historic preservation have increasingly embraced an agenda of “reclaiming spaces.” The mid-nineteenth-century founders of the historic preservation movement in the United States, however, aimed at veneration, not reclamation. They worked energetically to protect certain historic buildings, aspiring initially to save those associated with narratives of national and local history. Their 1850s efforts to preserve Mt. Vernon and Washington’s revolutionary war headquarters at Newburgh, N.Y., were manifestly political: They hoped that historic buildings could diffuse the lessons of history and citizenship while perhaps defusing the tensions over slavery.

Walking the Talk in St. Louis
by Michelle C. Swatek
Executive Director, AIA St. Louis

Just over two years ago, AIA St. Louis hosted a reception to celebrate the opening of our new chapter office and bookstore in a completely renovated storefront space in downtown St. Louis. The mayor came to talk. The press covered our move. But perhaps the best comment we heard came from an associate member who said, “This rocks!” We knew we were onto something.

In Defense of Open Space
How “focal points” and pavement are ruining America’s parks
by Charles A. Birnbaum, FASLA, FAAR
Founder of The Cultural Landscape Foundation in Washington, D.C.

In America’s parks, “open space” has become a dirty phrase. Municipal officials tend to see it as a void that must be filled, “programmed” to amuse all comers; community representatives now decide, ex cathedra, that for our parks to succeed, they must have 10 “focal” points and “10 things to do at each focal point,” to quote the Web site of the Project for Public Spaces, a nonprofit in New York City. The result: Open space is being wiped out.

Useful Resources for Reclamation
by Russell Boniface

The National Park Service’s Heritage Preservation Services (www.cr.nps.gov/hps) evaluates and preserves historic properties. Its Web site offers information and links about programs such as the Technical Preservation Services for Historic Buildings (www.cr.nps.gov/hps/tps/index.htm); the Historic Preservation Planning Program (www.cr.nps.gov/hps/pad); and the Federal Agency Preservation Assistance Program (www.cr.nps.gov/hps/fapa_p.htm). Phone, (202) 513-7270; e-mail, nps_hps-info@nps.gov.

Project Editor:
Marc Kristal

Editorial Staff:
Russell Boniface
Douglas E. Gordon, Hon. AIA
Tracy Ostroff
Terence Poltrack
Stephanie Stubbs, Assoc. AIA

Creative Oversight:

Design Director:
Pamela del Canto

Design Firm:
TFW Design, Inc.
Alexandria, VA

Contributors:

Contributors:
Charles A. Birnbaum, FASLA, FAAR
Daniel Bluestone
Stephen J. Farneth, FAIA
Michael J. Mills, FAIA
Michelle C. Swatek
Howard Zemsky