http://archplanbaltimore.blogspot.com/2014/05/preservation-that-brings-about-change.html
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Ice House
Baltimore, MD
photo courtesy of ArchPlan
baltimorebrew.com |
Hello Everyone:
Today I would like to spend some time talking about preservation as a mechanism of change and economic development. To help with today's post, I'll be using a recent article by Klaus Philipsen, FAIA, for
Community Architect. The title of the post is "Preservation as Change Agent and Economic Development" and makes the case for how sustainability and historic preservation are connected and can lend themselves to civic engagement. Mr. Philipsen notes, "On first blush it seems unlikely that architects as designers of 'what ought to be' and agents of change would be good advocates for preservation, be it of nature or of buildings. Wouldn't an architect always opts for building stuff instead preserving nature? Tearing something down for new construction instead of preserving it for tedious rehabilitation?" Good questions one and all but this is the fall-back position that has reigned for time in memoriam but perhaps this, like everything else, is changing.
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Greennmount Row Houses
Baltimore, MD
photo courtesy of ArchPlan
archplanbaltimore.blogspot.com |
Klaus Philipsen observes that the architecture profession is still tainted by the "tear it down and something new" mindset. This may sound egotistical but it seems to Mr. Philipsen that architects want to build soul-less modernist monuments for themselves and if it means paving paradise with new towns, UFO-like stadia, and anonymous office parks then away with the places that the public hold dear and the architects consider kitsch. As cities begin to recover from
tabla rasa disease, architects are still fighting this stereotype. This stereotype of the architect is firmly etched into the minds of the layperson.
Even if the average person has never heard of Le Corbusier's plans to overhaul Paris or Frank Lloyd Wright's anti-urbanist rants, the image of the architect as the builder of soulless modernist edifices to the self still persists. This rather, personally speaking, annoying and slightly offensive image of the architect has continued despite attempts by the media to put a friendlier face on the field. Mr. Philipsen points out, "...architects have pushed the reset button many times, embraced Jane Jacobs, become porch loving new-urbanists, and elevated the worn look of old lofts to the level of hippest thing in town."
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Midtown Baltimore
photo courtesy of ArchPlan
archplanbaltimore.blogspot.com |
Other than this digression about the poor architect's image issues, Mr. Philipsen asks, "how can preservation be anything but stagnation?" His answer is scale is the magic key to understanding the "dialectic effects of preservation both of buildings and nature." To figure out the right scale, one has to step back and look the big picture. Mr. Philipsen refers to a previous blog post about open space, in which he advocates preserving nature can add more value to a site than buildings. Simply put, saving a group of small not so awe-inspiring building can add more value than building something shiny and new. Historic preservation can be a tool for change and an economic strategy. Mr. Philipsen emphasizes that preservation is
not about change for the sake of a greater change, more of a paradigm shift. Mr. Philispen then goes on to spend two paragraphs about the history of the exploding city. He does this because he believes that it is the secret to the riddle of preservation. Why would cities splay themselves across the suburban landscape until the they are disengaged shadows of the past? Mr. Philipsen then goes on to answer this question with a brief history or urbanism. I'll let you read this for yourselves and spend some time talking about the social and environmental effects of value creation.
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Suburban lawn
Baltimore, MD
photo courtesy of ArchPlan
archplanbaltimore.blogspot.com |
As always, "the greenest building is one that is already there." It doesn't matter if the building may have poor energy characteristics, it can still the net zero building in total energy calculations. The reason for this is the preservation and reuse of older buildings contributes to sustainability in two ways: energy and "footprint." Reusing buildings saves energy because the inherent energy in the infrastructure is used instead of exhaling additional energy during demolition, disposal, rebuilding. This is the case, even when adaptive reuse pencils out more than new construction, once the external costs for a new building are factored in. This thought becomes quite possible if one considers the amount energy expended in building from scratch. Footprint and location is another factor in the total energy calculations. An older building adapted for residential or commercial purposes is not consuming farm fields, especially when we take into account the fact that urban households take up less space then their exurban counterparts which can sit on five or six acres, consuming natural resources and infrastructure. The savings get bigger when transportation time is reduced when buildings are rehabilitated in a central urban core.
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Archival Baltimore
baltimorefishbowl.com |
Preservation makes people happy. It certainly puts a smile on my face. While no one has proven this conclusively, but it certainly stands in contrast to the fearful and hostile posture of people languishing in the mire of a changing society. Klaus Philispen cites philosopher Walter Benjamin, who explored the idea of recognition and remembrance as a source of comfort, "The past materialized into space." The remembrance and preserving of things past gives us the textures and complexities that we crave. The tell the story of who we are now. Older buildings exhibit the craftsmanship and preferences of the period they were made and as they developed over time, making the place unique and identifiable. A structure may not be obviously beautiful but sometimes, the beauty of a building maybe found in the details and the site. In this case, preservation moves from narrowly focusing on the singular part to the larger context of site and history, no matter how banal it may be. A lunch counter in Mississippi may be just a lunch counter, until research reveals its connection to the Civil Rights Movement.
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Baltimore Washington Monument
kilduff.nt |
Let us consider, for a moment, what the Baltimore Washington Monument without the surrounding beautiful brownstone Federalist-era buildings surrounding it. The same is true for the re-purposed Canton Canneries. Where would this, otherwise non-descript place, be without the small formstone row houses where immigrants once lived? The housing market has answered this question by selling would-be residents on the attractiveness of small houses. This is pretty good considering that no one would have given a second thought to reviving modest housing, far from the water, without a lot of demolition or new construction. Current GIS based research by the National Trust has clearly proven that well-preserved neighborhoods do thrive. Neighborhoods such as Hampden, Remington, Woodberry, and Highlandtown are examples where careful investment in adaptive reuse in specific larger industrial buildings can accommodate community revitalization in places that were previously written off. Preservation, in the form of slow incremental change, can result in bigger changes. Michael Powe of the National Trust put together a series of indicator maps that demonstrate the positive effects of preservation.
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Baltimore Harbor area
carfreebaltimore.com |
Another reason for preservation as an agent of change and economic development is the desire for authenticity, the vernacular, the rough-edged charm of a former industrial city and may be the reason why Baltimore is nicknamed "Charm City." The fabled millennials, who seem to be willing to settle anywhere, are apparently drawn to the complex nature of a real city with its history on full display. While sustainability celebrates permanence in an age of disposability, the shabby charm of neglect is a welcome counterpoint. In contrast to this shabby charm, there are still parts of Baltimore and other legacy cities that remain fallow. The residents are trapped in an endless cycle of poverty and crime. Once again, slum clearance is rearing its serpent-like head as a desirable solution. However, if you pay close enough attention, you can find beauty among the ruins of a neglected place and imagine a new more vibrant life in divested neighborhoods. Like all legacy cities, Baltimore is still reeling from urban unrest in the sixties and de-industrialization. Time will tell if young architects are willing to set aside their egos and become agents of change and economic development.
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