Ordinary to Icon: Case Studies in the Rehabilitation of Modern Buildings and Sites

The sustainable renewal of the legacy of 20th century Modernism and its contemporary progeny presents many challenges to conservation and adaptive reuse that continue to be debated across our industry. The concept of renewal through “modernization” is increasingly employed by commercial, institutional and government building owners fueling an exponential increase in the volume of rehabilitation activity. Organizations such as the Getty Conservation Institute, ICOMOS, Docomomo and APT have undertaken broader inquiries into addressing the questions that impact the fundamental philosophy of how to work with this large and diverse legacy. This in turn has produced new guidelines such as the ICOMOS Madrid Document on Approaches for the Conservation of 20th Century Architectural Heritagevthat are meant to update and complement the existing established international charters to guide appropriate treatment for modern properties.

This seminar proposes to identify and evaluate some of the key challenges facing the preservation of modern buildings and sites through a critical analysis of selected case studies exhibiting possible means of addressing these issues while seeking to minimize other perceived programmatic or technical failings. It is hoped that the seminar will foster more detailed investigation of some of the more persistent and complex challenges and how they interface with a general drive to create sensitive design interventions that conserve carbon and increase the sustainability quota of many of these resources. Among numerous topics we will address will be the following:

1. Should the evaluative criteria that we develop for modern properties differ from those applied to earlier and/or more traditional forms of construction. Should there be different criteria applied to landmark quality structures versus the Ordinary Everyday Modern (OEM) vernacular?

2. Modern structures in many cases use a lot of operational carbon because of thin construction and lack of insulation. How do we devise and vet strategies to enhance energy performance that are appropriately balanced with maintenance of historic character?  

3. Design of Interventions: Conservation is increasingly being acknowledged as being an integral, creative part of any renovation and adaptive re-use project, particularly with modern structures, many of which are unloved, leading property owners to increasingly embrace modernization as a strategy to enhance what may be perceived as tired or outdated structures. What is the right balance of new design and conservation, and what is the role of the preservation professional in developing criteria and making judgments as to what constitutes appropriate alteration?

The course is open to all GSD students, though knowledge of and interest in the history of 20th century modernism is encouraged. The seminar structure will consist of lectures by the instructor and distinguished guests, student-led discussion of themed readings, and local case study site visits. The final deliverable will be student chosen case studies of an existing building or site that raise critical questions about conservation, interpretation, and the design of interventions. The goal will be to understand how the interventions have used or rejected attributes of the host structure, and the degree to which the result still embodies the design intent and quality of each building campaign.