Preservation: Communicate & Exhibit

Abstract

This elective course discusses current as well as historical practices and theories of preservation. Under the title "Communicate & Exhibit", the focus in the fall semester of 2021 is on forward-looking positions on "Building in the Existing Building Stock" and how these are communicated to the public by preservation experts, architects, and curators.

Objective

This course provides students with insight into the most important theories and practices of historic preservation and ways of conveying and exhibiting them. Students can deepen their understanding of the subject and discuss issues in a group by examining a topic of their own choice.

Content

Current strategies of "building in the existing fabric" are backed by various historical theories and practices of preservation. But which architects follow - explicitly or implicitly - which theory? How do these points of view evolve through the activities of different actors in their preservation and building activities, what forms of sufficiency have been and are being practiced? What "first works" are worth showing that introduce significant architectural oeuvres as building within the existing built fabric? In the fall semester of 2021, we will explore influential approaches to preservation and examine narratives associated with them, such as resource allocation, change of use, and "modernisation”. We will also analyse, discuss, and question their public communication. The insights gained will flow into the development of curatorial concepts, which will be applied and tested on the basis of a specific project site.

Resources