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Present: Bill Chase, Marilyn Fenollosa, David Fixler, Jack Glassman, David Kelman, Krista McFadden, Bill Mack, Doug Manley, Henry Moss, Ivan Myjer, Deborah Robinson, Susan Schur, Malcolm Smiley, Eric Ward, Gary Wolf 1. BAC Preservation Course Ideas: The committee weighed ideas about education for architects who will be involved with historic preservation to discuss with Don Hunsicker of the Boston Architectural College. The BAC is developing a course, and several members of the committee offered to help with initial guidance: Bill Barlow, Jack Glassman, Ivan Myjer and Krista McFadden. Jack Glassman is an advocate of integration between preservation courses and architecture curricula, including design studios. Krista McFadden noted that she had to drop out of one architecture program for a while in order to pursue her interest in preservation studies. Ivan Myjer characterized the problem as one of boundaries and asked a provocative, organizing question -- "What would make someone employable in your firm?" Malcolm Smiley recommended plenty of walking tours of historic districts and text guides. Gary Wolf emphasized the importance of American History courses. David Fixler observed the shift for preservation architects from responsibility for building projects toward specialist activity as conservators. 2. DOCOMOMO Update: Gary Wolf and David Fixler described the sudden vulnerability of Eleanor Raymond's 1931 house for her sister Rachel on Belmont Hill. Arguably the first Modern Movement house in New England, it has been purchased recently by the Belmont Hill School, who purportedly intended to remove it to clear the site for tennis courts. [See Robert Campbell's excellent Boston Globe article from Sunday, October 29 (Arts and Entertainment page N4). By Sunday morning, the house had been gone for 48 hours. DOCOMOMO and the BSA HRC had written letters to Belmont Hill School urging them to recognize the significance of the house and plan for its rehabilitation and continued residential use. David had written an Op-Ed piece for the Belmont newspaper. The Belmont Historical Commission was apoplectic but powerless because there is no demolition delay ordinance. How is it possible for a property of this importance to disappear with so little cultural friction? What does this wretched incident tell us to do about other historic Modern Movement properties?] 3. Restoration and Reconstruction Approaches for Modern Buildings: David Fixler brought the thoughts contained in his Atlanta APTI presentation to our committee and concentrated on the several critical preservation approaches that are unique to Modern architecture, furniture, and fixtures. "Newness Value" is an attribute comparable to Alois Riegel's "Age Value." David's APTI presentation took place in a session where Bill Dupont, Chief Architect of the National Trust for Historic Preservation showed his ongoing work at the Mies van der Rohe's Farnsworth House and Philip Johnson's Glass House. Both talks noted that patina and other indicators of an aging building fabric detracted from the original design intent and the meaning of many Modern Movement buildings, building assemblies, and artifacts. David showed his lighting fixture alterations at Aalto's Baker House, done in conjunction with Jerry Kugler, Edison Price, and Louis Poulson. He also introduced more lighting fixtures inconspicuously in the Dining Room's slatted wood ceiling. Aalto was not involved with the general lighting of Baker House and the project used commercially produced fixtures-apart from the famous external lamps above the conical skylights of the dining room. David showed a range of similar examples from the United Nations buildings, including the response of Einhorn Yaffee Prescott (EYP) and Billings/Jackson (Nicholas Grimshaw's industrial design subsidiary) to the integration of electronic data systems and new audio visual equipment (TV cameras and voting boards) into the General Assembly chamber. Curtain walls and early double-hung sliding sash windows pose constant problems when the assemblies wear out and replacement must improve on thermal performance. David's examples included an approach at the U.N. that replaces double-hung sliding sash windows with a new system that cannot reasonably replicate the meeting rail offsets that provided a subtle textural variation for the full height of the building and in every story of the façade. Member states had always advocated for operable windows, but the new curtain wall will not incorporate them. David reminded us that both the Empire State and Chrysler Buildings had double hung sliding sash windows. Another example, relevant to many current GSA projects, showed EYP's non-extreme makeover of the International Union of Operating Engineers headquarters building with a reglazing approach that kept its curtain wall arrangement of spandrels and vision panels, but provided a sleek, continuous movement between the two by hiding one horizontal extrusion at the spandrel and using the same glass for both opaque and transparent conditions. This approach had less to do with self-conscious preservation than economy and a modest reevaluation of the original design intent. 4. Advocacy Issues with Institutional Owners: Henry and David described the circumstances of change at Harvard's Harkness Commons and Woodbury Poetry Room. Henry related the BSA Board's request that our committee explore ways to provide early warnings of such controversies in order to allow the BSA time to respond effectively. [This will be a central topic at our October meeting.] 5. H. H. Richardson Home: Elizabeth Randall, Marilyn Fenollosa, Gary Wolf and other committee members have worked to organize a preservation outcome at this difficult site. Albert Rex, previous director of the Boston Preservation Alliance and leader of the Chestnut Hill Waterworks charrette, was hired to lead a day's work aimed at finding real estate solutions to this vulnerable, valuable one-acre property. [The charrette took place and some new ideas emerged. We look forward to a detailed report at our November 9 meeting.] 6. BSA Preservation Award: Ivan Myjer suggested that we consider Boston's Historic Burying Ground Project for this award. After a 12-year hiatus, the innovative program is gathering momentum and making new headway. Kelly Thomas now runs the program as part of Parks and Recreation. Boston's tour companies have helped to fund their recent activities. [We might include the Department of Environmental Management's ambitious publication Preservation Guidelines for Municipally Owned Historic Burial Grounds and Cemeteries as part of the same discussion.]
8: 00 a.m., Thursday, 9 November 2006 The Architects' Building, 52 Broad Street, Boston, fifth floor Featuring a discussion among members "Advocacy in the Dark: Timing problems with demolition or major alterations by institutional owners"
Henry Moss, Matthew Bronski, and Sara Wermiel co-leaders and scribes
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