Contemporary Architecture in the Historic Environment

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Design Approaches and Philosophies
Worskett, Roy. 1982. Design in Conservation. New buildings in historic areas, I:
Conservation: The missing ethic. Monumentum 25 (2): 129–54. http://www.
international.icomos.org/monumentum/vol25-2/vol25-2_3.pdf
In this article, Worskett accuses preservation of being overly protective of historic
cities, thereby arresting the process of progressive change that he considers
to be an essential characteristic of these sites. The author associates this
problem with a reaction against modernist redevelopment initiatives. He identifies
the need for a new preservation ethic to guide appropriate interventions in
the historic environment that allows an acceptable amount of change to occur.
Worskett advocates that the goal should be to avoid both fake reconstructions
(which he compares to the creation of a Disneyland-type environment) and
modern architecture that ignores the context and harms its character. (A.P.A.G.)
Zancheti, Silvio Mendes, Aline de Figueirôa Silva, Anna Caroline Braga, Fabiana
Gonçalves Gameiro, Flaviana Barreto Lira, and Luciana Santiago Costa. 2006.
The patina of the city. City & Time 2 (2): 11–22. http://www.ceci-br.org/novo/
revista/docs2006/CT-2006-48.pdf
This paper discusses patina, defined as “the effect left by the passage of time on
the exterior surfaces of urban elements and on social practices” in cities (p. 11).
It provides a critical literature review on a number of concepts of patina in context
of urban environments—from physical decay of materials and buildings to
immaterial social dimensions. The authors identify that patina can be a defining
character of a city and assert that new architectural insertions or “urban regeneration”
can have an adverse effect on the patina of the city, producing “abrupt
changes in these places, and wipe out the patina” (p. 21). Alternatively, urban
regeneration can have a positive and transformative effect on the patina of the
city. The authors emphasize that “patina must be considered so that places do
not lose their identity, authenticity and historicity” (p. 21).
These ideas are illustrated by examples from various cities throughout Brazil.
The paper explains that “when interventions are made in old areas, the patina of
which has become an inherent part of their identity, the attempt should be made
to grade the transformations in time, inevitably for contemporary uses, in such
a way that the patina may regenerate itself on the old surfaces and re-emerge on
the surface of new elements” (p. 11). (L.M.)
Zyscovich, Bernard, and Douglas R. Porter. 2008. Getting Real about Urbanism:
Contextual Design for Cities. Washington, DC: Urban Land Institute.
In this book, the authors discuss the concept of contextual urbanism. They
advocate that the best form of urban design is one that responds to the “historical
and contextual ambience of specific sites” (p. 8). The book promotes redevelopment
in infill areas. Chapter 2 proposes guiding principles for contextual
urban design. One of these principles identifies the need for “distinctive communities
with a strong sense of place” (p. 21), thus making identification and
preservation of local character an important part of contextual urban design.
Chapter 4 proposes a methodology for the preparatory research phase that
should precede the proposal of a design solution. The concept proposed by the
authors is illustrated with examples from the United States. (A.P.A.G.)
Contemporary Architecture in the Historic Environment: An Annotated Bibliography - Getty Conservation Institute - 2015