Course Syllabus

Historic Preservation Theory & Practice

ARCHA6740, Wednesdays 3PM-6PM

Prof. Jorge Otero-Pailos jo2050@columbia.edu

Mika Tal, Manager, Preservation Technology Lab mt3321@columbia.edu

Scaffolding for preservation works at Hagia Sophia, Istanbul (2014, photo: Otero-Pailos)

Course Description

This lecture and lab practicum course is an introduction to historic preservation theory and practice as it developed in Western cultures, from the Enlightenment to the present moment of globalization. We will focus especially on how preservation theories and experimental practices helped to redefine and advance new conceptions of existing architecture, cities and landscapes as "heritage" worthy of care. Students will put into practice the ideas learned in lectures and readings through a semester-long hands-on exercise. Students will receive individual feedback on their practicum projects during the lab. 

Historic preservation is often described as a young discipline, on account of the fact that many of its current institutions and legal frameworks were created in the twentieth century. But many of the foundational ideas and practices that gave rise to contemporary historic preservation have much deeper historical roots. For instance, our contemporary notion of world heritage can be traced back to the dawn of international law in the mid 18th century. The present practice of maintaining registries of listed monuments also has historic precedents in revolutionary France. We will touch upon the histories of these and other theories and practices, identifying key figures, texts, and projects. We will also examine the birth and legacy of different schools of historic preservation. Many of these schools took form during the nineteenth century, together with the rise of republicanism, nationalism, colonialism, imperialism, capitalism, and during the twentieth century, variously framed by fascism, communism, internationalism and the welfare state. We will focus on understanding the relationship between historic preservation and the social, political and economic context in which it developed and acquired currency and value. We will ask questions about how theory and practice relate to one another, and how a solid grasp of the discipline's history can help us articulate new ways of thinking and doing historic preservation.

Course Objectives

This course aims to provide students with knowledge about the historical development of historic preservation theory and practice. Students will learn about the principal schools of thought, defining practices, major figures, and representative projects of western historic preservation since the Enlightenment. The wider objective of the course is to prepare students to deploy the knowledge acquired in class in addressing the challenges posed by real-world preservation practice.

Method of Instruction

This is a weekly course divided into two components, a 1 hour and 45 minute theory lecture followed by a 1 hour and 15 minute hands-on practicum lab in which students will document, assess, design and physically execute the completion of an architectural fragment in the Preservation Technology Lab. Students are expected to read the assigned texts, and write weekly responses before arriving to class reflecting on the relationship between the readings and their practicum projects.

Method of Evaluation
Attendance and class participation 10%: 

Midterm practicum project and research presentation 30%. 

Final practicum project and research paper 40%. 

Weekly write ups 20% (weekly assignments)
 

Required Textbook

Historic Preservation Theory: An Anthology, Readings from the 18th to the 21st Century, ed. Jorge Otero-Pailos (Sharon, CT: Design Books, 2023). Copies can be ordered from the local book seller Book Culture (536 W 112th St), Amazon and Barnes&Noble. There are also copies in Avery Library. 

Suggested reference books

Miles Glendinning, The Conservation Movement: A History of Architecture Preservation, Antiquity to Modernity, (London and New York: Routledge, 2013).

John H. Stubbs, Time Honored: A Global View of Architectural Conservation, (Hoboken, NJ: Wiley, 2009). 

Jukka Jokilehto, A History of Architectural Conservation, (Oxford: Butterworth-Heinemann, 1999). 

Office Hours: Google calendar sign up.

Schedule of classes

see modules section of CANVAS for dates, readings and assignments