Archinect - News

Egypt suspends plan to restore granite cladding on one of the pyramids of Giza following backlash

2024-02-17T08:00:00-05:00

Egypt has scuttled a controversial plan to reinstall ancient granite cladding on the pyramid of Menkaure, the smallest of the three great pyramids of Giza, a committee formed by the country’s tourism minister said in a statement. [...] The pyramids are the only one of the seven wonders of the ancient world that still remain.

The initiative was announced in January by Egypt’s Supreme Council of Antiquities, Mostafa Waziri, calling it “the project of the century.”

The project, led by a team of Egyptian and Japanese experts, would have commenced after at least a year of planning but has since drawn international outcry, with many critics believing that there should be as little intervention on the structure as possible and that this restoration attempt could have the effect of disrupting its natural state. The pushback has led Egypt’s antiquities authority to review the project.

The plan called for the reuse of fallen granite blocks that have remained around the pyramid’s base. However, according to Zahi Hawass, a former minister of antiquities who headed the Menkaure pyramid review committee, it would be impossible to determine where each granite block had originally been located.

Stefano Boeri reveals master plan for vast sacred Buddhist site in Nepal

2023-12-15T18:15:00-05:00

Stefano Boeri Architetti has unveiled a master plan to enhance the Ramagrama Stupa, one of the most significant places in the Buddhist world.

The site is located in Ramagrama, a municipality within the Parasi district in western Nepal. The archaeological destination dates back to the earliest period of the Buddhist tradition. It is covered by a hill and by the centuries-old Bodhi Tree, a sacred tree in Buddhism characterized by a high level of biodiversity. Under this lies a still intact Stupa of Buddha, which is a dirt burial mound faced with stone that contains portions of the relics of Buddha. Today, the site presents itself as a green mound.

Image: Stefano Boeri Architetti

Various organizations and Buddhist communities have committed themselves to the preservation and sustainable enhancement of the Ramagrama Stupa. The aim has been to conserve this site in accordance with the standards set by UNESCO for World Heritage Sites. Stefano Boeri Architetti has, thus, been entrusted wit...

Bologna unveils plan to reinforce 12th-century leaning tower

2023-12-08T18:30:00-05:00

Work to prevent the collapse of a leaning medieval tower in the heart of the northern Italian city of Bologna will cost €20m ($21.5m) and take 10 years at least, its mayor has said. Last weekend, the city unveiled a €4.3m (£3.7m) project to shore up the Garisenda tower – one of the city’s two towers that look out over central Bologna, providing inspiration over the centuries to painters and poets and a lookout spot during conflicts.

The Garisenda Tower, like the Tower of Pisa, has leaned for centuries as the ground on which it was built gave way soon after its construction. It slants at four degrees compared to 3.9 degrees the Tower of Pisa leans at. Last month, the area around the Garisenda Tower was cordoned off due to increasing concerns about its potential to collapse. Bologna’s mayor, Matteo Lepore, claims that the time to restore the structure will match the 10 years it took to reinforce the Tower of Pisa.

Built in the 12th century, the Garisenda Tower, which stands at approximately 157 feet, sits alongside the taller, and also leaning, Asinelli Tower. As reported by The Guardian, Italy’s civil protection agency has issued a “yellow” alert for the area around the two towers indicating the space is under watch. However, they aren’t believed to pose any immediate risks to people’s safety. The mayor has also urged the government to work to make the towers UNESCO World Heritage sites. Work to reinforce the to...

UNESCO urges UK not to proceed with Stonehenge tunnels project

2023-09-26T11:34:00-04:00

The A303 redevelopment proposal had originally garnered the attention of preservation advocates beginning in 2017 and eventually yielded a favorable ruling from the UK High Court in 2021, the same year UNESCO first threatened to add the site to its list of World Heritage in Danger.

Adding to the narrative, UNESCO has now openly criticized the UK government's recent decision to proceed with the contentious project. The UK's transport secretary, Mark Harper, sanctioned the scheme earlier this year, setting its initial cost at a staggering £1.7bn. This tunnel, which is proposed to be two miles in length, is alarmingly close to the ancient and revered site of Stonehenge in Wiltshire.

National Highways insists its plan will "conserve and enhance" the area while addressing a notorious traffic bottleneck. UNESCO’s requests center on placing the tunnel entrances at longer intervals so as to not disturb the site’s existing landscape. In a statement, the project manager for the overhaul said...

Conservation expert cautions: Narratives about traditional earthen architecture and the Moroccan earthquake are flawed

2023-09-18T14:37:00-04:00

The rush to blame the destruction that ensued in the wake of this month’s devastating 6.9 magnitude earthquake in Morocco on rammed earth and the region's other traditional earthen construction methods is a flawed conjecture, according to an explanation penned recently by University of York lecturer Louise Cooke.

In an article featured in The Conversation over the weekend, Cooke refuted some of what she calls inaccuracies latent in the popular media narrative about the country’s traditional architectures, namely that their structural designs make them susceptible to collapses during seismic events. She says the popular consensus about traditional architecture is a mischaracterization, adding that the disaster’s true culprit lies in a hastened shift away from age-old building and maintenance methods caused by outside influence from modern Western design.

“In the immediate aftermath of an earthquake, it is common for local building cultures to be blamed for their own destruction,” the...

Istanbul's conservators are scrambling to protect heritage sites from disaster

2023-06-02T11:48:00-04:00

Conservators in Istanbul are racing to safeguard scores of at-risk heritage sites in the wake of Turkey’s deadliest earthquake in modern history, bracing for the probability of an even greater disaster in a city straddling an active faultline.

Consequences of incumbent President Recep Erdoğan’s culture wars and the fallout of a “real-estate mentality that supersedes cultural heritage” have become unnecessary obstacles for volunteers who are up against the impossible challenge of securing 35,000 heritage sites around Istanbul seismically.

February’s deadly Turkey-Syria earthquake primarily affected the country’s easternmost provinces, but still, the metro’s location north of the precarious North Anatolian Fault means the seismic “triage” measures being performed now might not be in place in time for a similar quake scientists say has a very strong likelihood of occurring within the next two decades.

The state of Frederick Law Olmsted's most at-risk landscapes is examined in new TCLF Landslide 2022 report

2022-10-26T10:00:00-04:00

A new report and exhibition inspecting the state of some of the most at-risk designs by Fredrick Law Olmsted and his successor firms have been released by The Cultural Landscape Foundation (TCLF) in honor of the storied landscape architect’s 200th birthday.

This year’s Landslide report has identified twelve Olmsted projects in nine states and Canada that are under threat of a range of challenges including climate change, maintenance delays, and the overall lack of funding.

Washington Park in Milwaukee, WI. Image: Eddee Daniel, courtesy of The Cultural Landscape Foundation

“Landslide 2022 shows us that while the appreciation and value for Olmsted-designed landscapes in general continues to increase, some landscapes have been less fortunate. Our intent with this report is to foster greater awareness and curiosity about this exceptional legacy, and to encourage a stronger shared responsibility for its future,” said Charles A. Birnbaum, the TCLF’s president and CEO, in a preview.

Olmsted...

Peek inside the slick new gallery spaces at the reopened Royal Museum of Fine Arts Antwerp

2022-09-28T13:16:00-04:00

Today, it appears unchanged from the outside. But an entirely new building has been inserted within the existing footprint. Twenty-first century white cube galleries have been incorporated into the original structure, increasing the exhibition space by 40%.

Following a major 11-year-long, $96 million restoration led by Rotterdam-based firm KAAN Architecten, the Royal Museum of Fine Arts Antwerp (KMSKA) finally reopened in Belgium.

Photo: Karin Borghouts

KAAN Architecten’s work combined a renovation of the 19th-century neoclassical museum building, originally designed by Belgian architects Jean-Jacques Winders and Frans Van Dijk, with the addition of a contemporary extension nestled within the original structure. The firm revived the original colors, materials, and routing of the historic space.

Photo: Karin Borghouts

The new interior building is defined by white exhibition halls, long staircases, hidden rooms, and daylight provided through four light wells.

Take a look at interior shots of the new gallery spaces below.

Photo: Karin Borghouts

MASS Design Group 'catalyzes conservation and species protection' with The Ellen DeGeneres Campus of the Dian Fossey Gorilla Fund

2022-06-15T13:52:00-04:00

MASS Design Group is celebrating the completion of the Ellen DeGeneres Campus of the Dian Fossey Gorilla Fund in Rwanda.

Named in collaboration with comedian and television host Ellen DeGeneres, the 12-acre campus is located in the country's Musanze District and Kigali. The campus features three new facilities for education, research, and conservation. It is comprised of a selection of native landscaping and materials assembled by a team of over 2,400 local workers in a demonstration of the studio’s “Purpose Built” process developed by Principal Patricia Gruits and overseen by its new construction arm MASS.Build

"The campus will do more than inspire a generation of conservation activists in Rwanda, it will model new ways for global conservationists to bind ecosystems and communities in support of one another." - Michael Murphy, MASS Design Group Founding Principal and Exec. Dir. Image © Iwan Baan.

MASS Design says it worked with the foundation to design everything – from furnishings ...

The 11 most threatened modern sites across the U.S.

2022-04-29T15:44:00-04:00

In response to the recent surprise demolition of Marcel Breuer’s Geller I house on Long Island, modernist conservation group Docomomo US has released its first-ever list of the 11 most threatened modern sites in the United States.

Working on the advice of its chapter members, the group selected 11 sites across the country in danger of seeing the same fate as Breuer’s first post-war residential project beginning with Miami’s Marine Stadium, which is still currently awaiting word on a publicly-funded restoration effort.

Washington state was a popular location, with Space Needle architect John Graham Jr.’s Lloyd Center and the Weyerhaeuser International Headquarters both making the list.

Massachusetts is also well-represented with the “Long House” prototype cotta...

Save Britain's Heritage details threats faced by landmark department stores

2022-04-06T14:41:00-04:00

At least 18 “high street titans” – architecturally significant department stores that have fallen victim to profound changes in shopping patterns – are at risk of being permanently lost, according to a new report. But these “cathedrals of commerce”, as Émile Zola described them in his 1883 novel The Ladies’ Paradise, should be granted new lives – as art galleries, residential housing, community hubs and social spaces, says Save Britain’s Heritage.

The report Departing Stores: Emporia at Risk details the threats to department stores across the UK and what can be done to save these spaces. It covers 46 landmark department stores in town and city centers, some of which have been restored or developed while maintaining their architectural heritage. Others, however, have been left vacant and are at risk of decay or demolition. In addition, according to the British Retail Consortium and Local Data Company, there were 237 vacant department stores in the UK as of mid-2021.

The popularity of department stores has sharply declined with the proliferation of online shopping, which was exacerbated by the onset of the pandemic. The Guardian notes that in the first quarter of 2021, overall retail vacancy sat at a five-year high of 14.1%. In defense of department stores, the report hails their architectural and historical merit. Now, “the race is on to identify and assess these buildings,” according to Marcus Binney, executive president of ...

Italy launches unprecedented anti-seismic plan to protect churches under threat from earthquakes

2022-03-30T14:51:00-04:00

Cathedrals, churches and basilicas across Italy are at risk of being razed by earthquakes that could strike at any moment. But the government is on a mission to protect some of the country’s most significant and vulnerable religious buildings from disastrous seismic shocks. A new national project backed with €250m from Italy’s multibillion-euro pot of EU Covid-19 recovery funding is unprecedented in Europe for its scale and reach, officials believe.

In one of Europe’s most earthquake-prone countries, the anti-seismic plan will allow the Italian culture ministry’s heritage safety department to distribute resources around the country that will mitigate the impact of future disasters. Straps and chains will be wrapped around bell towers and shock-absorbing blocks will be fixed to foundations. Project grants will be assigned to around 250 of the 840 structures owned by Italy’s Religious Buildings Fund. The ministry will assess buildings based on their historical value, importance for local communities, and vulnerability to damage.

This initiative is backed by Italy’s National Recovery and Resilience Plan, a €191.5 billion ($213.7 billion) investment package from the EU focused on addressing judicial, administrative, and energy reform. Funds are being channeled into “macro-projects” aimed at preserving and rejuvenating Italy’s cultural sector....

Frank Lloyd Wright's Freeman House has found a buyer in Los Angeles

2022-02-26T10:05:00-05:00

On Thursday, USC announced that it had finalized the sale of the home to Richard E. Weintraub, president and CEO of the Weintraub Real Estate Group, a Los Angeles developer who has worked with historic properties in the past. (He and fellow developer Tom Gilmore helped bring the old St. Vibiana Cathedral in downtown L.A. back to life as a restaurant and events center.)

The home hit the market in July and has undergone extensive restorations in order to repair structural damage caused by the 1994 Northridge Earthquake. The need for additional repairs was reportedly behind the agreement reached between the school and Weintraub, which negotiated a reduction of the originally listed price from $4.25 to $1.8 million on the condition that the developer will make the proper and necessary changes along strict conservation guidelines in addition to opening the home to public tours a minimum of time per year.

Previously on Archinect: USC puts Frank Lloyd Wright-designed Freeman House up for sale; Freeman House; Image © Liz Kuball

USC says it is in the process of “reaffirming its mission and priorities, which is academic teaching and research,” and that it lacks the funds necessary to make more than basic restorations.

“The textile-block houses, in particular, have very specific conservation needs,” the Los Angeles Conservancy’s Linda Dishman told the Times. ...

Brighton passes planning condition requiring new buildings to feature bee bricks

2022-01-24T15:56:00-05:00

An initiative in Brighton aimed at helping protect the bee population could do more harm than good, scientists have warned. The council in Brighton has passed a planning condition that means any new building more than five metres high will have to include swift boxes and special bricks with holes known as bee bricks. They will provide nesting and hibernating space for solitary bees.

The mandate was first proposed in 2019 and then attached to all planning permissions after April 1, 2020. As reported by The Guardian, scientists warn that this move may not result in a notable difference for biodiversity, with some arguing that it could actually harm bees if the holes aren’t properly maintained or if they attract mites.

Others have asserted that the bricks don’t need to be cleaned because there will be beneficial microbes in the holes and bees possess natural hygienic behavior. It is clear that further research is required in order to better understand the costs and benefits to implementing these bee bricks. One professor believes Brighton’s planning condition will provide a good opportunity to evaluate the efficacy of the bricks on a wide enough scale over an extended period of time before thinking of employing it elsewhere.

'It is important for the world to know that people like you exist': Anne Lacaton and Jean-Philippe Vassal formally awarded 2021 Pritzker Prize

2021-09-15T13:18:00-04:00

Anne Lacaton and Jean-Philippe Vassal have been formally awarded the 2021 Pritzker Architecture Prize at a special ceremony which took place on September 14th. The French architects were announced as recipients of the prestigious prize in March in recognition of their contribution to the built environment, particularly their commitment to sustainability through the use of pre-existing structures.

Ceremony highlights. Video courtesy Pritzker Architecture Prize.

During their ceremony acceptance speech, Lacaton and Vassal stressed the importance of creating habitable spaces with a positive relationship to the climate and starting from a principle of retaining, rather than demolishing, existing structures. “In this respect, the heritage of modernity and experiments with free plan, spatial generosity, transparency and light for all, offer many valuable lessons,” they said.

“Considering the existing as a present material deeply modifies the way we envisage the city, which is always a...

An early Paul R. Williams house is on the market as conservationists push for monument status

2021-09-06T10:00:00-04:00

A home belonging to one of Los Angeles’ most storied architects is now one step closer to being saved following a unanimous vote by the Los Angeles Cultural Heritage Commission.

The Jefferson Park home was Paul Revere Williams’ principal residence for nearly 30 years and has been listed on the market for $1.6 million. The Los Angeles Conservancy submitted an application to the Commission wherein it cited the historic value of the home, which Williams inhabited during his rise to prominence in the city’s busy interwar period. The site “illustrates a part of Paul Revere Williams' life and story that is rarely told or fully understood,” according to a Los Angeles NBC affiliate.

Many of Williams’ houses have been mistakenly demolished owing to the fact that many of his business records, which were kept in a bank vault in nearby South Central Los Angeles, were destroyed when the branch was burned to the ground as part of 1992’s LA Riots.

Related on Archinect: 2017 AIA Gold Medal posthu...

A landmark designation effort backfires in the push to save one historic Los Angeles restaurant from the wrecking ball

2021-06-18T13:23:00-04:00

LA's famed Taix Restaurant on Sunset Boulevard made headlines earlier this month after a strange ruling by the City Council to designate only certain elements of the century-old establishment a historic landmark in an unprecedented move that could have ramifications for preservation efforts in Los Angeles and across the country for years to come.

The LA Times is reporting that efforts to save Taix from an encroaching redevelopment scheme culminated in a unanimous decision to limit the designation to the restaurant’s signage and cherrywood-topped bar.

The decision is unlike any other in recent history in that it eschews almost the entirety of the Norman Revival building in favor of a plan that recognizes only non-structural components as historic landmarks. By limiting the designations to the bar and advertising, critics say Los Angeles City Councilmember Mitch O’Farrell has created a dangerous standard that can be abused by development-hungry business interests where the opportunit...

Neutra Reunion House added to Los Angeles' list of Historic-Cultural Monuments

2021-06-11T18:43:00-04:00

The Los Angeles City Council on Wednesday added the Reunion House, by prominent modernist architect, Richard Neutra, to the city’s list of Historic-Cultural Monuments.

The hillside residence was built in 1950 and sits at 2440 Neutra Place in Silver Lake. It was built as a speculative house, designed to accommodate grandparents and visiting family members, hence the name Reunion.

The Neutra family bought the home in 1963, and in 1966, it was transferred to Richard’s son Dion who lived there until his death in 2019. Dion, also an accomplished architect, trained under his father starting at the age of 11. He studied at the USC School of Architecture, where he graduated in 1950. Neutra went on to work in his father’s firm, where the pair worked together through the 1950s. He became a partner of the practice in 1965 and led the company following his father’s death in 1970. Over decades, minor alterations were made on the house by both Richard and Dion. Most notably, Dion added an apart...

Could reusing the condensate from air conditioners be a feasible solution to mitigating water scarcity?

2021-05-21T15:41:00-04:00

What do a handful of Microsoft Corporate offices, the Austonian in Austin, the University of Arizona's College of Architecture, Planning & Landscape Architecture building, and San Diego International Airport (SAN) have in common? Each building practices air conditioner condensate reuse for alternative irrigation methods, cooling, and water conservation efforts.

While these are a few examples of buildings around the globe adopting this practice of water reuse, professor Jonathan Bean from the University of Arizona's College of Architecture, Planning & Landscape Architecture explains the realistic outlook on condensate reuse. "Reusing condensate is important but not a critical piece in counteracting climate change," he shared with Chris Malloy of Bloomberg CityLab. Instead, Bean believes there are more effective strategies out there like "making buildings smaller and reconsidering refrigerants."

Image © har__q via Flickr (CC BY-SA 2.0)

"While the water volume from air conditioners h...

Hauser & Wirth Menorca to open after two-year conservation project

2021-02-25T15:45:00-05:00

Through a two-year conservation project, Hauser & Wirth has repurposed a collection of historic buildings on Isla del Rey, located in the port of Mahon in Menorca, into a 1,500 square meter art center. An education program has been developed to engage the local community and visitors in contemporary art through screenings, talks, and workshops.

Hauser & Wirth Menorca on Isla del Rey. Courtesy Hauser & Wirth. Photo: Be Creative, Menorca.

Throughout the site, a sculpture trail will feature work by Louise Bourgeois, Eduardo Chillida, and Frantz West, among others. A UNESCO Biosphere Reserve, Hauser & Wirth partnered with the Menorca Preservation Fund to realize the project.

Paris-based Argentinian architect Luis Laplace led the restoration of the project. Tiled roofing and terrazzo flooring used in the project was created with local stone, and the interior architecture features the original restored wooden beams.

Hauser & Wirth Menorca on Isla del Rey. Courtesy Hauser & Wirth. Photo: Be...

Modern structures in Kuwait, Nigeria, Senegal, Chile, and more selected for conservation grants by Getty Foundation

2020-07-15T15:33:00-04:00

The Getty Foundation has selected 13 pivotal Modernist structures located around the world to receive funding for conservation and restoration initiatives as part of its Keeping It Modern Architecture Conservation Grants program.

As in years passed, the selected structures are located globally, with this year's collection of funded projects highlighting several structures that celebrate "post-independence African modernism." Launched in 2014, the Keeping It Modern Initiative has supported a total of 77 projects in 40 countries so far, according to the Getty Foundation

“Modern architecture, with its experimental materials and structural innovations, is a powerful cultural expression that took many forms worldwide,” said Joan Weinstein, director of the Getty Foundation. “These buildings embody human ingenuity, but many are showing their age and face irreversible damage or even demolition if we fail to act. Our Keeping It Modern grantees across the globe are working to safeguard this ...

Hungarian design studio Hello Wood creates a seasonal pavilion to protect a cherished monument

2019-12-03T12:36:00-05:00

Budapest-based design studio Hello Wood has designed a new "Art Shield" pavilion that protects and highlights an iconic monument in the city. The temporary structure shields the Vörösmarty monument, which is located in a popular square that has recently undergone renovation.

Image by Zsuzsa Darab (Hello Wood)

According to a press statement from Hello Wood, "The huge, arched structure owes its airy quality to its weatherproof steel sheets, while the transparent plexiglass facade protects it from the driving rain." The goal of the design was to focus on a high-quality, streamlined approach for yearly assembly and disassembly of the seasonal pavilion. The studio explains that the overall shape and plan of the installation was optimized to the particularities of the monument and to the elliptical design of the square itself.

Hello Wood - Art Shield | Vörösmarty Pavilion. Courtesy of Máté Lakos/Hello Wood

"Its structure and use of materials ensure that...

Centre Pompidou to create "art factory" in Parisian suburbs

2019-10-17T14:45:00-04:00

The Centre Georges Pompidou in Paris has unveiled plans to expand to a suburban site by creating a new "art factory" that will both display and conserve the museum's expansive art collections.

An architect for the proposal has not been named. The scheme is slated for an existing parking lot in the city's Massy area to the southwest of the city center, The Art Newspaper reports.

View of the Centre Pompidou in Paris. Image courtesy of Wikimedia user GraphyArchy.

According to a statement, the new 22,000 square meter facility will create a "centre of excellence for the conservation and restoration of the works in the collection, and a new cultural and creative venue deeply rooted in its territory.” The Art Newspaper reports that the 120,000 works held by the Musée national d’art moderne that are currently displayed at the Centre Pompidou will also make their way to the outpost. The new facility will be designed as a hybrid space that is set to include "a multipurpose exhibition venue,"...

Crowdfunding effort helps create a 22,200-acre nature preserve in Canada

2019-09-09T13:00:00-04:00

The B.C. Parks Foundation, an independent charity that works with B.C. Parks, was able to raise $3 million to buy [1,977 acres] in Princess Louisa Inlet from a private seller.

According to CBC News, the B.C. Foundation aims to bundle the new nature preserve with a series of surrounding properties to create a 22,200-acre provincial park around the entire inlet.

Angkor Archaeological Park: major conservation milestone reached in Cambodia

2019-06-14T13:51:00-04:00

The World Monuments Fund (WMF) is celebrating a milestone in its ongoing work at the Angkor archaeological park in Cambodia: the completion of a decade-long $4.8m conservation effort on the eastern side of Phnom Bakheng, one of the site’s oldest temples.

Restoration work on the eastern half of the ancient temple is now complete. Image courtesy of WMF.

"WMF’s work at Angkor began with a 1989 field mission to evaluate the damage it had suffered following 20 years of civil strife and international isolation," explains the World Monuments Fund website. "The team discovered that Angkor’s caretakers and many educated Cambodians had fled or died under the Khmer Rouge, leaving a capacity void for the site’s conservation. Encouraged by the Ministry of Culture, WMF developed recommendations to address fundamental preservation issues at four sites: Angkor Wat, Phnom Bakheng, Preah Khan, and Ta Som."

The western half of Phnom Bakheng is still in dire need of restoration work. Photo: Amine Birdouz, courtesy of WMF.

"Phnom Bakheng, the state temple of the first Khmer capital constructed between the ninth and tenth centuries, survives as one of the world’s greatest architectural treasures. In 2004, World Monuments Fund began its initial engagement a...

Not so fast: Following the Notre Dame Cathedral fire, heritage experts respond to Macron's ambitious five-year restoration deadline

2019-04-29T18:07:00-04:00

Heritage experts warn that restoring Notre Dame de Paris after the devastating fire of 15 April will be so complex that it could take a decade or more, despite President Emmanuel Macron’s vow to “rebuild the cathedral more beautiful than ever” within five years.

While President Emmanuel Macron has an obvious political interest in reopening the severely damaged Notre Dame Cathedral for the Paris Olympic Games in 2024, experts call for patience and reject improbable deadlines.

Notre Dame's north rose window dates back to around 1250. Image: Wikipedia.

A host of engineers, scientists, and conservators will have to inspect the structural integrity of the ancient limestone vaults and oak roof beams, survey the condition of the 13th-century stained-glass rose windows, investigate the immediate and long-term destruction caused by the water used to put out the flames, and, ultimately, find enough old-growth oak trees to restore the roof timbers in a historically authentic fashion—and the appropriately trained artisans to execute this work.

The oak trees used in the complex roof framing were felled in the 12th and 13th centuries. Image: Wikipedia.

The renovation is certain to be "very long and delicate, and we absolutely can’t say it will take four, ...

Iconic Eames House to undergo new conservation plans as it turns 70

2019-04-22T15:21:00-04:00

Ahead of the Eames House's 70th anniversary, new plans for the conservation of the iconic midcentury-modern abode have been unveiled. The Getty Conservation Institute and the Eames Foundation have worked together to assemble a disciplinary team of heritage specialists to formulate a plan for the preservation of the home as well as the contents inside like artwork and custom furniture.

A national historic landmark, the Pacific Palisade home is owned by the Eames Foundation, who is intent on providing a long-term sustainable approach to the care of the site, buildings, and collections in their care. The new Conservation Management Plan will assist them in their efforts to ensure the authenticity of the home's original elements.

While the house remains in pretty good condition, corrosion and years of excessive sun exposure have caused fading and left objects brittle. The CMP will help the Foundation to address needed repairs to the house as well as the landscape.

“In developing the ...

Annabelle Selldorf-designed Qianlong Garden Interpretation Center coming to Beijing's iconic Forbidden City in 2020

2019-01-29T17:42:00-05:00

The 250-year-old retirement digs of an 18th-century Chinese emperor are getting a face-lift. The World Monuments Fund announced Monday that the New York-based architect Annabelle Selldorf and her firm, Selldorf Architects, will design an interpretation center at the Qianlong Garden in the Forbidden City in Beijing.

According to the World Monuments Fund, "the interpretation center will be located in an existing, restored structure within the second courtyard of the Qianlong Garden."

Juanqinzhai theater room after conservation. Image courtesy World Monuments Fund.

"Selldorf and her NYC-based firm, Selldorf Architects, designed the center in three distinct halls surrounding an open pavilion, each of which will provide visitors with a unique perspective on the past and present of the remarkable complex."

Interpretation Center exterior before conservation. Image courtesy World Monuments Fund.

"The Garden was largely left dormant after PuYi, China’s last emperor, left the Forbidden City in 1924. Its buildings have never been opened to the public, and it is one of the most significant historical sites in the Forbidden City to remain unrestored since imperial times. In 2004, World Monuments Fund and the Palace Museum partnered on a comprehensive review of the entire Qianlong Garden site and developed a ...

Sitting in the shadow of the Taj Mahal, the lush Mughal Gardens of Agra have been restored

2019-01-14T18:09:00-05:00

The World Monuments Fund [...] announced the completion of a conservation project at two historic Mughal gardens along the Yamuna riverfront in Agra, India, that had been threatened by pollution, traffic congestion and other urban ills. The sites, Mehtab Bagh and the Garden of the Tomb of I’timad-ud-Daulah, were newly inaugurated by the fund and the Archaeological Survey of India, its partner in the four-year effort, in a ceremony at I’timad-ud-Daulah.

Image via the World Monuments Fund on Facebook

"The project will finish with the completion of a visitor center at I’timad-ud-Daulah, to open in 2019," reports the World Monuments Fund. "Raising awareness and visibility of the gardens that are often overshadowed by their more famous neighbor, the Taj Mahal, was an important objective of the conservation. The enhanced visitor services will offer local residents and tourists an opportunity to learn more about the history of the magnificent gardens."

Liverpool aims to be world's first climate-positive city with blockchain technology

2018-07-26T16:20:00-04:00

Liverpool City Council (LCC) has announced a new partnership with a blockchain platform company to offset more than 110% of its carbon emissions, with the city announcing its bid to become the world's first climate-positive city by the end of 2020. LCC will conduct a year-long trial with the Poseidon Foundation to use a blockchain platform to offset the carbon impact of all products and services in the city by supporting global forest conversation projects.

Liverpool's ambition to become the world's first climate-positive city by 2020 has been announced with the city's blockchain technology partnership. Committing to a year-long trial of this sustainable technology, Liverpool City Council strives to reduce its carbon impact by installing more than 15,000 energy saving LED streetlights across 2,000 streets to reduce streetlight energy consumption by 82%.

The Poseidon’s Foundation, Laszlo Giricz stated, “This is a ground-breaking partnership not just for Poseidon and Liverpool, but globally. For the first time, a city will use blockchain technology to go beyond rebalancing its carbon footprint – leading the way in the fight against climate change."