Browsing by Subject "Historic preservation"
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Item The adaptive reuse of an architectural artifact : Greystone Park Psychiatric Hospital(2007-05) Janusz, Andrea Lynn; Holleran, MichaelThe idea of preservation is fast becoming synonymous with sustainability and more precisely how existing structures can serve a new function through adaptive reuse. This thesis discusses how obsolete insane asylums from the nineteenth century known as Kirkbride asylums can serve a new function while at the same time overcoming the negative stigma that naturally resonates from pop culture to the controversial history within the field of psychiatry. The philosophy of moral treatment that were principle to the design of these institutions such as serene setting and natural light and ventilation are paramount in fulfilling the needs of today's society in the hopes of combating suburban sprawl. Greystone Park Psychiatric Hospital will serve as a case study to outline this potential.Item Are we really helping? Data collection tools for Texas Main Street Cities(2016-05) Bostick, Britin Ashley; Wegmann, Jake; Evans, AngelaData for the Texas Main Street Program is collected from the participating individual local programs through program managers who may not have sufficient knowledge, education or training to accurately or adequately provide the information requested. The questions asked in the report forms do not capture data that can give a clear picture of program performance or provide an effective comparison of peer programs. The format of the reporting forms is weighted toward manual transfer of information and presents difficulties for systematic review. These three factors combined inhibit analysis that can inform the effectiveness of state program policies which are implemented at the local level. Building a set of tools to effectively utilize data collection opportunities can help improve the quality of data collected. Better quality data enables analysis of how well the programs are working locally. This analysis could serve to inform Texas Main Street Program policy and provide opportunities to improve the local programs and to understand what successes can be replicated. This Professional Report analyzes how data is currently collected by the Texas Main Street Program, what is done with that data and what changes could be made to the current set of data collection tools. It also proposes new tools that could enable more effective policy for the program.Item Building on the past : architectural design at archaeological sites(2009-05) Tyson, Erin Renée; Holleran, MichaelAt archaeological sites around the world, architectural interventions utilizing distinctly modern materials and designs have provided solutions for protection from environmental impacts, control of visitors’ access to ruins and presentation of historic remains to the public. In various contexts, reliance on the modern has resulted in educational opportunities and emotional experiences for visitors that would not have been possible using traditional modes of reconstruction. The incorporation of in situ archaeological remains into a modern building often enhances the phenomenological potential of the ruins while sacrificing positivist presentations of them. Many European countries have seen different examples of creative applications of modern architecture for the presentation of excavated sites. My thesis focuses on several European prototypes of the modern architecture–archaeological remains hybrid type, surveying how contrast in materials and stylistic breaks between new and old enhance visitor’s experiences. The prevalence and promise of modern architectural design at archaeological sites calls for the clear identification of the emerging type in order to promote it as a bona fide option for meeting preservation challenges. The classification requires the intervention rely on distinctly modern materials and construction methods, offer a stark contrast between new and old fabric, enhance the archaeology and foster understanding of the remains. The prototype studies point to the following benefits of enveloping ruins in a modern structure: nontraditional materials often lead to less literal, more open-ended presentations that promote discovery, transparency and spanning potential provide a broad range of possibilities for protection and interpretation, a dialogue between past and present allows for creative expressions about temporal relationships, and the appearance of decay enhances the phenomenological impact of the site.Item Centennial Plaza: a visitor center and historic museum in Amarillo, Texas(Texas Tech University, 1987-08) Broyles, Timothy EugeneNoneItem Creating a sustainable preservation hybrid in post-Katrina New Orleans(2009-05) Stanard, Lorna Michelle; Holleran, MichaelThe two fields of historic preservation and sustainable design include many similar values concerning conservation, yet produce buildings that ultimately look and perform differently. Historic preservation relies on the maintenance of traditional materials to ensure that historic buildings are preserved for future generations. Sustainable design typically works with new construction to create buildings that have little negative impact on the environment. The similarities yet separateness that exist between historic preservation and sustainable design provide a compelling platform to ask how we can combine the two fields within one building project. The combination of these two felds is currently being explored in post-Katrina New Orleans, and I am asking how we can combine historic preservation with aspects of sustainable design to create a sustainable preservation hybrid, or fusion between technological aspects of “green” design with traditional methods of preservation, that will allow historic buildings to maintain their integrity and achieve the values of sustainability. New Orleans provides a great opportunity to examine this question due to the damage caused by Hurricane Katrina and the ensuing efforts to rebuild the city. One specific area of New Orleans, the historic district of Holy Cross, plays home to two key organizations involved in the rebuilding: the Preservation Resource Center, which preserves the existing historic housing stock, and Global Green, which builds new, sustainable design projects. These two organizations work right down the street from one another, yet have yet to combine their building methods or work together on a shared project. This relationship between Global Green/sustainable design and the Preservation Resource Center/historic preservation provides a good opportunity to examine how elements of new sustainable design can be combined with the traditional methods of preservation in order to achieve a sustainable preservation hybrid. I examine the creation of a sustainable preservation hybrid by conducting a literature review, interviews and site visits, and energy modeling. The literature review reveals that preservationists and architects involved with sustainable design like the idea of creating a hybrid, but still lack a thorough understanding of each other’s tacit values. The interviews reveal how the organizations working in Holy Cross also embrace the idea of a sustainable preservation hybrid, yet remain somewhat lost as to how to actually create such a building. The energy modeling then demonstrates which combination of “green” materials from sustainable design and “traditional” materials from historic preservation combine to create a building that achieves both the values of sustainable design and historic preservation. Whether or not we can combine preservation and sustainable design to make a hybrid poses an original and relevant question in the context of post-Katrina New Orleans and elsewhere. Since we are currently facing an energy crisis, the conclusions as to how we can combine these two fields prove how a single, historic building can simultaneously conserve both environmental and historic resources.Item Environmental Integrity : interpreting historic indoor conditions(2013-05) Frederick-Rothwell, Betsy; Holleran, MichaelIncreasing concern with the amount of energy required to maintain static indoor conditions in hot-humid climates is encouraging designers to again contemplate passive methods of indoor environmental control. Yet prevailing cultural perceptions of acceptable comfort levels make building occupants wary of any suggestions to reduce the mechanical control of building interiors. The rapid deployment of air-conditioning in the building sector over the past fifty years and its consequent pervasiveness nearly guarantees that most Americans have had little conscious experience with non-conditioned space. This thesis considers the potential for historic sites in Texas to interpret pre-air-conditioned indoor environmental conditions and to demonstrate historical approaches to climate mitigation. Within the context of preservation practice and theory, this study examines the historical context for these sites, particularly the professional and cultural constraints on architectural design in the nineteenth-century American South and architects’ strategies for managing environmental conditions within the limits of prevailing stylistic modes. Three case study sites are explored as potential venues for discovery and interpretation of traditional or transitional methods of cooling and ventilation: Historic Texas (Goliad and Comal county) courthouses, Galveston Historical Foundation’s Gresham House (Bishop’s Palace), and the University of Texas at Austin’s Battle Hall. Issues of historical interpretation are discussed and strategies that could be deployed in an indoor-climate interpretive program are proposed. With the rest of the world poised to follow America’s lead into a fully air-conditioned existence, it is critical to understand the modes and methods building designers used in the past in order to imagine alternate futures. Historic buildings and sites are well positioned to be the interpreters of those conditions and activities that made life in a hot-humid climate manageable. However, the ways in which preservationists value and evaluate historic buildings may have to change in order to participate meaningfully in this discussion.Item The Gaines-Oliphint house preservation report(2006-12) McKenzie, Grace Chantal; Holleran, MichaelThis historic preservation report focuses on the Gaines-Oliphint house in Sabine County, Texas. The first part of the report establishes the geographic and historic context of the home. Next, the report concentrates on establishing significance of the Gaines- Oliphint house based on the National Register’s criteria through both an association with a significant person in history and architectural characteristics representative of a particular time and style. Finally, the report outlines a preliminary conditions assessment of the Gaines-Oliphint house followed by recommendations for stabilization, preservation and restoration of the home.Item Growing younger gracefully? Progress and preservation in Rainey Street National Register Historic District(2016-05) Riemer, Allison Elizabeth; Holleran, Michael; Wegmann, Jacob AThe city of Austin is changing rapidly, and that change is most evident in the neighborhoods near downtown. Rainey Street was once a working-class residential neighborhood largely comprised of simple wooden cottages. But, it has quickly turned into an extension of downtown with nearly fifteen bars and restaurants on two short blocks, flanked by a new high-rise hotel, and several high-rise market rate apartment buildings in place or under construction. Many of the single-family homes have been rehabilitated as bars, with new fenestration, but much of the form and structure of the original homes remains. The two blocks of Rainey Street where the new bars lie has been a National Register Historic District since 1985, but if contributing buildings continue to be removed or radically altered, it may no longer qualify as a NRHD. Through an examination of the current state of contributing buildings, and interviews with business owners, architects, and other actors who have effected change in the District, the consequences for Austin’s built heritage are examined. It is hard for a district to grow “gracefully,” especially at a rapid pace, with polices that put few restrictions on height, and a disconnect between historic preservation planners and other city planning staff. Rainey Street is a successful nightlife corridor, and it is also atypical historic preservation in practice. Many of the business owners like the look of the old buildings, and have retained components, or have built new or mostly new buildings that retain the form and structure of the original neighborhood. In several cases, business owners retained historic buildings and built structures compatible with the existing streetscape because they did not want to further delay development any longer and chose to comply with historic preservation staff and the Landmarks Commission. Local historic districts designations are the best tool for retaining historic districts because they provide design guidelines. However, Rainey Street National Register Historic District may not be eligible as a local historic district in its current state. Historic preservation is largely driven by the actions of dedicated individuals, especially when there are limited incentives, and conversely, limited hindrances.Item Harmony in marriage: integrating sustainable solutions into historic house museums without interfering with the historic fabric(2014-05) Bolliger, Serena Gigliola; Moore, Steven A., 1945-; Holleran, MichaelHistoric buildings live a double life between climate-adapted largely-passive structures and draughty, poorly-maintained ones. Preservation professionals argue that preserving these structures is more resource effective than constructing new buildings, and that pre-electricity structures were built to take advantage of climate and geography, using passive technologies to perform efficiently. Modern technologies have also been adopted- electrical lights, air conditioning, fire alarms - as a natural progression of inhabitation. Yet in historic house museums, there is still the promise of historic representation, one unmarred by ‘inauthentic’ additions. If modern and past technological changes have been accepted and integrated, how is the historic house museum not a ‘living building culture’? And if house museums are indeed a living building culture, why not allow a more flexible representation of our historic properties if they are interpreted with integrity and honesty? The EPA estimates that buildings represent 65% of the U.S. electricity use, and predictions estimate 80% of the 2030 building stock exists today. If we truly plan to reduce our energy consumption, we must confront the reality that existing buildings are a significant contributor to our output. If, as curators, it is our hope for historic buildings to represent preservation, then we must admit that in preserving the past for the future, we must begin by preserving our future. This thesis analyses the opportunities and risks for historic house museums to respect their historic interpretation but adapt to changing conditions. Examples of energy efficiency strategies both historic and current, will be examined in historic structures, illustrating that caretakers of historic buildings are making value judgments about the future of their property, in terms of environmental, fiscal and historical sustainability. This thesis includes the analysis of a case study historic house museum in Austin, Texas, the French Legation Museum, which is used as a base model for estimating energy efficiency gains from the adoption of some low-energy technologies. Calculations based on this information indicate which integrations and additions could offer the greatest return on investment for this historic building to operate as or more efficiently than a modern code construction without visible or egregious alteration to the historic fabric.Item Historic building documentation in the united states, 1933-2000: the historic american buildings survey, a case study(Texas A&M University, 2005-08-29) Komas, Tanya WattenburgThe objective of the study was to gain new insight into archival building documentation in the United States since 1933 focusing on Historic American Buildings Survey (HABS) as a case study. It sought to help explain how individuals with different levels of involvement with the HABS program, and throughout its entire history, understood the development, current operational context, and future direction of HABS. Seven general philosophical and practical issues were explored: 1) how HABS documentation standards were understood and applied, 2) the relative values of the process and products of documentation, 3) the understanding and application of the objective and subjective natures of the documentation process, 4) whether the mission of the program had changed with changes in the operation of the program since its inception, 5) the role of technology in the process of HABS documentation and how it shapes the end products, 6) defining broader historical epochs with the goal of adding to existing understandings of the history of the program, and 7) the causes and effects of HABS drawing style changes over time.Item Historic buildings in C. W. Post's model town, Post, Texas(2010-05) Bilbrey, Karen Kaye; Holleran, Michael; Smith, GregoryIn 1906, C. W. Post, founder of the Postum Cereal Company, began implementing his plan for creating an agricultural colony in Garza County on the Southern High Plains of Texas. A central component of the colony was the town of Post, namesake of its creator. Through the Double U Company, C. W. Post laid out the town plat, built residences and business houses, a modern hospital, and the Postex Cotton Mill. Many buildings associated with the town’s origin survive alongside later buildings that reflect subsequent periods of Post’s development. This professional report relates the findings of a survey of Post, Texas utilizing field photography and historic research of primary and secondary sources to identify, document, and describe historic buildings. The report’s historic overview of the town supported assessment of building significance and analysis of field data yielded identification of building integrity. Assessment of the significance and integrity data found the town did still include properties possessing qualities that met requirements for inclusion on the National Register of Historic Places. Additionally, the information in the report may contribute to other local or regional heritage or preservation projects.Item Historic preservation : an assessment of campus plan and historic buildings of Wuhan University in China(2012-08) Zhang, Ran, master of science in community and regional planning; Zhang, Ming, 1963 Apr. 22-; Holleran, MichaelThis report is divided into two parts. The first part explores the history of historic preservation and campus heritage movement in the United States. As historic preservation has advanced in recent years, traditional preservation concerns have changed and new challenges have arrived. The unique challenges and opportunities for campus preservation have differed from traditional historic building preservation. The second part of the report focuses on the campus design and preservation of Wuhan University in China. It first introduces the original planning and design for Wuhan University by American architect F. H. Kales. Then, it assesses the significance of the campus design on its historical, scientific, artistic values of mixed Western and Chinese cultures. Challenges facing Wuhan University for campus heritage preservation are reviewed next and recommendations are provided in the end.Item Historic preservation and disaster resilience : flooding in Santiago de Querétaro, Mexico(2015-05) Lule-Hurtado, Gibrán N.; Holleran, Michael; Ibarra-Sevilla, BenjamínSantiago de Querétaro is a UNESCO World Heritage City in central Mexico experiencing exacerbating rates of flooding in its historic center due to increased uphill urbanization overwhelming the aging drainage infrastructure. Historic districts are important economic drivers and shrines of heritage that should be considered when planning for disaster resiliency. This Report explores flood mitigation considerations for historic structures and districts, identifying those best suited for Querétaro and can be implemented at the parcel, district, or public administrative levels.Item Historic preservation education initiatives at historic sites(2014-05) Hereford, Margaret F.; Holleran, MichaelWhile historic sites have been used and operated as educational tools in the form of museums and public spaces since the emergence of the field of preservation, educational outreach frequently fails to include preservation concepts within these efforts. This thesis attempts to answer the question of “Why is preservation education lacking or absent at historic sites, and how can it be an integral part of a historic site’s programming, presentation, and interpretation?” To investigate this question, scholarly research was combined with first hand experiences of sites and interviews with stewarding organization staff members. Through this investigation, emerged a contextualization of historic sites within the fields of preservation and museum studies, a relation of the current state of preservation education to the opportunities available by means of physical sites, and a connection of preservation concepts to museum education theory. Multiple means of educational implementation and execution were explored, as were target audiences and organizational management structure. The result is a collection of examples in practice, explanations of missed opportunities, and recommendation for effective implementation. Collectively, these results reinforce the importance of using physical sites available to the public for educational purposes not limited to historic significance, but including preservation in all facets, as a means of introducing the field along with its impact and importance to the general public as a means of generating an interest that will be redirected into their communities.Item Landscape preservation and biodiversity planning : the Kino Heritage Fruit Trees Project and beyond(2014-05) Yaquinto, Robert Giacomo; Holleran, MichaelThis report argues that historic landscape preservation efforts need to embrace biodiversity planning. Historic landscape preservation sites need to develop biodiversity plans because they are uniquely qualified to provide the continuous monitoring that successful biodiversity planning requires. Not only will biodiversity monitoring at various historic landscape sites contribute to a nationwide collection of biodiversity planning data, but it will also provide a rich source of information that can be presented to draw a wider audience into the biodiversity discussion. After considering three precedents: Old Sturbridge Village, Old World Wisconsin, and Tucson Botanical Gardens, the report focuses on the Kino Heritage Fruit Trees Project and its real and potential impacts on biodiversity planning in southern Arizona and more broadly. Finally, the report considers how seed libraries and seed swaps might serve a similar purpose in other parts of the country.Item Landscapes of thrift and choreographies of change : reinvestment and adaptation along Austin’s commercial strips(2013-05) Minner, Jennifer Suzanne; Holleran, MichaelCommercial strips are ubiquitous elements of the American landscape. They offer important opportunities for inquiry into the ways in which cities are adapted, preserved, and redeveloped over time. This research examines the dynamics of reinvestment along central city commercial strips in Austin, Texas. Research was aimed at understanding the relationship between reinvestment in existing commercial buildings and larger processes of redevelopment and change along commercial strips undergoing transition. Case study commercial strips were selected that had been established in the early to mid-twentieth century and that had experienced decline and subsequent reinvestment. Historic patterns of land use, transportation, and economic trends are described and related to the relatively recent growth of concentrations of local businesses and reinvestment activity along case study commercial strips. “Core samples” of preservation and adaptive reuse were examined using spatial data, building surveys, historical data, and interviews with associated actors. Additional interviews were conducted with actors who have initiated, influenced, and regulated reinvestment, including business and property owners, developers, neighborhood activists, a media correspondent, city officials, among others. This research details the private, public, and community-based actors who shape the character of reinvestment; the influx of new businesses and retention of iconic businesses; and conflicts and negotiations at the edges of commercial and residential districts and between public and private sectors. The dissertation relates observations along Austin’s commercial strips to four themes identified in the literature and their associated views of improvement: 1. commercial strips as “wicked problems” of land use and transportation; 2. commercial strips as cultural landscapes and roadside heritage; 3. commercial strips as concentrations of commercial properties with opportunities for sustainability and retrofitting of commercial properties; and 4. commercial strips as contested arenas of gentrification. This research highlights the importance of understanding the durability of existing land development patterns and of incorporating an understanding of the continued and adaptive use of buildings and urban fabric in land use planning. It presents emerging opportunities for preservation practice beyond standard practices of survey and landmarking. It illustrates the many ways in which actors have agency, or “choreograph” change individually and collectively, in responding to opportunities and challenges presented in the context of social and economic change.Item Learning from Texas wildfires : Bastrop State Park and beyond(2013-05) Tworek-Hofstette, Miriam; Holleran, Michael; Gale, Frances R.This thesis is part of work completed for a National Center for Preservation Technology and Training (NCPTT) grant awarded in May 2012 to Texas Parks and Wildlife partnering with University of Texas, Austin (UT) Office of Sponsored Project and UT alumna Casey Gallagher. The purpose of the grant was to provide Bastrop State Park (BSP), following the 2011 Bastrop Complex Wildfire, with information on assessing fire-damaged park structures and guidance on preparing structures for future wildfires. The following chapters cover the historical background of the park and its structures, a brief account of the fire event, physical analysis of burned park structures, and a two part discussion on preparedness. The first preparedness chapter speaks generally on integration of cultural resource professionals in emergency planning and recovery at state, national and international levels, while the second discusses new options for fire prevention at BSP including defensible space, fire retardants, and alternative materials.Item LEED and historic preservation : a study of USGBC’s LEED rating system for new construction and major renovations as it pertains to historic building renovations(2012-05) Hamilton, Andreea Maura Monica 1973-; Holleran, Michael; Gale, Frances R.This thesis discusses the United States Green Building Council’s proposed changes in the LEED® (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) Rating System for New Construction and Major Renovations from the current 2009 version to the proposed 2012 version, as they pertain to historic building renovation projects. The comparison is aimed at determining whether the proposed changes to the rating system are becoming more favorable to historic preservation, promoting the rehabilitation and reuse of historic buildings as environmentally responsible practices. The discussion is taken a step further by proposing potential modifications and metrics that could be implemented into the LEED® Rating System in order to help advance historic preservation by recognizing the many inherent sustainable qualities of historic buildings, such as regional climate-adaptive features, durable materials and skilled craftsmanship. The upcoming renovation of Battle Hall and West Mall Building, two buildings that are part of the School of Architecture complex at the University of Texas at Austin, serves as case study of historic buildings undergoing major renovations to which both the LEED 2009 and LEED 2012 Draft Rating Systems for New Construction and Major Renovations are applied. An analysis of the results informs the comparison between the two versions of the rating system. The results of the comparison indicate that changes in the LEED® rating system for New Construction and Major Renovation from the 2009 to the 2012 version are favorable for historic preservation. The USGBC is advancing in the right direction with establishing more credits for historic preservation projects. The 2012 3rd Public Comment Draft rating system introduces the notion of “historic building” and that of “historic district” for the first time, in credits that address infill within a historic district and reuse of a historic building, with work performed in accordance with The Secretary of the Interior’s Standards for the Treatment of Historic Properties. This represents a step forward toward integrating historic preservation and building reuse in the vocabulary of sustainability.Item Listed, obliterated or status unknown : an analysis of the 50-year rule, 1966-2010(2011-05) Koller, Emily Jeanne; Holleran, Michael; Penick, MonicaThe report evolves from previous work in the field that questions the efficacy of the 50-year rule, or criterion consideration G, of the National Register of Historic Places program to register and protect modern and recent past resources. Proponents of the recent past argue that by restricting evaluation of historic architecture to only that which is 50-years or older is leading to widespread endangerment and demolition of buildings and sites with periods of significance from the postwar era. This report studies the use of criterion G in-depth since the inception of the National Register program and attempts to identify and quantify the resources lost through continued adherence to the 50-year rule. The analysis is done in two parts. Part one examines the history of the use of criterion G by tracking patterns in the National Register of Historic Places data between 1966 and 2010 to determine how and where the case for exceptional significance has been made. Part two challenges the capacity of the existing framework of the 50-year rule and the NRHP program to protect the recent past by surveying the current status of a 145 AIA award-winning buildings from the 1960s. Most are virtually undiscovered in the canon of American architectural history, and all could likely be found as exceptionally significant. The study finds more than 75% of the AIA award-winners standing and possessing good integrity, but only 6% actually listed on the Register. The report concludes that we are losing less to outright demolition than estimated, but lack of context studies and an inconsistent vocabulary for postwar architecture is preventing the registration of intact resources from the 1960s that could greatly benefit from the awareness and recognition that is the primary purpose of the National Register.Item Nineteenth century concrete in Seguin, Texas: construction materials & techniques(2014-08) Hunter, Sarah Beth; Gale, Frances R.; Holleran, MichaelThis investigation centers on early concrete technology used in Seguin, Texas, during the mid-19th century. Over the course of fifty years, more than ninety concrete structures were built in Seguin. Over the last century, these have dwindled to twenty extant structures. Much of the previous Seguin concrete era research has focused on the historical narrative and architectural description. This study aims to answer questions that previous research has not — it investigated the raw materials used in making Seguin’s concrete. The results provide new information about the Seguin concrete structures, providing guidance for their long-term maintenance. The materials analysis uses instrumental techniques such as scanning electron microscopy, energy dispersive x-ray spectroscopy, and x-ray diffraction to determine the chemical composition and crystalline structure of the cement binder from several extant structures in Seguin. Gathering both qualitative and quantitative data for the binder allowed us to identify the raw materials used in the concrete and better understand the construction methods. Studying the materials and methods increased our understanding of these historic structures and will inform future preservation efforts.
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