Spring 2016
American Domestic Interiors
HSPV 531-001, Keim
This course will examine the American domestic interior from the seventeenth century through the twentieth century with emphasis on the cultural, economic, and technological forces that determined the decoration and furnishing of the American home. Topics to be covered include the decorative arts; floor, wall and window treatments; and developments in lighting, heating, plumbing, food preparation and service, and communication technologies. In addition to the identification of period forms and materials, the course will give special emphasis to historical finishes. The final project will involve re-creation of an historic interior based on in-depth household inventory analysis and study. Several class periods will be devoted to off-site field trips.
American Building Technology II: Building Archaeology
HSPV 541-001, Matero
Built works— be they barns or bridges, gardens or corn fields, palaces or pit houses – all embody something of their makers and users, and the prevailing social and cultural norms of the day. As a form of material culture, things-buildings and landscapes- are made and modified consciously and unconsciously, reflecting individual and societal forces at play. Since the physical fabric and its f alteration present one primary mode of evidence, their investigation provides a critical form of research, especially in association (and often in contest) with archival documentary sources and oral histories. This course will examine the theories and techniques used to investigate the morphological evolution of built works, sometimes known as “above ground archaeology”. Students will learn and apply methods relevant to the reading of architectural fabric. Methods of investigation will include absolute and relative dating techniques such as dendrochronology, finishes stratigraphy, mortar analysis, and various typological - seriation studies including framing, molding, fastener (nails and screws), and hardware analyses. Students are expected to use this knowledge in combination with the recording skills of HSPV 601 to record their assigned sites.
Building Pathology
HSPV 551-001, Henry
This course addresses the subject of deterioration of buildings, their materials, assemblies and systems, with the emphasis on the technical aspects of the mechanisms of deterioration and their enabling factors, material durability and longevity of assemblies. Details of construction and assemblies are analyzed relative to functional and performance characteristics. Lectures cover: concepts in durability; climate, psychrometric, soils & hydrologic conditions; physics of moisture in buildings; enclosure, wall and roof systems; structural systems; and building services systems with attention to performance, deterioration, and approaches to evaluation of remedial interventions. Prerequisite(s): HSPV 555 or one technical course in architecture.
Conservation Science
HSPV 555-001, Matero
This course provides an introduction to architectural conservation and the technical study of traditional building materials. Lectures and accompanying laboratory sessions introduce the nature and composition of these materials, their properties, and mechanisms of deterioration, and the general laboratory skills necessary for field and laboratory characterization. Knowledge of basic college level chemistry is required
Documentation, Research, Recording II
HSPV 601-001/101, Mason/Matero/Faculty
This course provides an introduction to the survey and recording of historic buildings and sites. Techniques of recording include traditional as well as digitally-based methods including field survey, measured drawings, photography and rectified photography. Emphasis is placed on the use of appropriate recording tools in the context of a thorough understanding of the historical significance, form and function of sites. Required for first-year MSHP students; others by permission.
Historic Site Management
HSPV 606-001, Faculty
The course focuses on management, planning, and decision making for all types of heritage sites from individual buildings to historic sites to whole landscapes. Course material will draw on model approaches to management, as well as a series of domestic and international case studies, with the goal of understanding the practicalities of site management. Particular topics to be examined in greater detail might include conservation policy, interpretation, tourism, or economic development strategies.
Architectures of Commerce: Buildings and Landscapes of American Retail from the Colonial Era to the Present
HSPV 620-401, Wunsch
Merchants and the “world of goods” have left an indelible mark on America’s neighborhoods, cities, and regions. We will examine the structures and spaces in which commercial activities occurred – an excursion running the gamut from counting houses to warehouses, from pushcarts to mini-malls. Studying these buildings as distinctive types, we will also analyze the roles they have played in the American cultural landscape. Doing so requires forays into urban, economic, and cultural history. Close reading and student-led discussion form the course’s backbone.
Urban Conservation Seminar: Heritage and Urbanism in China
HSPV 621-301, Mason
The course will compare and contrast the experiences of European cities, where urban conservation has developed over centuries, and Asian cities that have been experiencing explosive growth and are informed by quite different theories of urbanism and heritage. This seminar covers basic concepts, tools, history, theory and case studies in urban conservation-a specialist area of preservation bringing to bear aspects of urban history, planning, design, development, policy and governance. Greatest emphasis rests on the experience of contemporary Chinese cities. A series of lectures, intensive readings, case studies, small writing projects and guest presentations will build familiarity with the subject of the course. The second half of the semester will include intensive practical project on Shanghai and Beijing (involving travel to China over spring break).
Preservation Economics
HSPV 625-001, Rypkema
The primary objective is to prepare the student, as a practicing preservationist, to understand the language of the development community, to make the case through feasibility analysis why a preservation project should be undertaken, and to be able to quantify the need for public/non-profit intervention in the development process. A second objective is to acquaint the student with measurements of the economic impact of historic preservation and to critically evaluate "economic hardship" claims made to regulatory bodies by private owners.
Topics in Historic Preservation: Cities and Sound: The Spatial Politics of Sound in Modern Urban Life
HSPV 638-401/MUS 621, Ammon and Waltham-Smith
This seminar will examine the role of sound in shaping modern urban spaces and life. While music plays a large part in the sounds of the city, we will focus on soundscapes more broadly. From the late 19th century through the present, and in geographies spanning from Paris to Philadelphia, we will explore the making, meaning, and experience of sound for varied populations; the politics of sound as an instrument of power; and the policies of noise regulation. As an interdisciplinary seminar supported by the Mellon Humanities+Urbanism+Design Initiative, the course will bring together students and faculty from diverse fields to probe the subject of urban sound through the lenses of both theory and practice. We will read across a wide variety of disciplines, including urban and environmental history, sound studies, urban geography, the history of sensation, musicology, anthropology, and critical theory. We will engage with sound archives, installations, films, and photographs, and also have an opportunity to make field recordings of our own. The format of the final project is flexible and could include a research paper, theoretical essay, visualizations, GIS mapping, sonic compositions, short film, or other types of media.
Theories of Historic Preservation II
HSPV 661-301 (second half of semester), Mason
Theories of historic preservation serve as models for practice, integrating the humanistic, artistic, design, scientific and political understandings of the field. HSPV 661 builds on HSPV 660, which examines the historical evolution of historic preservation, reviews theoretical frameworks and issues, and explores current modes of practice. HSPV 661 engages advanced topics such as cultural landscape theory, economics of preservation, sustainability and environmental conservation, social justice, and urban design. In addition to readings and lectures, case studies from contemporary practice will be used to examine theories in practice. The principal assignment will be a term research paper. The instructor’s permission is required for any student not registered in the Graduate Program in Historic Preservation. (Note that the course is the second of two parts; the first half, on the basics of preservation theory, is taught in the fall semester while the second half takes place in the spring semester.)
Historic Preservation Law
HSPV 671-001, Michael
Introduction to the legal framework of urban planning and historic preservation, with special emphasis on key constitutional issues, zoning, historic districts, growth management, and state and local laws for conserving historic buildings.
Topical Studio/Seminar: Urban Regeneration in Quito
HSPV 703-301, Rojas
This 1-CU course-combining seminar and studio teaching methods-will focus on the opportunities and challenges posed by the sustainable conservation of urban heritage areas with a particular focus in the historic centers of Latin America. Adapting urban heritage sites and buildings for contemporary uses with proven demand is a strategy that is gaining acceptance around the world and is considered more capable of sustaining the conservation of urban heritage than traditional conservation methods based on the strict preservation of the physical characteristics and uses. However, the adaptive rehabilitation of historic neighborhoods and buildings poses significant conceptual and design challenges. Class sessions will explore the conceptual problems involved in the adaptive rehabilitation of heritage building and public spaces in historic centers including all historic periods: pre-Columbian, colonial, republican and those from the modern movement. The methodology includes the analysis and discussion of case studies of successful listing and adaptive rehabilitation efforts. The Studio exercise will focus on the practical challenges posed by this approach to heritage conservation in the historic center of Quito in Ecuador, the first urban heritage area included in UNESCO’s World Heritage List. The students will work in close cooperation with government officials in Ecuador in charge of managing the historic center.
Rural Studio/Seminar
HSPV 713-301, Watson
The preservation of rural places -- landscapes, villages and towns -- presents a widespread and urgent challenge. Economic restructuring, metropolitan development and other social forces continue to challenge the integrity and vitality of rural communities and landscapes across the U.S. This seminar/studio course explores means of activating rural places while retaining their character. Issues of abandonment and underutilization, industrial and agricultural restructuring, environmental conservation, and new economic opportunities will be explored. Tools from historic preservation, land conservation, economic development, community engagement and ecological design will be considered and applied. Research and focused readings will establish key issues, case studies, innovative ideas and institutions; students will create focused proposals for the conservation and redevelopment of a chosen study site in southeastern Pennsylvania.
Conservation Seminar: Materials B Finishes/Metals
HSPV 740-301, Myers/Meighan
Module 1: Finishes - Cassie Myers Pre-requisite: HSPV 555 Conservation Science and permission needed from department. Please email Amanda Bloomfield to request a permit. The course will address the technology, analysis, deterioration, and treatment of historic finishes. Students will gain an overview of the materials and technology of which architectural finishes have been most commonly made, the types and causes of deterioration and diagnostic approaches, and treatment. Two categories of treatment will be considered: the replication of paints based on sample analysis and in situ excavation; and the treatment of deteriorated or buried paint intended to be represented as part of the architecture or site. Guest lecturers will elaborate on finishes analysis. A case study site will provide the opportunity for developing skills. Module 2: Metals - Melissa Meighan In architectural context we think of metal as a modern material, however, metals associated with buildings have been found in the Middle East since the third millennium BC. Copper, iron and lead are in practical use in the Mediterranean world in the first millennium BCE, and during the first millennium CE, in India, China and Japan large iron and copper alloy monuments and buildings were constructed. It is the 18th century English development of iron frame architecture which eventually allows the development of the modern curtain wall. Metals in a wide range of forms, finishes and colors have been used for architecture, architectural embellishment, as well as lighting, clocks, fencing et cetera, and for monumental sculpture. The course will continue the introduction to the material science and characterization of these metals – copper, iron, aluminum, lead, zinc, tin, nickel, titanium. It will briefly survey traditional technologies used for extraction, processing, forming, joining and finishing with an overview of historical use. A review of basic metallurgy, the mechanisms of corrosion and other aspects of deterioration, will be followed by training in condition assessment, a survey of preventative strategies and the range of conservation treatment methods. The course will meet at Meyerson Hall and the Philadelphia Museum of Art, and includes a tour of outdoor sites. There will be the opportunity for a hands on metal forging workshop.
Pit and Quarry: The Slate Industries of Lehigh Valley
HSPV 743-301, Matero
2013 marked the 50th anniversary of Kenneth Hudson’s groundbreaking book and manifesto on “industrial archaeology,” the “mongrel” field he first named as the bastard offspring of industry and archaeology. Today the remains of industry past dominate the global landscape. Urban and rural America are littered with the evidence of the last two centuries of the country’s former industrial prowess and many of these places, now abandoned, hold latent value for their transformation and reuse. Since Lawrence Halprin’s 1967 conversion of Ghirardelli Chocolate Company’s headquarters to public retail and Richard Haag’s 1971-1976 Gasland Park in Seattle, myriad other examples in the U.S. have since followed. Recent initiatives such as the Industrial Heritage Reuse Project by the Preservation League of New York State are specifically examining the reuse potential of several abandoned industrial buildings in Albany to provide model approaches in similar urban contexts elsewhere. But many other less adaptable sites such as brick yards, cement plants, and quarries of landscape scale, pose enormous difficulties for preservation and reuse. Extractive Industries Among the oldest of technologies, the extractive industries involve the removal and processing of raw materials from the earth and their global scale of operation transformed entire regions and markets. The Lehigh Valley in southeastern Pennsylvania gave rise to several world-class extractive industries, including cement production and slate quarrying, which would dominate the American and international scene in the first decade of the twentieth century. Slate World The Pennsylvania “Slate Belt,” an area of only 22 square miles, lies approximately 50 miles to the northwest of Philadelphia and just south of Blue (Kittanning) Mountain between the Delaware and Lehigh Rivers. The first quarries opened in the 1830s, but significant growth followed in the first decade of the twentieth century when Lehigh Valley accounted for approximately half the slate produced in the United States, eventually becoming the greatest slate producing region in the world. During World War I, many of the slate firms closed to release men for other essential war work, especially in the Bethlehem Steel plant nearby. Most of the quarries never reopened after the war as modern synthetic materials such as asphalt composites and plastics proved less expensive and easier to use, and required less skilled labor to fabricate and install. Today only a handful of the old slate quarries remain active. Big Bed Slate, still in operation, is one of the oldest and best preserved of the early operations with its iron crane hoists, steam and electric machinery and mill shops, and extensive series of former and active quarries. This company, still economically viable, and interested in spearheading the valley’s industrial history, offers a unique opportunity together with the Slate Belt Heritage Center in Bangor, PA to document that legacy through a creative mix of preservation and economic development. Cement Age Reinforced concrete would prove to be the modern material of the new century and in the United States, the creation of the first Portland cement plants in the Lehigh Valley in 1871 at Coplay, would give rise to an industry that would forever change the face of America and the world. An essential component of concrete, Portland cement is second only to water as the most consumed material on the planet. By 1901, the Atlas Portland Cement Co. in Northampton, PA was the largest cement company in the United States – more than twice the size and probably five to ten times the size of most firms in the industry. Cement consumption increased almost ten-fold from 1890 to 1913 and until 1907, more than half of the Portland cement produced in the United States came from the Lehigh Valley. Today the valley is still the country’s center of cement production but automation has rendered the old plants nearly vacant, their historic mills and kilns, though still impressive, largely abandoned. This advanced research studio builds on a current PennPraxis grant focused on the study of the cement and slate industries of Pennsylvania’s Lehigh Valley. It is funded by the J. M. Kaplan Fund and directed by Frank Matero, Professor of Architecture and Historic Preservation, and aims to bring a more critical approach to the identification, evaluation, and preservation of the most important and neglected of American industrial sites. Using information already collected, students will identify specific plants within the cement and slate belts and develop conservation programs for their preservation and interpretation. Focus will be on the industrial remains: buildings, structures, machinery, and features and involve their physical recording, condition survey, and analysis. Interested students should contact Frank Matero at fgmatero@design.upenn.edu