Public History: Theory and Practice
HSPV 534-001, Thursday, 1:30 PM-4:30 PM
Wunsch
This seminar is required for students wishing to concentrate on the Public History of the Built Environment while pursuing an MS in Historic Preservation. It builds on skills developed in HSPV 521 (American Architecture), HSPV 600 (Documentation), and HSPV 606 (Site Management); only HSPV 600 is a prerequisite. Unlike many public history courses, this one focuses on interpretation of the built environment. While proficiency in archival research is required, an understanding of form and chronology in American architecture is helpful. Fundamentally, this course is about community, memory, and their relationship to built form. As such, it examines oral history methodology and includes readings in sociology and ethnography. It acknowledges that while buildings and landscapes are in one sense simply larger forms of material culture than furniture or other movable objects, they also “work” differently by dint of being inhabited, occupied, and publicly encountered, forming de facto frameworks for private and public life. More than other courses, this one grapples with interpretation and dissemination– everything from signage and monuments to websites and exhibits. It is not, however, a tutorial in the use of those media so much as a chance to reflect critically on their strengths and weaknesses in different contexts.
Historic Building Technology II: Building Archaeology
HSPV 541-001, Monday, 9:00 AM-12:00 PM
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 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. Taught in the first half of the semester: 1/16/2019-3/4/2019.
Building Pathology
HSPV 551-001, Friday, 2:00 PM-5:00 PM
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.
Documentation, Research, Recording II
HSPV 601-001, Monday, 9:00 AM-12:00 PM
Elliott/Gray/Hinchman
This course provides an introduction to the survey and recording of historic buildings and their sites. Techniques of recording include photography and traditional as well as digitally-based quantitative methods including measured drawings and rectified photography. Emphasis is on the use of appropriate recording tools in the context of a thorough understanding of the historical significance and function of the site.
Preservation Economics
HSPV 625-001, Tuesday, 9:00 AM-12:00 PM
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.
Photography and the City: The Visual Construction of Urban and Suburban America
HSPV 638-401, Wednesday, 9:00 AM-12:00 PM
Ammon
This seminar explores the intersecting social and cultural histories of photography and the urban and suburban built environment. No prior background in photography is necessary. Since its inception in 1839, photography has provided a critical means for representing urban space. The medium has helped to celebrate the great structures of the industrial city, reform cities from the Progressive Era through urban renewal, critique expanding postwar suburbs, and document change in the post-industrial and post-disaster city. In all of these ways, the photograph has been both a reflection of the city and an agent of its transformation. Our subjects each week will include individual images and larger photographic archives. We will discuss not only the creation of these images, but also their application in design and planning discourse. Although technical training in photography is not expected, students will have a chance to construct a photo-essay of their own. Through our investigations, we will collectively explore how photography's dual documentary and aesthetic properties have shaped the city—physically, socially, and culturally.
Theories of Historic Preservation II
HSPV 661-301, Monday, 9:00 AM-12:00 PM
Fong
Theories of historic preservation serve as models for practice, integrating the humanistic, artistic, design, scientific and political understandings of the field. This course examines the historical evolution of historic preservation, reviews theoretical frameworks and issues, and explores current modes of practice. Emphasis is placed on literacy in the standard preservation works and critical assessment of common preservation concepts. In addition to readings and lectures, case studies from contemporary practice will form the basis for short assignments. Professional ethics are reviewed and debated. The instructor’s permission is required for any student not registered in the Graduate Program in Historic Preservation. Note that the course is organized in 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 and engages advanced topics. Taught in the second half of the semester: 3/11/2019-4/29/2019.
Advanced Studio: Conservation and Development of Urban Heritage Sites
HSPV 703-301, Wednesday, 2:00 PM-5:00 PM
Rojas
This studio-based course will focus on the challenges confronted by the conservation profession in turning the urban heritage into a development tool for cities in developing countries. The preservation of the urban heritage is moving to a new paradigm of intervention responding to: an growing interest in communities for preserving their intangible and tangible urban heritage; rising development pressures on historic neighborhoods; the generalization of adaptive rehabilitation as a conservation strategy; and recent international agreements calling for expanding the role of the urban heritage in the social and economic development of the communities. This is a problem that is in the cutting edge of the research and practice of urban heritage conservation and has planning and design implications making it ideally suited to a multi-discipline studio approach. The course is modeled on successful 1-CU spring studios conducted in recent years—the Gordion Site Planning Studio (2011), Parks for the People (2012), and the Regeneration of Historic Areas in the Americas (2012, 2014, 2016, 2018)—that attracted students from across the School and fit easily with core studios and thesis projects. Students from multiple departments are encouraged to participate in the course; enrollment will be kept to about 12. The course will combine seminar and studio methodologies in ways that they support each other. The knowledge acquired through the seminar work will be put to use in a studio exercise whose objective is to recommend urban heritage conservation interventions for expanding the contribution of the historic center of Cartagena in Colombia to the social and economic development of the city. The course is open to 2nd year MSHP and MSD-HP students. All others need instructor approval to enroll. Please email Eduardo Rojas at eduardorojasarq@gmail.com
Professional Practice for Historic Preservation
HSPV 713-301, Thursday, 9:00 AM-12:00 PM
Krotzer
This course is intended to introduce students to the professional practice of historic preservation and, more specifically, how preservation professionals fit into the larger fields of design and construction. It will expose students to the types of roles they may play once they enter the professional world, as well as the skills and knowledge they will be expected to have. Through a series of lectures, in-class exercises, and case studies of current or recently completed preservation projects, students will learn how projects are developed from inception through design and construction. There will be discussion of some of the inherent challenges in designing projects that involve existing historic buildings, as well as how architectural conservation is incorporated into such projects. It will also discuss the phasing of and "players" involved with typical preservation projects. A significant portion of the course will be dedicated to preservation project management from the perspectives of the architectural conservator, the architect and the contractor--from writing a proposal to managing a complex project to project delivery methods. The course should be of particular interest to architects who anticipate being involved with historic buildings, architectural conservators, as well as planners and individuals interested in managing historic sites that might undergo preservation projects.
Conservation Seminar: Wood
HSPV 738-301, Tuesday, 6:00 PM-9:00 PM
Fearon/Wheeler
Prior to the twentieth century, most structures found in the built environment relied upon wood as a primary material for both structural members and decorative features. An understanding of the physical properties as well as the historic application of this organic material provides the basis for formulating solutions for a wide spectrum of conservation issues. As the scope of preserving wooden structures and wooden architectural elements is continually broadened, new methods and technology available to the conservator together allow for an evolving program - one that is dependent upon both consistent review of treatments and more in depth study of craft traditions. This course seeks to illustrate and address material problems typically encountered by stewards of wooden cultural heritage - among them structural assessment, bio-deterioration, stabilization and replication techniques. Through a series of lectures and hands-on workshops given by representative professionals from the fields of wood science, conservation, entomology, engineering, and archaeology, theoretical and practical approaches to retaining wooden materials will be examined with the goal to inform the decision making process of future practicing professionals. Pre-requisite: HSPV 555 Conservation Science.
Conservation Seminar: Finishes
HSPV 740-301, Tuesday, 1:30 PM-4:30 PM
Myers
The seminar will advance students’ knowledge of and skills at researching, analyzing and interpreting historic architectural finishes. Lectures, demonstrations, hands-on exercises, case studies, and site visits will consider the history, technology, analysis, deterioration, and treatment of historic finishes. Guest lecturers will enlarge the subject with discussion and demonstrations of archival research of finishes, advanced methods of scientific analysis and presentation of a long-term project to analyze and conserve historic finishes at the US Treasury Building (Robert Mills). The course will also address historic plaster with a guest lecture and demonstration of plaster materials, application, and casting for ornamental plaster. We will make and apply paints and other finishes in class. A visit to the decorative arts studio and Philadelphia sites displaying decorative painting will complement lectures and assignments. Bartram’s Garden, the eighteenth-century home of botanist John Bartram in West Philadelphia, will serve as a case study and subject for the final assignment. Pre-requisite: HSPV 555 Conservation Science.
Preservation Case Studies
HSPV 748-001, Tuesday, 2:00 PM-5:00 PM
Fixler
Preservation Case Studies will build upon the philosophical underpinnings of the core theory courses and will bring cutting-edge theoretical debates, current issues and the latest work of faculty and guests into the HSPV curriculum. Lectures will be anchored by a series of Case Studies on a variety of traditional and modern resources given by David Fixler, and will feature an international roster of other faculty, practitioners and guest scholars, who, through their project examples, will sample and explore current theoretical, conceptual, political and practical issues facing the historic preservation field.
Topics in Preservation Technology: Litho-Mania
HSPV 741-301, Tuesday, 9:00 AM-12:00 PM
Matero
Nearly every culture in the Old and New World has made use of natural stone for its buildings and monuments, whether as found rubble or ledge rock, cut and dressed load-bearing dimensional stone, or thin veneer cladding on a brick, steel or concrete frame. There is an abundant variety of stone in the United States and virtually every type of fissile rock has been put to use for buildings and monuments. The use of native and imported stone as the material of choice reached its zenith at the end of the nineteenth century. Through the creative talents of American architects, engineers, and artists who took advantage of and promoted the extensive variety, availability and relatively low cost of domestic and imported stone, masonry buildings and monuments proliferated giving rise to what critics termed a national ‘lithomania’. This seminar will offer an in depth study of the stone employed for building and sculpture in the United States. Utilizing Penn’s newly acquired Vermont Marble Company (VMC) archives and vast stone collection, the class will consider the ‘culture of stone’ through a cross-disciplinary study of its historical, aesthetic, and technical aspects as they pertain to design and conservation practice including extraction, finishing, and installation for masonry building and monument design and construction. The course will also utilize a digital humanities approach by including instruction in the methods, formats, and platforms applicable for web-based dissemination of the research produced. HSPV 741 is open to ALL interested students in preservation, landscape architecture, architecture, architectural history, fine arts, and archaeology.