Home
Sites Map ACL Project List


meveline
Nakashima Header
tumacacori Survey Methodology


Conservation Management Planning
The Architectural Conservation Laboratory is working with external consultants to complete a Historic Structure Report and to develop a Conservation and Management Plan (CMP) for the Arts Building and Cloister. Prior to the launch of this project, primary archival documentation was already inventoried, contextual history prepared, and a preliminary "as built" set of measured drawings delineated. A first phase has engaged the consultants in their areas of expertise for further analysis of the site, including material and structural performance, wood investigation, interior environment, collections, and surrounding landscape. Within a second phase, this information is being used to deepen the understanding of the place and to eventually provide a body of policies for the conservation and sustainment of the cultural significance. 

A multi-disciplinary team including an architect-historian, landscape
architect, structural and environmental engineers, wood scientist, and
conservators has been assembled to address the physical fabric of the Arts Building and Cloister and surrounding landscape. Given the complexity of the site in terms of its unusual mix of traditional and experimental materials and structural systems, effective methods of survey, analysis, and diagnostics have been necessary including site recording, building envelope investigation, preliminary environmental monitoring for energy efficiency and collections care, the preparation of a structural model as well as limited material analysis.

montage

Above: Consultants working together with Mira Nakashima in the Arts Building. 
In addition, the first phase has offered an opportunity to engage students in a complex research project, including members of the University of Pennsylvania, the University of Delaware Arts Conservation Program, the Czech Techincal University and the Advanced Masters in Structural Analysis of Monuments and Historical Constructions (SAHC).

The outcome, in turn, allowed completion of the draft Historic Structure Report and help formulate a Conservation and Management Plan beginning with an analysis of the transiting institutional context.


comparison

Above: Using the total station to record the building in order to delineate as-built drawings as base for subsequent phases. 
The Conservation and Management Plan will begin with a study of the
"enabling environment" including an assessment of current institutional
arrangements and roles, as well as documentation of regulatory, ownership, or other policies and laws shaping management decisions. For the design/response phase, the Plan will clearly address any relevant changes in the institutional arrangements such as administrative, management, policy, and legal framework to implement and administer all the work and maintenance that will be proposed.


This strategy will ultimately devise and manage preservation guidelines,
treatment options, and a limited testing program based on feature significance, integrity, condition, use and the proposed institutional administration. The academic partnership already in place will also allow graduate and post graduate students to benefit by participating in the process through studios, seminars and internship over the course of the project. The team is also prepared to hold several workshops on the project’s components for the Nakashima board, staff, students, and public.

The CMP presentation will be accompanied by an exhibition to take place in Spring 2017 and other dissemination efforts. Project outcomes will be available on the website Keeping it Modern, the Getty Foundation initiative focused on modern architecture, to be shared with stakeholders and professionals in the field.

The Team Members
The consultants involved in this project include Nicholas Pevzner, Landscape architect, and lecturer at the Department of Landscape Architecture at the University of Pennsylvania’s School of Design; Michael C. Henry, Adjunct Professor of Architecture of the Graduate Program in Historic Preservation and Environmental Engineer; David Biggs, Lecturer and Structural Engineer; and Ron W. Anthony, Wood Scientist.

Also, the following students have contributed to the project, and they deserve grateful acknowledgment. Andi Troci, MSC in Structural Analysis of Monuments and Historical Constructions; Leah A. Bright, Graduate Fellow in Art Conservation at Winterthur Museum, University of Delaware. Shin-Yi Kwan and Janki A. Vyas from the Master of Environmental Building Design at the University of Pennsylvania's School of Design.

This appreciation extends to Mira and Kevin Nakashima, John Lutz, Jonathan Yarnall, as well as the members of George Nakashima Woodworker and the George Nakashima Foundation for Peace.
Nakashima Funding