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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. |
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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.
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| Above: Consultants
working together with Mira Nakashima in the Arts Building. |
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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. |
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| Above: Using the
total station to record the
building in order to delineate as-built drawings as base for subsequent
phases. |
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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
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.
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