Adaptive
Reuse:
Refers to the recycling of an old building
for use other than that for which it
was constructed. A neutral term, it can
involve a sensitive rehab that retains
much of the original character (especially
on the exterior), or it can involve extensive
remodeling.
Preservation:
Is an umbrella term that has meant keeping
an existing in its current state by a
careful program of maintance and repair.
Reconstruction:
Rarely relevant to homeowners, involves
re-creating a historic building that
has been damaged or destroyed, by erecting
a new structure resembling the old as
closely as possible.
Rehabilitation:
Is the most common approach for private
houses. It means making a structure sound
and usable, bringing it up to modern
operating condition while retaining what
the feds call "character-defining features.
It does not attempt to restore any particular
period appearance. Rehabilitation might
include new HVAC systems and an updated
kitchen, yet retain the stair hall, fireplace,
cornices, paneled walls, etc on the interior.
The exterior may replace the clapboards
with cement board, yet keep the original
porches, doors and trim moldings.
Remodeling:
Involves changing the appearance, and
usually the style of the structure by
removing or covering original details,
and substituting new materials and forms.
Renovation:
Is similar to rehabilitation, but assumes
the introduction of more new materials
or elements to the building. For example,
adding not only the cement board, but
replacing the original windows with modern
windows and storms, insulation, stripping
and re-painting.
Restoration:
Is a widely misused term, has a specific
meaning in the museum world: the meticulous
return of a building to its exact appearance
during a chosen period. The National
Park Service says the restoration is
the "act or process of accurately depicting
the form, features, and character of
a property as it appeared at a particular
period of time by means of the removal
from other periods in its history and
reconstruction of missing pieces from
the restoration period".
Most homeowners need not worry about
the restoration process in its purist
sense. When the word restoration is used
in the context of a private house, it
refers to sensitive rehabilitation:
Making the structure sound and usable
without extensive reconstruction, but
retaining original style and elements.
Interpretive
Restoration:
This involves keeping all the original
architectural features intact and reconstructing
the missing elements as faithfully as
the budget allows over the life time
of the homeownership.
Interior Decoration, furnishings and
exterior paint scheme do not attempt
to duplicate what was actually there,
but follows your personal taste. It's
more of a do no harm, leave it better
than you found it approach.
Remember in the real world, old-house
owners use a combination of approaches.
Purists sniff that this is what ruins
the historical record, but they are not
being realistic. Buildings have always
been changed for current use. Privately
we may restore the exterior elements
and landscaping, rehabilitate the 1930's
bathroom, renovate the kitchen, and use
interpretive restoration for the exterior
paint colors.
Post
Construction Information:
Operations
and maintance manual,
construction drawings,
measured drawings,
field sketches,
as-built drawings,
and possibly the
project files.
They include changes
in construction
different from
design drawings.
Record
of Treatment:
New
materials and replacement
features should
be recorded in
place with photographs
or drawings that
clearly show their
extent. Physical
evidence of the
development history
of a structure
should also be
recorded before
being removed or
covered during
the project. Contracts
must be clearly
written and specific.
Any changes clearly
marked and included.
Pricing documentation.
Specifications
that were followed,
All changes made
during a project
are graphically
documented with
cleanly marked
drawings and photographs.
Video tape including
narrative is becoming
the new standard
to the more progressive
field operatives.
Customer narrative,
maintance updates.
The
Purists' View:
(not Holly or John's
view, just a definition!)
The object of every repair should be
the faithful restoration of those features
of the original building which yet remain,
and their preservation from further injury..And
no alteration should be attempted which
is not the renewal of some ancient feature
which has been lost, or absolutely necessary
for rendering the building suitable to
the present wants of the building owner;
and this should be done in the strict
conformity with the character and intention
of the building.
To restore is to revive the original
appearance lost by decay, accident, or
ill-judged alteration. We must, whether
from existing evidences or from supposition,
recover the original scheme of the edifice
as conceived by the first builder, or
as begun by him and developed by his
immediate successors; or, on the other
hand, must retain the additions and alterations
of subsequitions ages, repairing them
when needing it.
Always do less rather than more. When
in doubt, seriously consider doing nothing.
As Ruskin advises, better to let the
building die than live as a fake.
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