Awarded the project based on our innovative approach to historic properties, ThoughtCraft is working with the Town and its’ citizens to craft a vision for three historic properties.

They include a pre-civil war farmstead, a tobacco era homestead, and a turn-of-the century general store with warehouses. Through research and many interviews we’ve uncovered and documented the rich history of each property that tells the story of Cary from 1820 to 1960. Cary is not laden with historic properties like some of the surrounding towns. As such, the redevelopment of these properties will serve to preserve and educate future generations of its rich history, while providing new uses and amenities for citizens to enjoy.

Designed in 1875 by notable architect Henry Hobson Richardson, this national landmark sat vacant until 2012 since a fire gutted the building in 1985.

The narrow building floor plates present unique challenges to the housing program; yet, the massive masonry walls and multiplicity of windows provide ample natural light and distinctive design opportunities. Acknowledging the edges as the dominant feature of Richardson’s building, the exterior walls are accentuated and thickened with ancillary program features; thus, prompting the residents to engage with the rehabilitated brownstone facade. The entry stair is activated by juxtaposing historical elements against the masonry wall. Doubling as a historical ‘depository,’ the residents are welcomed with an educational and functional interior that reveals the physical history of the building and its eclectic past.

H I G H L I G H T S

• LEED Homes Multifamily PLATINUM Certified

• 2014 Massachusetts Historical Commission Preservation Award

• 2013 Boston Preservation Alliance Award

• Nationally Registered Historic Building

• State and Federal Tax Credit Project

• H.H. Richardson Analysis

• Boston Globe article

C O L L A B O R A T O R S

L.A. Fuess Partners | CSI Engineering | Building Envelope Technologies | Collective Wisdom Corporation | CSTI Acoustics | R.W. Sullivan Engineering | Available Light | Conservation Services Group | Marc Truant & Associates | John Horner Photography

How can we innovatively reuse a significant mid-century building while respecting the sacred ground it stands upon?

Architect Richard Neutra’s Cyclorama Center, one of his most prized buildings, was located on the Civil War battlefield in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania. Its future was in doubt and debated nationally for decades.

Typically, preservation focuses narrowly on retaining a building as is or with minimal intervention, but there are degrees of preservation yet to be explored that lie between maintaining the original condition and demolition. We have devised the groundwork for a more nuanced form of preservation that addresses today’s societal needs while respecting our cultural heritage. Often, new pieces are added to old buildings, but why not invert the formula?

H I G H L I G H T S

• Project Preservation Document

C O L L A B O R A T O R S

Recent Past Preservation Network

In 2007, a demolition permit had been granted for Paul Rudolph’s 1960 Blue Cross Blue Shield office building to make way for New England’s tallest tower by Renzo Piano. Intrigued by the collision of new and old, and the lack of demolition alternatives, we set out to rethink the meaning of preservation using this project as an example.

The legacy of Rudolph’s building lies mainly in its innovative facade that contains the mechanical and structural systems, thereby freeing the interior floor space for office use. Drawing from the work of artist Gordon Matta-Clark, we hypothesized a series of concepts that reinterpreted preservation as: integration, anatomical exhibition, dissection, public art and remnant. In doing so, we revealed aspects of the building that prompted a new understanding of its cultural contributions, and began a new dialogue about how architecture should be preserved. These explorations led us to new projects and speaking engagements, as well as a successful stay of demolition for Rudolph’s building.

How can preservation maintain relevance to future generations?

All places are dynamic and living things. Our built environment is both witness and proof to history. The act of preservation is a necessity in maintaining the memory and authenticity of this record. The idea of preservation began in the late 18th century to preserve 2,000 year-old monuments.

Through the last century, the preservation movement has expanded its reach significantly: from monument to building to streetscape to landscape to urban sectors to government policy to tax incentives; everything is now potentially susceptible to preservation. With this environmental and cultural expansion comes exponential complexity and great responsibility, yet its curatorial principles remain overly simplistic. Concurrently with this expansion, the movement has embraced an increasing number of value propositions to rationalize its aims, yet its accepted outcomes remain singular in encapsulating our past. But all places and buildings have a continuing history; they are used, damaged, repaired, and bear the markings of actions and events throughout time. As modern culture moves forward, our environment expands, is re-inhabited, and is altered with invention. The 20th century in America yielded a great expansion in our built environment, much of it now coming due for renovation.

The U.S. Department of Energy estimates that 17% (52 billion square feet) of our current building stock will face the prospect of demolition over the next 30 years, and half will be renovated. Today, America’s built environment faces a new challenge of ecological sustainability. This leaves the idea of preservation in a precarious state. To continuously encapsulate our built environment through the act of preservation is counter-productive; we face increasing risk of endangering invention and even forgetting the intentions of history. If we are to live with our history while embracing our future, we must rethink the very idea and standards of preservation. Ultimately, the act of preserving a thing in its original condition isn’t always the best solution nor is its full erasure from our memory. There are unexplored degrees of preservation between its ever-present all-or-nothing proposition. As preservation has embraced multiple value rationales, it must too embrace multiple outcomes. Preservation is often viewed antagonistically by developers in their efforts to modify properties, but it has the potential to become the catalyst for shaping vibrant and healthier communities.

For preservation to maintain relevance through future generations it must:

Embrace outcomes beyond the curatorial.

Embrace overlapping histories beyond the physical artifact in its regulations.

Embrace technology and the human needs of the day.

Embrace new architecture with the authenticity of artifact.

Define varied levels of significance with varied standards.

H I G H L I G H T S

• NTHP JetModern by Seth Tinkham

• The Architect’s Newspaper, Preservation is a Moving Target

• The Fate of Cyclorama as National Implications, UrbDezine Magazine

How do we activate one of Boston’s busiest street corners while preserving the integrity of one of America’s most preeminent landmarks?

Since the 1773 mass protest meetings that led to the Boston Tea Party, Old South Meeting House has served as a gathering place for discussion and celebration and a haven for free speech.

The museum has rented the street corner to various market stands over the years as a source of income. The new market enclosure will bring a new sense of transparency to the corner of this historic building and better activate this pedestrian center in the downtown crossing district. The structure is designed to be free standing with no attachment to the historic building. For the market vendor it will provide a new security enclosure and better visibility and interior organization.

How do we create urban furniture with a collective identity while maximizing flexibility for arrangements and vendors?

Too often preservation is a curatorial act focused solely on the physical building and not the ideas and stories that shaped it over time. New architecture can have a dialogue with old architecture to evoke story, memory, and solidify identity and meaning. Doing so reveals deeper meanings and heightens awareness of history. This approach can be realized in five key phases:

1. TRACING TIME: Move beyond the physical building to uncover the ideas, stories, and events that first brought it about. This approach can move buildings beyond it’s “a good example of…” to it’s “directly connected too the story of…”

2. UNCOVERING THEMES: By mapping overlapping historic influences such as the construction methods, the occupants, the architect, the neighborhood, the economy, the cultural influences, and the news of the day, we can compare and uncover the unique threads and themes.

3. STRATEGIZING APPROACH: Based on historic significance, regulations, and project goals, define the intent: should the building be fully preserved, an archeologically interpreted site, partially preserved, transformed, minimally preserved, or some hybrid approach?

4. CONCEPTUALIZING DESIGN: The rehabilitation, renovation, alterations, or additions are born out of the findings such that they help to activate and heighten the awareness of the building’s overlapping historic influences.

5. CRAFTING THE DETAILS: Careful detailing between old and new elements can heighten awareness, and integrated graphics can support the story.

How can a historic general store tell the stories of a small town while serving as its new municipal meeting hall?

The Town of Summerfield plans to renovate their signature historic property, the Gordon Hardware Store, for use as its public meeting hall. The building, largely vacant since the 1950s, would house a grand meeting hall with an addition for supporting functions. We engaged stakeholders to assess their needs and define the building’s history.

In its day the general hardware store was the social crossroads of this rural area - providing both necessary goods and daily conversations. Its reactivation would once again allow the citizenry to gather for town meetings and other events. The new supporting addition also adds flexibility for activities, and graphically displays the building’s social history through photographs and storytelling. These displays and the reuse of this building will preserve the cultural history of Summerfield for future generations.

H I G H L I G H T S

• Historic research and interviews

• Programming and needs assessment

•Cost estimating

C O L L A B O R A T O R S

Lynch Mykins | Surface678 | AME Consulting Engineers | Cumming Corporation

Built in 1940, Liberty is Durham’s last remaining tobacco auction warehouse

The design integrates the Liberty brick facade at the corner of Rigsbee and Corporation into the new commercial and multi-family housing development. The historic facade is maintained and the new architecture takes visual cues to assimilate window patterns, locate entries, and program the corner with a restaurant. Fiber cement siding by Oko-skin provides a warm durable exterior that compliments the historic brick.