Additions and Renovations to Historic Buildings Using Contemporary Style
by Ron Smith grow your businessIf you foolishly ignore beauty, you will soon
find yourself without it but if you invest in beauty, it will remain with you
all the days of your life – Frank Lloyd Wright. What
a simple a shape is to one may be a masterpiece to another. Find an architect
to create the balance between what once was and what something needs to become
is naturally a challenge as they design additions to and rehabilitate historic
properties. This task is not only challenging but also exhilarating for an
architect. The Palm Beach architects, Boca Raton architects and West Palm Beach architects’ guidelines for preserving,
rehabilitating, restoring and reconstructing historic buildings are discussed
in the Secretary of Interior Standards for the Treatment of Historic
Properties. Those responsible for developing and promulgating preservation
standards and guidance, specifically as it relates to historic buildings, is
the office of Technical Preservation Services (TPS) in the Cultural Resources
Directorate of the National Park Service.
There is no formula for designing a new addition or related new construction on
a site, nor is there generally only one design approach. Given the task to
create a new addition or add on to an existing structure the architect must
keep in mind the proportions between the original historical building and the
current new addition. Dresden’s Military History Museum in Germany, designed by
Daniel Libeskind, is an ideal example of how the architect kept in mind the
massing scale and detail of the original building yet the new addition is
clearly unlike the original neoclassical structure.
The topic of sustainability shaped by Florida
architects can also be found in detail in the Secretary of Interior
Standards for the Treatment of Historic Properties. New additions and related
new construction that meet the standards can be any architectural style,
traditional, contemporary or a simplified version of the historic building. To
maintain the historic character and the identity of the building being enlarged
many architects would argue that there should be a balance between how different
the new addition is and its compatibility to the original historical building.
The danger in this approach is the possibility of there not being any
distinction between the old and the new design resulting in predictable, dull
solutions. As one looks around at many contemporary buildings, the excitement
of the design is the expression of the architectural proportions and forms
which do not necessarily relate to the function of the building.
By using contemporary architecture the architect has the freedom to create a
less predictable and more exciting design solution while still taking advantage
of the most current and up to date intelligent materials and technology
available. The final design of the new construction is a clearly distinct piece
of architectural style that stands as its own and both compliments the original
historical building yet simultaneously does not distract from or hinder the
integrity of the original.
By Michael Hutchinson and Rex Nichols
Contact Rex Nichols Architects
https://www.rexnicholsarchitects.com/
561-445-3520
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Created on Jun 26th 2019 01:09. Viewed 251 times.