When I received this month's Architectural Record magazine in the mail I was instantly disturbed by its cover. The front bore the title "Adaptation + Preservation, Rebooting Yesterday's Buildings for Today's World." Rebooting?? Really? sigh. Terrified that reading the magazine would cause me pain I avoided it. I cleaned my house, I did my laundry, went grocery shopping, watched a movie... Finally I got up the courage today and reading it actually wasn't as bad as the cover made it out to be! Generally the projects were on the fringe of what is considered "preservation". But the overall tone was good and it did not further mention rebooting. The pictures of Our Lady of the Conception Chapel in Brazil by Paulo Mendes da Rocha were exquisite. Robert Venturi and Denise Scott Brown evoke memories of college and so I was interested in the article about moving the Lieb House in New Jersey. Sadly San Francisco was represented by an unfortunate experiment at 185 Post Street. At least they wrapped it up with the unbelievable Montpelier restoration!
On a side note, on Thursday at the SF AIA there will be a panel discussion entitled Landscape Design within the Historic Context (a very complicated subject!) Though I can't, those who can, should go!
