Papers by Susan Ross
Change Over Time, 2023
As redevelopment of already built-up sites expands in North American cities, tearing down large m... more As redevelopment of already built-up sites expands in North American cities, tearing down large modern buildings is also accelerating. In pursuit of circular economy and sustainable building ideals, traditional practices like deconstruction for salvage and reuse are being revived. However, a shift toward valuing existing buildings as material banks, as implied in the rise of "urban mining," challenges established material heritage values. Attempts to salvage and reuse modern materials and assemblies raise specific issues, notably the perceived obsolescence of industrial materials and modern buildings and the complex and difficult values of hazardous or experimental elements. In some cases, reinventing modern materials with new uses in new places will expand or reframe heritage values while helping us learn how to address their challenges as objects of materials conservation. To evaluate current practices, this paper discusses selected examples from Ottawa's postwar urban landscape, each of which illustrates the range of issues for alternatives to demolition. Specific opportunities for modern heritage include reorienting salvage efforts to the scale of the component and redefining materials reuse as a critique of modernist models of obsolescence and materials waste.
The Historic Environment: Policy & Practice, 2020
This article explores how heritage values can be productively sustained or transformed by process... more This article explores how heritage values can be productively sustained or transformed by processes of building deconstruction and materials reuse, which address the increasing magnitude of demolition waste, landfill and resource use in urban development. The article starts by examining literature in heritage studies, sustainable building, and discard studies, then presents two examples from Vancouver, a Canadian city under intense development pressure, to help frame questions from project and policy contexts. Building on these questions, it reviews the relationship between heritage values and waste, gaps in deconstruction and salvage policies, the classifications of materials in deconstruction and reuse, and possible expanded uses for heritage inventories. In the Anthropocene, merely conserving designated buildings, or salvaging character-defining elements associated with heritage values, is not only inadequate, it helps to define waste, or that which does not have value. An ethic of conservation is called for that makes place for deconstruction as an acceptable reuse strategy while addressing the fate of all existing buildings and materials.
Journal of Cultural Heritage Management and Sustainable Development, 2020
Introduction to the special issue on Heritage and Waste
ICE-Engineering History and Heritage, 2019
Advanced accepted manuscript copy. Published formatted copy will be posted when available. This ... more Advanced accepted manuscript copy. Published formatted copy will be posted when available. This research paper reviews the literature in an area of engineering heritage requiring further examination, the impact of climate change on historic urban water supply systems. Many opportunities exist to enhance the sustainability of historic water works still in operation, in order to help mediate climate change effects. This must include mitigating climate change impacts on sources of potable water, such as by implementing strategies for water efficient landscape design, while considering possible uses of the visible elements of the system, such as water treatment plants, to draw attention to this engineering heritage’s continued and critical role. The R.C. Harris filtration plant is the main water treatment plant for the Greater Toronto Area, drawing water from Lake Ontario. This iconic “Palace of Purification” has been in continuous use since 1941, and was declared a National Historic Civil Engineering Site in 1992. In 2013, it was still producing nearly 40% of Toronto's tap water. Examination of this plant serves to illustrate the interconnection of a system’s historic design and its water source’s watershed as heritage, to discuss expected impacts of climate change, and explain some of the possibilities for mitigation but also eventual necessary and challenging adaptations to changing treatment needs.
The object of this paper is to advance concrete strategies for
integrating objectives of environm... more The object of this paper is to advance concrete strategies for
integrating objectives of environmental sustainability in the
conservation of wood elements in Canadian modernist
architecture. To do so, the paper considers: how wood and
engineered wood products were used in modern building in
Canada; how environmental values associated with wood in
modern architecture have evolved; and what new issues are
raised by current sustainable forestry and building practices.
Finally, preliminary strategies are suggested for integrated
approaches to conserving modern wood, which will be of value
beyond the Canadian context.
(Excerpt from Introduction) The natural heritage of urban landscapes is increasingly under pressu... more (Excerpt from Introduction) The natural heritage of urban landscapes is increasingly under pressure. In North America intensification through infill devel- opment to increase density has become a major concern in older residential neighborhoods. The livability of older areas is often attributed in part to the presence of mature trees, yet there has been little discussion of the impact of intensification on trees in the city, on both public and private lands, as well as on the less-visible geomorphological and hydrological systems, or of the increasing need to replace mature trees due to disease and to rehabilitate storm water systems.
Furthermore, since many designated historic districts are recognized primarily as architectural ensembles, the policies and planning tools needed to guide landscape decisions have not been as well developed as those for managing changes to buildings and other structures. Many historic districts, for example, do not adequately identify and describe landscape elements or natural systems within their boundaries. This lack of information, in turn, limits the capacity of residents and planners to understand more integrated planning for the protection of both built and natural heritage or to address sustainability-related objectives for enhancing ecological resources within the districts.
Book chapters by Susan Ross
The Routledge Companion to Art Deco, 2019
(Excerpt from the introduction)
Between 1930 and 1939, during a time of rising urbanization and ... more (Excerpt from the introduction)
Between 1930 and 1939, during a time of rising urbanization and economic disparity in Canada, hundreds of apartment buildings were built in cities across the country. Many of them reflect the Moderne period of Art Deco—a period associated in North America with the rising influence of the industrial designer and the emergence of ‘Streamlined’ objects and furnishings. Many still exist today to illustrate that type of design; they also illustrate a great diversity of economic perspectives on urban housing. An online national heritage inventory like the Canadian Register of Historic Places, with over 12,000 properties described by Statements of significance, provides an opportunity to examine the legacy of these apartment buildings. The heritage values of urban housing reflect evolving socio-economic ideals. Could the mixed values of these buildings better inform our ideas and practices on the subject of urban heritage conservation?
This chapter examines the heritage values attributed to Moderne architectural design in 1930s apartment buildings in Canadian cities, and explores the legacy of those buildings as solutions to the problem of affordable rental housing. The “streamlined” Moderne style can be correlated with the economic context of the era, suggesting a synergy between the industrial aesthetic and limited financial resources. Housing needs escalated in larger Canadian cities at that time, but solutions were mostly funded through private interests. As a result, two classes of apartment buildings emerged that reflected the desires of two distinct groups of people: for extravagance, and for affordability. These two classes of apartments were defined as “luxury” and “efficiency” units.
One lasting impact of this construction boom was a large stock of diverse rental housing in older urban neighborhoods, many of which have now been designated as heritage properties. A number of these, of both types, have been acknowledged individually, or as part of urban conservation districts, or in broader architectural surveys. Examining these sources provides insights into both the perceived architectural character of the buildings, and into their current evaluation—since the heritage values of urban housing reflect evolving socioeconomic ideals. Such evolution is also expressed in community activism to save these buildings from insensitive alterations and conversions—as documented in newspapers and city approval documents. Tenants, in particular, tend to resist such changes; but their roles in conservation are less explored.
(Excerpt from Introduction) Located on an island within a major river, with a small mountain near... more (Excerpt from Introduction) Located on an island within a major river, with a small mountain near its center, Montreal occupies an exceptional site. The ample supply of water from the St. Lawrence River and Mount Royal’s height of more than 230 meters (760 feet) offered a unique opportunity for the development of the city’s water supply system. It was also a setting in which engineering concepts—such as the construction of distribution reservoirs on the mountain, beginning in 1852, the chemical treatment of the river water, beginning in 1910, and the covering of the reservoirs starting in 1938—redefined the landscapes of water supply and reflected a shift in the relationship between the city and its water.
Books by Susan Ross
(Excerpt from Between the Wars) Despite the Depression, the 1930s was a surprisingly fertile peri... more (Excerpt from Between the Wars) Despite the Depression, the 1930s was a surprisingly fertile period for construction of collective housing forms, both luxurious and more modest. Larger “urban palaces” continued to be built, including the Windsor Arms (1930), the Duncannon (1931), the Mayfair and the Blackburn (both 1936). At the same time, dozens of more modest structures were erected, especially in Centretown and Sandy Hill, and partially in response to the demand for accommodation from the city’s burgeoning civil service. The number of developers, including small scale builders associated with apartment building construction (see Meet the Builders page 27), reflects both the high demand for rental units and the trend toward smaller, less-expensive building projects.
In the summer of 2007, Robert Tombs propelled the contents of a four litre can of black
marine en... more In the summer of 2007, Robert Tombs propelled the contents of a four litre can of black
marine enamel paint onto a large rock slab above the town of Brigus, Newfoundland,
calling it Brigus Mark.1 By making such a mark on the landscape, Tombs expanded his
predominant practice as a graphic designer—with its fixed representations of form
and meaning on paper and/or the computer screen—to painted transformations,
through physical gesture, of historically-charged sites. Under the rubric The Morality
of Paint, he has gone on from Brigus to create a series of related works in Erfurt,
Germany; Kingston, Ontario; and Paris, France. These installations were documented
in photography, in related publications and a website, and in the case of Brigus
Mark, an edited video.2 An emphasis on documenting his installations, which were of
varying degrees of permanence, connects Tombs’s recent artistic production to his
ongoing practice in printed matter.3 Published by Tombs under his imprint L’Arène,
this publication on his Brigus work, which reproduces the still photography associated
with its brief moment of creation, is a further example of the graphic expansions of his
painted installations. This essay will examine the origins of his Morality of Paint series by
assessing Tombs’s intervention into the landscape, the result of a decision at the end of
his visit to undermine ‘picturesque aesthetics’.
Web-based publications by Susan Ross
Metropolitics (Urban Wastes, Present and Future issue), 2022
This online article examines Construction Junction, a building-materials reuse center, in Pittsbu... more This online article examines Construction Junction, a building-materials reuse center, in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, arguing that it is an important space for encouraging the reuse of materials, revealing material flows that are usually hidden, and promoting local social good.
Building deconstruction refers to the careful taking apart of a building to salvage its reusable ... more Building deconstruction refers to the careful taking apart of a building to salvage its reusable materials and components. These are either stored on site for short-term integration in a new design, or removed to a salvage yard for use at a later date. Whereas prevailing mechanical demolition creates mounds of unsorted debris rendered less usable by a destructive process, deconstruction introduces a semblance of order to the end of life of a building, slowing down the process with manual labor and stock-taking, allowing for segregation based on future use. Although salvage and reuse are ancient practices, with the oldest cities rebuilt of the rubble of their political histories and environmental disasters (Kostof, 1982), recent approaches are developed as ecological alternatives to common demolition practices. Yet as with all considerations of waste, management of a city’s construction, renovation and demolition (CR&D) discards, which can represent from 30- 50% of municipal solid waste (Yeheyis et al, 2013), should first consider embedded consumption and production patterns rather than focus exclusively on end-of-life stages.
A companion piece to the Keyword: Deconstruction (Building)
Grey literature by Susan Ross
This literature review provides an overview of recent English-language research and policy that
a... more This literature review provides an overview of recent English-language research and policy that
addresses climate change and the conservation of cultural heritage. The initial purpose of this review
is to help inform organizations like the Association for Preservation Technology (APT), the National
Centre for Preservation & Training (NCPTT), and others involved in preservation/conservation
research, in formulating priorities or strategies for research and education.
The APT Technical Committee on Sustainable Preservation’s (TC-SP) focus group on
Education and Research, chaired by Hugh Miller and Susan Ross, provides an ongoing forum for
discussing APT’s sustainable preservation research agenda. The 2016 APT Bulletin Special Issue on
Climate Change and Preservation Technology is a related effort; articles in the Special Issue are
included in this review.
The list of over sixty references that follow was compiled and reviewed between November
2015 and June 2016 by APT TC-SP members Ann D. Horowitz, María F. López, Susan M. Ross, and
Jennifer A. Sparenberg. They started from materials compiled in their research, practice and
teaching, including the annotated bibliographies of two theses completed at Goucher College
(López, 2015, and Horowitz, 2013). Texts that only address climate change or conservation of
cultural heritage were not included. The documents only include academic and gray literature in print
format. No blogs, videos or webinars were included. As an introduction to each text, the review
includes abstracts or summaries shown in “_” when the text appeared in the original source.
Comments are signed (AH, ML, SR, and JS) but the literature review was a collective effort overall.
Many documents included in the review are web-based; direct web-links are provided where
available. A limited number of documents are from scholarly journals that are only accessible by
online subscription, usually available at local university libraries. Created as a working document, the
list is not exhaustive in scope or regional representation, but should help to inform next stages of
research and teaching by others. For further information on this initiative, please contact
susan.ross@carleton.ca.
Drafts by Susan Ross
Call for abstracts of a special issue on "Heritage and Waste" of the Journal of Cultural Heritage... more Call for abstracts of a special issue on "Heritage and Waste" of the Journal of Cultural Heritage Management and Sustainable Development - which I am guest editing with Victoria Angel.
http://emeraldgrouppublishing.com/products/journals/call_for_papers.htm?id=8186
Abstracts due April 1, 2019; Full papers due July 1 , 2019.
(Excerpt) Presented at the session on “Sustainable urban heritage conservation in questions” at t... more (Excerpt) Presented at the session on “Sustainable urban heritage conservation in questions” at the Association for Critical Heritage Studies (ACHS) 2016 conference in Montreal, this paper reports on emerging research on heritage and waste in Canadian cities, which builds on a longer-term investigation into how to connect the values and practices of heritage conservation and sustainability.
The research question originated from an enquiry into the role of architectural conservation in addressing the environmental legacies of material ‘progress,’ as embodied in buildings, construction materials and sites of material extraction, transformation or disposal. Framed by sustainable heritage conservation principles and practices, this enquiry is developed and repositioned by engaging with the arguments on loss aversion in critical heritage studies and environmental ethics in discard studies.
Increasing emphasis on intangible heritage, and less on heritage ‘fabric,’ arguably renders obsolete the discussion of many material concerns of built heritage conservation. Still, what was ‘tangible’ remains so, and the issue of what to do with material ‘remains’ is a challenging question, when seen from the perspectives of consumption, accumulation, and material waste. Indeed the need to examine the relationship between tangible and intangible heritage assets, and how to integrate their co-management in processes of sustainable development, has been identified as a gap in recent sustainable heritage conservation research.
Salvaging materials and components of a designated historic building for reuse in situ, or in a similar use in a related designated place, are endorsed within heritage conservation principles in Canada. Municipalities in North America have begun to develop policies to manage the waste associated with the demolition of heritage properties, to permit careful salvage and reuse in other heritage properties. However most such heritage conservation salvage policies delimit specific elements as representing heritage values. This evades engagement in the fate of all existing buildings and ignores emerging deconstruction and reuse practices promoted in sustainable design that address wider problems of demolition and landfill generated from discarded building materials.
This paper therefore argues that values-based heritage conservation may inadvertently contribute to the creation of waste, when processes that assign heritage values fail to consider all materials in heritage properties or the possible creation of new values in new uses and places. It calls for a more integrated approach to the management of urban waste, connecting heritage conservation policies and tools with waste management, which considers a broader range of associated values. Following a discussion of two examples that help frame the issues, it then reviews the related literature in heritage studies, conservation and sustainable design to identify some of the questions to ask – as part of related projects and processes – that could guide an ethical approach to reducing and transforming the waste generated by both deliberate and unplanned ‘erasure’ of heritage.
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Papers by Susan Ross
integrating objectives of environmental sustainability in the
conservation of wood elements in Canadian modernist
architecture. To do so, the paper considers: how wood and
engineered wood products were used in modern building in
Canada; how environmental values associated with wood in
modern architecture have evolved; and what new issues are
raised by current sustainable forestry and building practices.
Finally, preliminary strategies are suggested for integrated
approaches to conserving modern wood, which will be of value
beyond the Canadian context.
Furthermore, since many designated historic districts are recognized primarily as architectural ensembles, the policies and planning tools needed to guide landscape decisions have not been as well developed as those for managing changes to buildings and other structures. Many historic districts, for example, do not adequately identify and describe landscape elements or natural systems within their boundaries. This lack of information, in turn, limits the capacity of residents and planners to understand more integrated planning for the protection of both built and natural heritage or to address sustainability-related objectives for enhancing ecological resources within the districts.
Book chapters by Susan Ross
Between 1930 and 1939, during a time of rising urbanization and economic disparity in Canada, hundreds of apartment buildings were built in cities across the country. Many of them reflect the Moderne period of Art Deco—a period associated in North America with the rising influence of the industrial designer and the emergence of ‘Streamlined’ objects and furnishings. Many still exist today to illustrate that type of design; they also illustrate a great diversity of economic perspectives on urban housing. An online national heritage inventory like the Canadian Register of Historic Places, with over 12,000 properties described by Statements of significance, provides an opportunity to examine the legacy of these apartment buildings. The heritage values of urban housing reflect evolving socio-economic ideals. Could the mixed values of these buildings better inform our ideas and practices on the subject of urban heritage conservation?
This chapter examines the heritage values attributed to Moderne architectural design in 1930s apartment buildings in Canadian cities, and explores the legacy of those buildings as solutions to the problem of affordable rental housing. The “streamlined” Moderne style can be correlated with the economic context of the era, suggesting a synergy between the industrial aesthetic and limited financial resources. Housing needs escalated in larger Canadian cities at that time, but solutions were mostly funded through private interests. As a result, two classes of apartment buildings emerged that reflected the desires of two distinct groups of people: for extravagance, and for affordability. These two classes of apartments were defined as “luxury” and “efficiency” units.
One lasting impact of this construction boom was a large stock of diverse rental housing in older urban neighborhoods, many of which have now been designated as heritage properties. A number of these, of both types, have been acknowledged individually, or as part of urban conservation districts, or in broader architectural surveys. Examining these sources provides insights into both the perceived architectural character of the buildings, and into their current evaluation—since the heritage values of urban housing reflect evolving socioeconomic ideals. Such evolution is also expressed in community activism to save these buildings from insensitive alterations and conversions—as documented in newspapers and city approval documents. Tenants, in particular, tend to resist such changes; but their roles in conservation are less explored.
Books by Susan Ross
marine enamel paint onto a large rock slab above the town of Brigus, Newfoundland,
calling it Brigus Mark.1 By making such a mark on the landscape, Tombs expanded his
predominant practice as a graphic designer—with its fixed representations of form
and meaning on paper and/or the computer screen—to painted transformations,
through physical gesture, of historically-charged sites. Under the rubric The Morality
of Paint, he has gone on from Brigus to create a series of related works in Erfurt,
Germany; Kingston, Ontario; and Paris, France. These installations were documented
in photography, in related publications and a website, and in the case of Brigus
Mark, an edited video.2 An emphasis on documenting his installations, which were of
varying degrees of permanence, connects Tombs’s recent artistic production to his
ongoing practice in printed matter.3 Published by Tombs under his imprint L’Arène,
this publication on his Brigus work, which reproduces the still photography associated
with its brief moment of creation, is a further example of the graphic expansions of his
painted installations. This essay will examine the origins of his Morality of Paint series by
assessing Tombs’s intervention into the landscape, the result of a decision at the end of
his visit to undermine ‘picturesque aesthetics’.
Web-based publications by Susan Ross
Grey literature by Susan Ross
addresses climate change and the conservation of cultural heritage. The initial purpose of this review
is to help inform organizations like the Association for Preservation Technology (APT), the National
Centre for Preservation & Training (NCPTT), and others involved in preservation/conservation
research, in formulating priorities or strategies for research and education.
The APT Technical Committee on Sustainable Preservation’s (TC-SP) focus group on
Education and Research, chaired by Hugh Miller and Susan Ross, provides an ongoing forum for
discussing APT’s sustainable preservation research agenda. The 2016 APT Bulletin Special Issue on
Climate Change and Preservation Technology is a related effort; articles in the Special Issue are
included in this review.
The list of over sixty references that follow was compiled and reviewed between November
2015 and June 2016 by APT TC-SP members Ann D. Horowitz, María F. López, Susan M. Ross, and
Jennifer A. Sparenberg. They started from materials compiled in their research, practice and
teaching, including the annotated bibliographies of two theses completed at Goucher College
(López, 2015, and Horowitz, 2013). Texts that only address climate change or conservation of
cultural heritage were not included. The documents only include academic and gray literature in print
format. No blogs, videos or webinars were included. As an introduction to each text, the review
includes abstracts or summaries shown in “_” when the text appeared in the original source.
Comments are signed (AH, ML, SR, and JS) but the literature review was a collective effort overall.
Many documents included in the review are web-based; direct web-links are provided where
available. A limited number of documents are from scholarly journals that are only accessible by
online subscription, usually available at local university libraries. Created as a working document, the
list is not exhaustive in scope or regional representation, but should help to inform next stages of
research and teaching by others. For further information on this initiative, please contact
susan.ross@carleton.ca.
Drafts by Susan Ross
http://emeraldgrouppublishing.com/products/journals/call_for_papers.htm?id=8186
Abstracts due April 1, 2019; Full papers due July 1 , 2019.
The research question originated from an enquiry into the role of architectural conservation in addressing the environmental legacies of material ‘progress,’ as embodied in buildings, construction materials and sites of material extraction, transformation or disposal. Framed by sustainable heritage conservation principles and practices, this enquiry is developed and repositioned by engaging with the arguments on loss aversion in critical heritage studies and environmental ethics in discard studies.
Increasing emphasis on intangible heritage, and less on heritage ‘fabric,’ arguably renders obsolete the discussion of many material concerns of built heritage conservation. Still, what was ‘tangible’ remains so, and the issue of what to do with material ‘remains’ is a challenging question, when seen from the perspectives of consumption, accumulation, and material waste. Indeed the need to examine the relationship between tangible and intangible heritage assets, and how to integrate their co-management in processes of sustainable development, has been identified as a gap in recent sustainable heritage conservation research.
Salvaging materials and components of a designated historic building for reuse in situ, or in a similar use in a related designated place, are endorsed within heritage conservation principles in Canada. Municipalities in North America have begun to develop policies to manage the waste associated with the demolition of heritage properties, to permit careful salvage and reuse in other heritage properties. However most such heritage conservation salvage policies delimit specific elements as representing heritage values. This evades engagement in the fate of all existing buildings and ignores emerging deconstruction and reuse practices promoted in sustainable design that address wider problems of demolition and landfill generated from discarded building materials.
This paper therefore argues that values-based heritage conservation may inadvertently contribute to the creation of waste, when processes that assign heritage values fail to consider all materials in heritage properties or the possible creation of new values in new uses and places. It calls for a more integrated approach to the management of urban waste, connecting heritage conservation policies and tools with waste management, which considers a broader range of associated values. Following a discussion of two examples that help frame the issues, it then reviews the related literature in heritage studies, conservation and sustainable design to identify some of the questions to ask – as part of related projects and processes – that could guide an ethical approach to reducing and transforming the waste generated by both deliberate and unplanned ‘erasure’ of heritage.
integrating objectives of environmental sustainability in the
conservation of wood elements in Canadian modernist
architecture. To do so, the paper considers: how wood and
engineered wood products were used in modern building in
Canada; how environmental values associated with wood in
modern architecture have evolved; and what new issues are
raised by current sustainable forestry and building practices.
Finally, preliminary strategies are suggested for integrated
approaches to conserving modern wood, which will be of value
beyond the Canadian context.
Furthermore, since many designated historic districts are recognized primarily as architectural ensembles, the policies and planning tools needed to guide landscape decisions have not been as well developed as those for managing changes to buildings and other structures. Many historic districts, for example, do not adequately identify and describe landscape elements or natural systems within their boundaries. This lack of information, in turn, limits the capacity of residents and planners to understand more integrated planning for the protection of both built and natural heritage or to address sustainability-related objectives for enhancing ecological resources within the districts.
Between 1930 and 1939, during a time of rising urbanization and economic disparity in Canada, hundreds of apartment buildings were built in cities across the country. Many of them reflect the Moderne period of Art Deco—a period associated in North America with the rising influence of the industrial designer and the emergence of ‘Streamlined’ objects and furnishings. Many still exist today to illustrate that type of design; they also illustrate a great diversity of economic perspectives on urban housing. An online national heritage inventory like the Canadian Register of Historic Places, with over 12,000 properties described by Statements of significance, provides an opportunity to examine the legacy of these apartment buildings. The heritage values of urban housing reflect evolving socio-economic ideals. Could the mixed values of these buildings better inform our ideas and practices on the subject of urban heritage conservation?
This chapter examines the heritage values attributed to Moderne architectural design in 1930s apartment buildings in Canadian cities, and explores the legacy of those buildings as solutions to the problem of affordable rental housing. The “streamlined” Moderne style can be correlated with the economic context of the era, suggesting a synergy between the industrial aesthetic and limited financial resources. Housing needs escalated in larger Canadian cities at that time, but solutions were mostly funded through private interests. As a result, two classes of apartment buildings emerged that reflected the desires of two distinct groups of people: for extravagance, and for affordability. These two classes of apartments were defined as “luxury” and “efficiency” units.
One lasting impact of this construction boom was a large stock of diverse rental housing in older urban neighborhoods, many of which have now been designated as heritage properties. A number of these, of both types, have been acknowledged individually, or as part of urban conservation districts, or in broader architectural surveys. Examining these sources provides insights into both the perceived architectural character of the buildings, and into their current evaluation—since the heritage values of urban housing reflect evolving socioeconomic ideals. Such evolution is also expressed in community activism to save these buildings from insensitive alterations and conversions—as documented in newspapers and city approval documents. Tenants, in particular, tend to resist such changes; but their roles in conservation are less explored.
marine enamel paint onto a large rock slab above the town of Brigus, Newfoundland,
calling it Brigus Mark.1 By making such a mark on the landscape, Tombs expanded his
predominant practice as a graphic designer—with its fixed representations of form
and meaning on paper and/or the computer screen—to painted transformations,
through physical gesture, of historically-charged sites. Under the rubric The Morality
of Paint, he has gone on from Brigus to create a series of related works in Erfurt,
Germany; Kingston, Ontario; and Paris, France. These installations were documented
in photography, in related publications and a website, and in the case of Brigus
Mark, an edited video.2 An emphasis on documenting his installations, which were of
varying degrees of permanence, connects Tombs’s recent artistic production to his
ongoing practice in printed matter.3 Published by Tombs under his imprint L’Arène,
this publication on his Brigus work, which reproduces the still photography associated
with its brief moment of creation, is a further example of the graphic expansions of his
painted installations. This essay will examine the origins of his Morality of Paint series by
assessing Tombs’s intervention into the landscape, the result of a decision at the end of
his visit to undermine ‘picturesque aesthetics’.
addresses climate change and the conservation of cultural heritage. The initial purpose of this review
is to help inform organizations like the Association for Preservation Technology (APT), the National
Centre for Preservation & Training (NCPTT), and others involved in preservation/conservation
research, in formulating priorities or strategies for research and education.
The APT Technical Committee on Sustainable Preservation’s (TC-SP) focus group on
Education and Research, chaired by Hugh Miller and Susan Ross, provides an ongoing forum for
discussing APT’s sustainable preservation research agenda. The 2016 APT Bulletin Special Issue on
Climate Change and Preservation Technology is a related effort; articles in the Special Issue are
included in this review.
The list of over sixty references that follow was compiled and reviewed between November
2015 and June 2016 by APT TC-SP members Ann D. Horowitz, María F. López, Susan M. Ross, and
Jennifer A. Sparenberg. They started from materials compiled in their research, practice and
teaching, including the annotated bibliographies of two theses completed at Goucher College
(López, 2015, and Horowitz, 2013). Texts that only address climate change or conservation of
cultural heritage were not included. The documents only include academic and gray literature in print
format. No blogs, videos or webinars were included. As an introduction to each text, the review
includes abstracts or summaries shown in “_” when the text appeared in the original source.
Comments are signed (AH, ML, SR, and JS) but the literature review was a collective effort overall.
Many documents included in the review are web-based; direct web-links are provided where
available. A limited number of documents are from scholarly journals that are only accessible by
online subscription, usually available at local university libraries. Created as a working document, the
list is not exhaustive in scope or regional representation, but should help to inform next stages of
research and teaching by others. For further information on this initiative, please contact
susan.ross@carleton.ca.
http://emeraldgrouppublishing.com/products/journals/call_for_papers.htm?id=8186
Abstracts due April 1, 2019; Full papers due July 1 , 2019.
The research question originated from an enquiry into the role of architectural conservation in addressing the environmental legacies of material ‘progress,’ as embodied in buildings, construction materials and sites of material extraction, transformation or disposal. Framed by sustainable heritage conservation principles and practices, this enquiry is developed and repositioned by engaging with the arguments on loss aversion in critical heritage studies and environmental ethics in discard studies.
Increasing emphasis on intangible heritage, and less on heritage ‘fabric,’ arguably renders obsolete the discussion of many material concerns of built heritage conservation. Still, what was ‘tangible’ remains so, and the issue of what to do with material ‘remains’ is a challenging question, when seen from the perspectives of consumption, accumulation, and material waste. Indeed the need to examine the relationship between tangible and intangible heritage assets, and how to integrate their co-management in processes of sustainable development, has been identified as a gap in recent sustainable heritage conservation research.
Salvaging materials and components of a designated historic building for reuse in situ, or in a similar use in a related designated place, are endorsed within heritage conservation principles in Canada. Municipalities in North America have begun to develop policies to manage the waste associated with the demolition of heritage properties, to permit careful salvage and reuse in other heritage properties. However most such heritage conservation salvage policies delimit specific elements as representing heritage values. This evades engagement in the fate of all existing buildings and ignores emerging deconstruction and reuse practices promoted in sustainable design that address wider problems of demolition and landfill generated from discarded building materials.
This paper therefore argues that values-based heritage conservation may inadvertently contribute to the creation of waste, when processes that assign heritage values fail to consider all materials in heritage properties or the possible creation of new values in new uses and places. It calls for a more integrated approach to the management of urban waste, connecting heritage conservation policies and tools with waste management, which considers a broader range of associated values. Following a discussion of two examples that help frame the issues, it then reviews the related literature in heritage studies, conservation and sustainable design to identify some of the questions to ask – as part of related projects and processes – that could guide an ethical approach to reducing and transforming the waste generated by both deliberate and unplanned ‘erasure’ of heritage.