Historic Preservation/Urban Design

3 units

This class will explore the history and current practice of historic preservation in the United States and will relate them to local issues of contextual architecture, sustainable development, cultural tourism and urban design. Emphasis will be placed on the practical knowledge needed to participate professionally in historic preservation: how to evaluate the associative and architectural significance of a property or district, how to provide legal protection and redevelopment incentives for historic resources, how to appropriately restore, rehabilitate, adapt and add to historic buildings and how to incorporate historic preservation into the sometimes-contentious framework of community planning. The course will focus on readings, student discussion and case studies that draw extensively on real preservation situations in the region including trips to the innovative Cupples Warehouse and Bohemian Hill projects, the endangered Old North St. Louis neighborhood and a charrette in the Central West End.