Speech, November 12, 2005

Role of Preservation in Developing Good Design on an Integrated Design TeamNational Trust Volunteer Falls Hard for New Orleans

Remarks by David J. Brown, Louisiana Recovery and Rebuilding Conference, November 12, 2005

I’m pleased to spend a few minutes with you this morning exploring the role of preservation in rebuilding and revitalizing your communities as part of an integrated design team.

Buildings and cities that survive are time-proven and battle-tested. The knowledge learned from the past can be integrated into the design process for the future.

On the technical level, well-built and well-designed buildings like those found throughout Louisiana endure despite changes in use, function, style, construction technology, and even cultural values. Preservationists understand that things change over time and have information about the performance of materials, building systems, and details that can be essential in today’s recovery response.

But on a more global scale preservation is also a broader way of thinking about the world. Preservation professionals design with the past and future in mind as much as the present. Historic preservation is change that respects and responds to existing context. As we’ve heard over the past two days, that’s especially important in Louisiana.

As you look to bring designers into your neighborhoods and communities, be mindful of what preservationists bring to the table. We’re here for the long run. Design professionals consulting on projects at National Trust historic sites, for example, are asked to make decisions with past and future centuries in mind – a 400 year window looking both back and forward, sending forth designs into the future to be understood, interpreted, used, and changed again.

And we’ve heard a great deal at this conference about sustainability. Preserving our heritage is all about sustainability, as we seek to revitalize communities that are currently in place, conserve structures that still have use, and maintain existing materials in ways that benefit the people who live and use those buildings today. All preservation “recycles.”

As we look at neighborhoods and communities, preservationists manage change in response to the existing context, fitting new functions and users appropriately within the old. This minimizes the impact of new development and exploits – in the best way – pre-existing infrastructure.

As the National Trust and our partners here in Louisiana have responded to the devastation of Hurricanes Katrina and Rita, we have brought in preservation volunteers who seek to adapt and maintain existing resources – the Creole cottages, shotgun houses, and corner stores – rather than to abandon those resources and create new. This principle applies to a neighborhood school that is within walking distance for all students, as well as retention of trees and operable shutters in lieu of greater reliance on HVAC systems.

So what can I leave you with as you prepare to gather design and planning teams to work with your community?

First: All design disciplines should understand and appreciate cultural heritage as a significant factor in any design. If your team doesn’t have that appreciation, then you need to add it.

Second: Good management of change allows messages, meanings, and values from the past to survive into the future in the form of tangible evidence. As Richard Moe said on Thursday, “it is great to read history in books, but reading about it can’t compare with walking through it and living with it.”

Finally: Buildings, neighborhoods, and cities can have great longevity and sustainability – even in the face of unimaginable disasters. Preservation professionals have the knowledge to help achieve it. The quality of design is enhanced when preservation is in the mix.

The National Trust is bringing volunteers with these skills into Louisiana every week, and you should call our Louisiana office – housed at the Preservation Resource Center for assistance. And our partners in Louisiana – the Preservation Resource Center, Louisiana Preservation Alliance, Louisiana Landmarks Society, the State Historic Preservation Office, the National Center for Preservation Technology and Training in Natchitoches, and the National Park Service, all have expertise that you should call upon.

In the depths of WWII, a famous British statesman said, “Gentleman, we are out of money. Now we must start to think.”

Preservationists – as well as the architects, planners, and engineers – can help you think about a future for your community that respects and responds to your past.

All of us in the preservation community look forward to working with you in Louisiana’s recovery.

Thank you.