From left to right, host Paul Kennedy moderates a CBC Ideas panel with Julia Gersovitz, Elsa Lam, Brian MacKay-Lyons and Jean Carroon
In the public imagination, heritage and contemporary architecture are at perpetual loggerheads. It’s a familiar battle: old versus new, preservationists versus bulldozers, Jane Jacobs versus Robert Moses. And it’s seen in the title of a CBC Ideas panel that I participated in, recorded during the ICOMOS Canada conference in Halifax last May. The panel?”Building Tension: Preserving the Past and Constructing the Future”?implies an opposition of past versus future. Which one will win out"
As practitioners in the built environment know, things are rarely so straightforward. Buildings are complex, and so are their contexts: urban, economic, societal, and otherwise. Pure preservation is at times warranted, as is complete demolition of older structures. But more often than not, there are other options that merit consideration?solutions that include some elements of both the past and future. These attitudes are exemplified in the work of the panelists on the Ideas panel. Jean Carroon, principal at Goody Clancy, is among America’s premier heritage architects. Among other projects, she’s known for her ongoing work at Boston’s Trinity Church. The multi-stage renewal has prioritized the conservation and restoration of H.H. Richardson’s masterwork. But in the process, it’s also underpinned the base...