Dear Members of Columbia Preservation Program,

It is a pleasure to share with you the academic achievements and activities of the Columbia Preservation Program.

I invite you to peruse this semester-in-review newsletter, as well as the coursework and student projects featured in the End of the Year Show, including: Studio II The Carbon Investment of Historic Buildings: Embodied and Operating Energy in the Preservation of the Columbia Campus taught by Erica Avrami and Tim Michiels; Studio III Histories and Futures of Earthen Architecture taught by Erica Avrami and Shreya Ghoshal; Advanced Studio III Enacting our Environmental Entanglements: Climate Adaptation of Venice’s Gandini Pool, taught by Mark Rakatansky and me; Architectural Finishes taught by Mary Jablonski; Building Conditions Assessment taught by Kyle Normandin; Investigative Techniques taught by Amanda Trienens; and Machine Learning in Historic Preservation taught by Bilge Kose and Kivanc Kose.

It goes without saying that this was one of the most trying times in our University’s recent history, and I am proud of the conduct of our preservation students, faculty and staff during this crisis. I spoke to many of you individually and in small groups throughout the semester, and I was heartened by the maturity of the discussions, your ability to listen to each other, to speak across differences, to engage in reasoned debate, and to uphold academic ideals under enormous outside pressure. Thanks to everyone’s good faith efforts, our program was able to support all students and remain the safe and vibrant learning environment that is the bedrock of our academic community. It has not been easy, and I want to express my heartfelt gratitude to each and every one of you in this crucial collective effort.

At times of crisis, it can be hard to make sense of the world, and of our role in it as preservationists. To fully engage in the difficult labor of sense-making, it helps to be equipped with critical analytical tools and robust intellectual frameworks. Acquiring these vital tools and knowledge requires the slow work of pedagogy, the productive exchange between student and teacher that can only happen in the classroom. That is why maintaining our ability to teach and learn this semester has been paramount. We learned that to gather in the classroom is not a way of retreating from the world, but rather a way to engage more deeply and critically in it.

That all of us, as students, faculty and staff did our part to continue to sustain teaching and learning speaks volumes about the inclusive culture of our program, and our deep collective engagement in the most pressing matters of our time. It was rewarding to see you, as engaged preservationists, deploy the lessons learned in the classroom to gain perspective on unfolding world events, as you also critically engaged the socio-spatial relationships inherent in the built fabric of our historic campus, with full awareness of their historical reverberations.

In this sense, the first-year class’s research work on the Columbia campus was particularly impactful. I want to congratulate the first year class for the remarkably high quality of work they produced this semester. They worked collectively in Studio 2 on a ground breaking report that brought new evidence about the importance of existing buildings in the effort to decarbonize and fight climate change. Thanks to them we now know that to the old adage that “the greenest building is the one that is already built,” we must add “and that undergoes deep retrofits”! The studio, led by Prof. Erica Avrami and Prof. Tim Michiels, rose to the challenge that we have set for ourselves as a program to address climate change and social justice. The student’s research will surely find echoes both in the work that they will do next year, and in the future adaptation of the Columbia campus.

I also want to highlight the graduating class and their extraordinary theses, the synopses of which can be read here. While the topics ranged as widely as the interests of each student, there is also consistency in the robustness of the research methods deployed to study these topics. The methodological rigor exhibited in the theses is one important outcome of our SLAB curriculum. I know I speak for the whole faculty when I say that it makes us very proud to see that each of the theses makes unique contributions to the body of knowledge that defines our discipline. It was wonderful to be able to celebrate their achievements at the beautiful graduation ceremony in St. Paul’s Chapel.

We are very fortunate to be the only preservation program in the country to have PhD students. I want to acknowledge their important role in the research output of our program, as well as teaching and mentoring of our masters students. Shuyi Yin and Anna Gasha spent this semester writing their dissertations, while Robert Edwards and Deqah Hussein continued their coursework and took part in the “Architectural Fragments” PhD Colloquium. The work of the colloquium will form the basis for a convening of experts on the subject that will take place this summer to consider the pedagogical potential of the collection of fragments in the Preservation Technology Lab. The work of the PhD students was enriched by the presence of the Berlin-based Visiting Scholar Natalia Irina Roman, who conducted research on experimental preservation methods for preserving railroad interlocking towers.

Every semester we host a masterclass in addition to our regular roster of courses to provide intense, deep dives into topics and ideas relevant to preservation. This Spring, we welcomed Prof. Aaron Vinegar from the University of Oslo. His masterclass “Beyond the Preservation Principle—On Habit and Repetition” delved into crucial philosophical questions at the foundation of preservation practice.

Our Historic Preservation Program Lecture Series provided opportunities to learn from leading practitioners and scholars from around the world, and is an important enhancement to the education of students. This semester we welcomed speakers Edward Denison, Christoph Meinrenken, Jonathan Bell, Lori Ferriss, Robert Bevan, Lauren Hoogkamer, Erik Langdalen, Svein Lund, and Jonas Norsted in addition to the aforementioned Aron Vinegar, and Natalia Irina Roman. I want to thank Sophie Hass for her work as student manager of the lecture series.

This semester in review wraps up our program’s communications for the school year. I want to recognize Charlotte Boulanger for helping to put it together as well as the weekly newsletters, which are such an important source of information for everyone in the program.

Let me take this opportunity to thank our distinguished faculty for their teachings and devotion to the students, and our exceptional staff Sarahgrace Godwin, Mika Tal and Leigh Brown for their selfless support of everyone in the program.

Congratulations to you all on a productive and academically rich semester. I wish everyone a restful summer with lots of visits to historic sites (send pictures!).

Sincerely,

Jorge Otero-Pailos

Congratulations to the Class of 2024 for all their hard work! We are thrilled to announce the winners of this year’s graduation prizes:

The University Trustees and the Board of the Columbia Alumni Association (CAA) established The Campbell Award, presented by the CAA to a graduating student at each School who shows exceptional leadership and Columbia spirit as exemplified by the late Bill Campbell, Chair Emeritus, University Trustee, outstanding alumnus, and CAA co-founder.

Eleanor Phetteplace

The William Kinne Fellows Traveling Prize is granted on the merit of proposals submitted for travel abroad incorporating the study of architecture, including planning and other specialized aspects of architecture.

Madeline Hagan
Redressing the Norris Basin: The Built Environment and Public History in Appalachia.
Advisor: Carol Clark

The Onera Prize for Historic Preservation is awarded to a graduating student or students to conduct a project that tests new preservation theories in practice.

Eleanor Phetteplace
Guidance for Calculating Embodied Carbon Emissions from Structural Interventions for Existing and Historic Buildings.
Advisor: Tim Michiels

For a master’s thesis that best demonstrates excellence in the field of Historic Preservation.

Esther Wagner
Preservation and Politics: The Presentation of the Shoah and the Lasting Impact of Early Preservation Campaigns at Auschwitz-Birkenau.
Advisor: Sarah Sher

Andrés Santana-Miranda
Experimenting with Vulnerability Proposing an Alternative Hurricane-Related Vulnerability Assessment Beyond Site-Driven Approaches in Puerto Rico
Advisor: Erica Avrami

This non-monetary, student-nominated award is given in recognition of outstanding service to classmates, faculty, and school.

Gray Danforth

Congratulations to the Class of 2024 for all submitting incredible theses amidst this arduous year!

Blanca Del Pilar Balbuena: Cultural Diplomacy and Transnational Heritage: Toward Suitable Management of The Apse of San Martín de Fuentidueña in Spain and the United States.
Advisor: Jorge Otero-Pailos

Daoxin Chen: Merging the Digital with the Physical: Augmented Reality Technology for Digital Heritage Interpretation.
Advisor: Halley Ramos

Yuan Chen: Preserving History and Memory: The Jewish Refugee Experience in Shanghai (1939-1945) and The Preservation of Its Legacy.
Advisor: Sarah Sher

Gray Danforth: Finding Flooded Deserts: An Exploration of Proactive Prioritization of Flood Vulnerability for More Equitable Preservation in New York City.
Advisor: Erica Avrami

Naomi Dressler: “In The Mountains”: Neglected Resort Architecture and the Imperative of Preserving Jewish Cultural Legacy in the Borscht Belt.
Advisor: Bilge Kose

Madeline Hagan: : People of a Sentimental Nature”: The Tennessee Valley Authority, Progress, and Curation of Heritage in the Norris Basin, 1933-1940.
Advisor: Carol Clark

Sophia Haynes: Historic American Lead Cames: A Chronological Elemental Analysis of Lead Cames from 1875-1928 located in Woodlawn Cemetery.
Advisor: Amanda Thomas Trienens

Pitchaya Kointarangkul: Architectural Fragments: Curatorial Management of a Vanishing World: A Case Study of Demolished Structures in Post-World War II Chicago.
Advisor: Francoise Bollack

Cassidy Kraft: Developing a Mockup for the Testing of Injection Grouting Methods and Materials in the Repair of Vertical Ceramic Mosaics.
Advisor: Norman Weiss

Chris Kumaradjaja: Design as a Vehicle of Memory at Historic Sites: the Case of the Summit Tunnels at Donner Pass.
Advisor: Jorge Otero-Pailos

Isabella Libassi: Criteria for the Adaptation of 19th Century Facilities of Care, Treatment, and Incarceration in America.
Advisor: Theodore Prudon

Yaozhi Liu: “Homes For The People”: A History of Planned Residential Communities in Beijing, 1949-1966.
Advisor: Kyle Normandin

Ziyu Liu: The Third-Front City of Panzhihua: Narratives, Policy, and Preservation in China.
Advisor: Erica Avrami

Brooke Marinovich: “Rethinking” the Period Room: A Defense of the Exhibited Interior.
Advisor: Norman Weiss

Daniela Martinez: Preservation of Evolving Neighborhoods: La Fragua and Sidauto as Case Studies.
Advisor: Debora Barros

Eleanor Phetteplace: Guidance for Calculating Embodied Carbon Emissions from Structural Interventions for Existing and Historic Buildings.
Advisor: Tim Michiels

Andrés Santana-Miranda: Experimenting with Vulnerability Proposing an Alternative Hurricane-Related Vulnerability Assessment Beyond Site-Driven Approaches in Puerto Rico.
Advisor: Erica Avrami

Christina Sun: “Invisible History” of the Chinese Americans’ “Economic Lifelines”: Spatial Interpretations of the Pillar Industries of the Chinese American Community in Manhattan’s Chinatown, 1930s - 1980s.
Advisor: Richard Pieper

Stephanie Snell: Salhaven, Florida: The Life and Death of a Retirement Community.
Advisor: Francoise Bollack

Roberto E. Villasante: The Role of Preservation when the Physical is Lost: Remembering the Tragedy of UMAP, the Forced Labor Camps of the Castro Regime.
Advisor: Ken Lustbader

Esther Wagner: Preservation and Politics: The Presentation of the Shoah and the Lasting Impact of Early Preservation Campaigns at Auschwitz-Birkenau.
Advisor: Sarah Sher

Moisa Wroy: Cultural Heritage Preservation For At-Risk Communities, A Little Haiti, Miami Case Study.
Advisor: Shreya Ghoshal

Dingyi Zhang: The Preservation of Living Heritage: The History and Significance of Workers’ Villages in Lujiazui Subdistrict in Shanghai.
Advisor: Paul Bentel

Zihao Zhang: A New Era of Cultural Heritage Field Trips: Enhancing Historic Preservation Interpretation through Virtual Reality, with a Case Study on Low Library Rotunda.
Advisor: André Jauregui

Clara Jieli Zhao: From the World to Henry Street: Tracing the Hidden Narrative of Women in Public Health Through Spatial Mapping.
Advisor: Paul Bentel

Di Zhu: Wei Shi Zong Ci: The Preservation of the Craftsmanship in the Wu-Dialect Area in China.
Advisor: Kyle Normandin

Profs. Erica Avrami & Tim Michiels

Teaching Assistants: Charlotte Boulanger & Eleanor Phetteplace

The 2024 Studio inquiry focuses on issues of energy consumption and carbon emissions in relation to the climate crisis. The Columbia Morningside campus and its environs will serve as the study area. The area is characterized by numerous historic properties owned and operated by the university, including New York City landmarks and historic districts, as well as National Register-listed and -eligible buildings and districts. As the university plans its transition toward electrification and net-zero/renewable energy sources, and to meet the new regulatory goals set by New York City’s Climate Mobilization Act (LL97) and New York State’s Climate Leadership and Community Protection Act (CLCPA), these buildings will require significant retrofitting to reduce energy consumption and carbon emissions, and replacement may also be considered.

This studio explores approaches to quantifying and qualifying the embodied and operating carbon of historic buildings using the campus and select study area buildings as cases. Most embodied energy or carbon calculators use contemporary material data to estimate the carbon costs of replacement versus retrofitting or preserving as is (e.g. CAREtool.org). While embodied energy is often viewed in economic terms as a sunk cost, circular economy research in the construction industry is shifting perspectives about demolition and related carbon emissions. These replacement values do not account for the actual initial and recurrent embodied energy invested in an older building.

Columbia GSAPP Historic Preservation hosted in-person lectures through the 2023-2024 Preservation Lecture Series. Descriptions can be found on our Events page!

Edward Denison
MoHoA - Modern Heritage of Africa / Modern Heritage in the Anthropocene
January 22nd, 2024.

Lunch Lecture with Christoph Meinrenken
January 30th, 2024.

Jonathan Bell
Cultural Heritage as a Tool for Change
February 8th, 2024.

Aron Vinegar
Beyond the Preservation Principle, or Habit without the Flywheel
February 15th, 2024.

Lori Ferriss
Building Reuse is Climate Action
March 21st, 2024.

Robert Bevan
Monumental Lies & the Material Evidence of the Past
March 28th, 2024.

Lauren Hoogkamer
Engagement, Diversity, and Equity in Preservation: Dinner & a Conversation
April 8th, 2024.

Natalia Irina Roman
Reclaiming Spaces Along Railway Tracks: Art Cooperations with Deutsche Bahn and Amtrak
April 11th, 2024.

Paul S. Byard Memorial Lecture
April 15th, 2024.

Workshops were also organized throughout the course of the semester, providing students with hands-on learning experiences.

HP Welcome Back Potluck
January 19th, 2024.
Avery Basement

Preservation League of NYS Pillar Awards
March 14, 2024.

HP End of Year Party
May 8th, 2024.
John Jay Harvey Fireboat

Students in the joint HP-UP studio, Constructive Cultures and Social Justice: Histories and Futures of Earthen Architecture, Kumasi, presented their findings at World Monuments Fund on May 14.

4 of our HP second year students presented their theses at ANAGPIC!

Sophia Haynes: American lead cames, 1875-1928, at Woodlawn Cemetery

Cassidy Kraft: Developing a Mockup for the Testing of Injection Grouting Methods and Materials in the Repair of Vertical Ceramic Mosaics

Blanca Balbuena: Cultural Diplomacy and Transnational Heritage: Toward Suitable Management Of The Apse Of San Martín De Fuentidueña In Spain And The United States

Brooke Marinovich: “Rethinking” the Period Room: A Defense of the Exhibited Interior

This year’s keynote address was given by HP alumna Jeanne Marie Teutonico.

On a rainy day of May, as they prepare for their submission, the 2024 team for the APT Student Design-Build Competition went on a site visit of the old covered bridge in Sheffield, MA. The team was accompanied by HP Professors Norman Weiss, Richard Pieper and Tim Michiels.

Second-year PhD student in Historic Preservation Robert Edwards purchases a 1947 Greyhound bus (with remaining old markings of the logo on the side) which he will restore and preserve in order to investigate its use during the Great Migration.

Robert’s work focuses on Black mobility and the Black experience while in-transit during the Jim Crow Era to advance the practice and pedagogy of preserving moving objects. Additionally, Robert just received a Columbia University Provost Diversity Fellowship to advance his research; and a Widen the Circle Fellowship to travel to Berlin in May to study with other historians, artists, and activists that deal with storytelling and memory work.

Chris Kumaradjaja (HP + M.Arch ‘24) published “Marion Evelyn Hong before and after the Curse of the Quon Gwon (1916)”, as part of a special edition of The Journal of Chinese Cinemas, and co-written with his mother, Lisa Kumaradjaja.

Read more about his work here

Eleanor Phetteplace (MSHP ‘24) and Ziyu Liu (MSHP ‘24) were selected as recipients of the 2024 APTNE Student Scholarships.

Cecelia Halle (MSHP ‘25) was selected as a 2024 Zabar Scholar.

Erica Avrami

Congratulations to Professor Erica Avrami for receiving tenure!

Professor Erica Avrami is publishing a new book, Second-Order Preservation: Social Justice and Climate Action through Heritage Policy (University of Minnesota Press) later this year.

Professor Avrami was also cited in an Op-Ed published by the news outlet Next City, discussing the need to move beyond pure materiality when dealing with Historic Preservation. Read the article here.

In April, Professor Avrami was the keynote speaker for the National Trust Past Forward Symposium on Decarbonization. She is also the upcoming keynote speaker for the biannual conference of the National Association of Preservation Commission.

Debora Barros

Adjunct Assistant Professor Debora Barros curated and collaborated with students on “Down to Earth,” an exhibition of the work developed during the course “Indigenous Technologies as Climate Solutions”. Focusing on earth as a building material, and reflecting a pedagogy underpinned on haptic experiences, the exhibition explored the different vernacular techniques learned in the class and practiced during workshops at the renowned Tibá Institute in Brazil’s Atlantic Forest. Honoring the ancestral indigenous wisdom embodied in vernacular earthen construction, the exhibition highlighted earth as an underutilized contributor towards a healthier and more sustainable future for architecture and the materials industry, adaptable to different climates, cultures and economic contexts. Through a combination of posters, films, and models built with locally sourced soil, the exhibition prompts viewers to consider: What more could we do to share knowledge, develop policies and building codes, and to promote investment that could implement earth as a transformative agent in our practice? (May 1-7, Pratt Institute Higgins Hall at the Leo J Kuhn Lobby Gallery).

Paul Bentel

Bentel & Bentel Architects issued its second book, Collaborations: Life + Work (Images Publishing, 2023), a reflection on the firms’ work and the lives of its principals across two generations, three families and 60 years. The book combines a look back at many of its projects and forward to upcoming work of a third generation as well as related activities in sculpture, painting, furniture design, architectural history and education. The book is edited by John Morris Dixon.

Bentel & Bentel Architects/Planners was awarded for Historic Preservation and Adaptive Reuse by the Society of American Registered Architects and AIA LI and design awards from AR House Muse Award. The firm was also awarded by the AIA LI for its adaptive reuse of the Linden House and by Preservation Long Island for its work at the Webb Institute. Lastly the Saint Joseph’s University Student Union, a project led by Bentel & Bentel, opened in 2023 to complete the University campus quadrangle.

Francoise Bollack

Adjunct Associate Professor Bollack released a book entitled Old Building, New Ideas: A Selective Architectural History of Additions, Adaptations, Reuse and Design Inventions. in September 2023. Later in the year, Professor Bollack gave a lecture on her book for the Royal Institute of British Architects, attended by over 1,000 architects. As chair of the Historic Preservation Committee of the City Club of New York, Prof. Bollack organized and participated in the webinar entitled Where is the Hotel Pennsylvania now?, which talked about excessive demolition in New York and its environmental and cultural consequences.

In Spring 2024, over 50,000 architectural photographs (Kodachrome slides) from The Françoise Astorg Bollack and Tom Killian Collection were donated to The Internet Archive.

Carol Clark

Adjunct Professor Carol Clark was reappointed to the New York State Board for Historic Preservation, the entity that nominates eligible projects to the National and State Registers of Historic Preservation.

Andrew Dolkart

Prof. Dolkart appeared in PBS’s Treasures of New York: Tenement Museum. You can watch the documentary here.

Jorge Otero-Pailos

HP Director and Professor Jorge Otero-Pailos was featured in Architectural Record for his contribution in preserving Eero Saarinen’s US Embassy in Oslo, Norway. Read the article here.

Prof. Otero-Pailos also recently contributed to the Diriyah 2nd Art Bienniale with “A Library of Earthen Architectures,” curated by Ute Meta Bauer. This collaborative work of experimental preservation explores a new heritage imagination amidst Saudi Arabia’s rapid changes.

Prof. Otero-Pailos’s “Analogue Sites” opened on Park Avenue. The works will remain on view through October 31. Read more about the project here.

Prof. Otero Pailos also received the 2024 Artist Award from ArtsWestchester.

“Repairing Architecture Schools,” the fifth article in Places Journals’ series “Repair Manual” features Professor Jorge Otero-Pailos in conversation with Nancy Levinson and Frances Richard.

Kate Reggev

Adjunct faculty Kate Reggev welcomed her second child, Felix, in October of 2023. She recently spoke about women in architecture, particularly early female architects, at Marvel Architects, HOK, and AIA New York. The column she writes for, Madame Architect, received the Architecture in Media Award from the AIA New York Design Awards. The platform also recently featured a profile on Kate – read more here!

Adjunct Assistant Professor Reggev is also credited in Architectural Record for her contribution to preservation interventions at the New York Public Library’s Main Branch. Discover the project here.

Sarah Sher

Adjunct Assistant Professor Sarah Sher was awarded a New York Landmarks Conservancy Lucy Moses Award in April for two projects: Lever House and 35-37 West 23rd Street.

Amanda Trienens

Adjunct Assistant Professor Trienens was part of the project team for the Robert Gould Shaw Memorial, recipient of the Robert H. Kuehn, Jr. Award that recognizes projects for collaborative partnerships with creative and cutting edge ideas.

The digital exhibit The Material Memoirs - Remember the natural origins of a material is now live!

This exhibit is an opportunity to remember the story of a material. When trees and minerals become processed building elements, they become unrecognizable. We forget their natural origins.

While text is included in the exhibit, it is kept minimal so the focus can be on the visuals. We primarily interact with building materials visually. Therefore, approach the exhibit like you would an art gallery and reflect. In addition, maps are included throughout the exhibit to help with geographic orientation and context.

Explore the exhibit here

HP alumni Heather Hartshorn (MSHP ‘12, current Adjunct Assistant Professor) and Preme Chaiyatham (MSHP ‘22) became new additions to APTNE’s Board of Directors. Congratulations!

HP alumna Franny Eberhart is featured in Our Town for her civic activism.

Recently, she has worked with Friends of the Upper East Side in a battle to keep huge 5G towers from planting themselves in the neighborhood. Read the article here.

Village Preservation references the photographic collection of HP alumnus John T. Krawchuk in a recent article.

Krawchuk photodocumented the Meatpacking District, Far West Village, and Hudson River waterfront in the early 1990s as part of his Columbia University graduate thesis in Historic Preservation completed in 1995.

On February 2nd, GSAPP Career Services hosted its all GSAPP Career Fair.

Many of our students participated in the day’s events which resulted in several offers for both jobs and summer internships. We want thank the many alumni and employers who helped make this event possible.

Leading up to the event, GSAPP Career Services hosted workshops and offered professional headshots for all the students. As we head into the summer, we are already making plans for next year’s in-person Career Fair and will continue to aid in scheduling events and informationals sessions with employers to support the students in finding jobs and internships.

GSAPP Career Services is planning to continue its programming to support our recent graduates by hosting a number of events including resume, cover letter, portfolio, interviewing and salary negotiation workshops.