FederalTrainingWorkGroupPresentationJan13-2004

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Sustainability The Future of Historic
Preservation?
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• NCPTT
• Created by Congress in 1992
• US DOI, NPS, WASO
• Northwestern State University of Louisiana in
  Natchitoches

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• Mission
• To advance the application of science and
  technology to historic preservation.
• Architecture Engineering
• Archeology Collections
• Materials Research
• Heritage Education
• Historic Landscapes

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Why Sustainability?
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Origins of Sustainable Preservation

• Vitruvius first sustainable designer, first
  century B.C.
• Organic Act National Park Service,1916
• Rachel Carson environmental awareness,1962
• National Historic Preservation Act, 1966
• UN sustainable development definition,1987

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• The Vitruvian Man
• Leonardo da Vinci
• 15th century
• Based on Vitruvius
• Often reinterpreted

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• De architectura
• By Vitruvius
• For Caesar Augustus
• Oldest extant work on architecture
• firmitas, utilitas, venustas (durable, useful,
  beautiful)

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• Durable- inferior walls last 80 years, quality
  walls last forever
• Useful- arrangement presents no hindrance to
  use
• Beautiful- pleasing and in good taste
• Design, construction techniques, proportions,
  site planning, recycling, occupant health, etc.

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• Organic Act 1916
• Created NPS
• Natural resource protection
• Cultural resource protection
• protect unimpaired for current and future
  generations

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• Silent Spring
• Rachel Carson
• 1962
• Dangers of pesticides
• Changes in laws
• affecting air, land and
• water
• cornerstone of the new
• environmentalism

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• National Historic Preservation Act, 1966
• Created national preservation program as we know
  it today
• SHPOS, FPOS,THPOS, ACHP, 106, etc.

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Sustainable DevelopmentDevelopment that meets
the needs of the present without compromising the
ability of future generations to meet their own
needs.United Nations World Commission on
Environment and Development
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Sustainable PreservationThe convergence of
natural resource conservation and historic
preservation.SP should be durable, useful and
beautiful, conserve natural and cultural
resources, be for today and tomorrow.
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• Sustainable HP
• Jan./Feb. 2008
• NTHP

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PTT Grants Program

• research, training, meetings, conferences,
• and publications
• 50,000 maximum per grant
• About 8,000,000 since 1994
• Pre-proposal requirement
• Apply online at www.ncptt.nps.gov
• 2009 Call available Fall 2008

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Research Priorities

• Preserve cemeteries and places of worship,
• Safeguard resources from effects of pollution and
  climate,
• Conserve cultural resources of the "recent past,"
  
• Monitor and evaluate preservation treatments,
• Protect cultural resources against natural and
  human threats, and
• Investigate minimally invasive techniques to
  inventory and assess cultural resources.

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Possible proposals

• Energy performance of historic buildings
• Embodied energy
• Density studies and env./social/economic costs
  miles driven, infrastructure, police, fire, etc.
• System and material performance, i.e.. windows
• Life-cycle costing
• ?

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• The greenest building is
• the one that is already built.
• Carl Elefante, AIA, APT, LEED AP
• Principal, Director of Sustainable Design
• QUINN EVANS ARCHITECTS

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Andrew Ferrell Architecture Engineering NCPTT 64
5 University Parkway Natchitoches, LA
71457 andrew_ferrell_at_nps.gov [phone]