In a time when architects have to reorient towards the reuse of existing buildings, there is a pressing need to discuss the premises upon which the discipline operates. We need to rethink our methods, working techniques and terminology, and raise the question of how we evaluate our cultural heritage. This elective course on experimental preservation aims to interrogate the theoretical and conceptual frameworks used (historically and contemporarily) to approach the preservation and reuse of buildings, cities, and landscapes.

Different categories of value permeate our culture, and are prescriptive for the ways in which society perceives its material framework. A heritage object’s importance, worth,or usefulness is subject to fluctuating opinions and practices, as is its mere status as a ‘preservation-worthy’ object. But what, exactly, are the values that prompt the preservation of a monument, regulate its reuse, and allows for its continued existence? Where are these values grounded, and by whom are they defined? 

Value is an abstract term with a myriad of denominations. This seminar examines the multiple aspects of “value” that each, in its way, condition the preservation, use, longevity and estimation of monuments and material heritage. 

Examples of categories for valuation:

1. Age value 

2. Authenticity (and its subcategories; processual, material, etc)

3. Useability

4. Occurrence and uniqueness 

5. Pedagogical value

6. Symbolic value

7. Representative value (memory, identity, ideology)

8. Anecdotal value

9. Exchange value, market value, material value

10. Labor cost

11. Newness-value, zeitgeist and fashion

12. Imposed values (herein colonialism and postcolonial critique)

13. Contested values, permanence and flux 

14. Zoom -- the scalar sensitivity of values, and the perceptions of value at different scales (urban, architectural, material)