Dear Mr. Mazria
In New York City, we are facing the immediate possibility of some 4 million square feet of structure (some of historical significance) being demolished to make way for a number of new glass towers around Penn Station. You are a respected leader and so I am asking you to use your bully pulpit at this time to specifically advocate for the extended use of existing structure.
Your various suggestions, recommendations, policies and so on have recognized the value in saving existing buildings when possible. But that is lost in the complex enormity of the problem and its possible solutions.
This is the elephant hiding in the details of our struggle to diminish climate change. Many in the profession appear to see this as an existential threat. Contractors and architects alike prefer blank slates. It isn't going to be easy. I know full well how much harder it is to predict the cost of adaptive reuse projects. We will still need to retrofit mechanical and electrical systems and sometimes upgrade the strength of existing structures. That said.
Isn't it time to prioritize the value of saving existing structures? Especially in large cities?
Isn't it time to demand that we measure the real costs of demolition and new construction against the real costs of adaptive reuse?
To wit:
- The wasting of the resources, materials and labor, used to create the existing structures
- The expenditure of energy, equipment and labor in demolishing existing structures
- The temporary disruption of the existing, and still alive, experience of the adjacent streets
- The inevitable air pollution generated by the demolition
- The expenditure of energy, equipment and labor in carting away demolished materials
- In the case of large cities, the unjust foisting of these waste materials on less wealthy communities
- On top of all of that, then, the myriad environmental costs of new construction.
The impending demolition around Penn Station makes this a fine time for you, Mr. Mazria, and COTE, to rise up and say,
"It's time for architectural education and the policies of AIA to adjust our understanding of who we are as architects. The real cost (to the earth and our communities) of adaptive reuse is actually less than the cost of demolition and new construction. As architects, we must adjust our skill sets. We must adopt as our first and foremost recommendation the preservation and productive use of existing structure."
I sincerely appreciate all of your efforts, and those of COTE, on behalf of the planet, our cities and our profession. Nothing I say in this letter should be seen as a criticism of those efforts.
Thank you for your consideration. Be well and keep on doing good.
Mike Mense FAIA
former Chair, AIA Committee on Design
active member of AIANYP&UD Committee
mmenseArchitect
Snohomish WA + New York NY
ps I was unable to figure out how to post this to COTE. Maybe one of my friends could do so for me? Hope so. Thanks
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Mike Mense FAIA
Architect, Writer, Planner, Urban Designer, Designer, Painter, Maker
mmenseArchitect
mensenyc on Instagram
Hamilton Heights, NYC + Snohomish, WA
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