Historic Preservation Design: Using Ethnographic-based Fieldwork to Introduce Theory and History in the Architecture Studio

Fieldwork has been and will continue to be a foundational component in preservation education. It is the means in which preservationists’ study and document a historic resource. Documentation and communication of fieldwork findings are foremost in preservation practice, specifically in the form of historic structures reports, cultural surveys, and most notably in historic preservation architecture—design guidelines. Unlike new design, preservation sets parameters for “appropriateness” in design, which is based on a collected and articulated set of values proposed by a community and compiled by preservation professionals. Although previous design guidelines have been produced as a “one size fits all” document, sadly, this approach fails to note the qualitative aspect prevalent in every historic district. Moreover, design guidelines often do not address theoretical ideas, which have been discussed in academic scholarship. Last, students rarely learn how to use design guidelines in designing within a historic place. This often leads to incongruent and inappropriate design solutions. This article explains how fieldwork was used in a graduate architecture design studio in developing first, a set of design guidelines for Midwestern towns, and, second, how students used these guidelines in developing solutions that met the Secretary of Interior’s Standards for Historic Preservation.