Preservation Futures is a preservation architecture firm working to connect the past, present, and future through research, action, and design. Founded by Elizabeth Blasius and Jonathan Solomon in 2021, Preservation Futures focuses on the preservation of the recent past, and on the preservation of overlooked histories. The firm’s work includes interpretation of historic places and spaces; cultural resource management for public and private organizations; and preservation as a tool to support stewardship of the built environment at all scales. Preservation Futures produces research that informs public processes and policy decisions; plans programs that develop audiences and engage communities; and helps clients large and small reimagine and revive buildings through design for restoration, renovation, and adaptive reuse.
Beyond Recovery: Preservation Outside the Law
Preservation as a professional practice codified in law works on the assumption that a nation values its history. How does one preserve a history that a nation is trying actively to suppress? In the United States, these are questions that are as old as preservation itself. While the current administration’s efforts to “rewrite history” have been rightly sensationalized, preferential presentation of history is not new to preservation. In fact, both white supremacy and patriarchy are deeply embedded in the language that established preservation law, defining what history the nation values and the history it does not. How do we recover preservation as a profession that we can inhabit in a manner that is inclusive of the historical experiences outside of nationalist narratives altogether? To explore approaches to this question in practice, Preservation Futures shares three recent experiences working with clients in Chicago seeking to advance the preservation of Black history.
This lecture will be followed by a conversation with Jorge Otero-Pailos (GSAPP, Jorge Otero-Pailos Studio).
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