For anyone with an interest in the design or construction of buildings, working with historic structures provides a unique experience. While it’s often true there is a quality of craftsmanship that is difficult, if not impossible, to replicate, it is incorrect to assume that historic structures were always ‘built better’. Many have stood the test of time despite how they were constructed not because of it; they simply built differently using the materials, means, and methods available at the time without the considerations we have today (structural, environmental, energy).
Part archeology, part history, there are endless opportunities to learn, whether it’s lost materials or techniques, or simply mysterious oddities that defy (contemporary) logic, and challenges to solve.
25 years ago I was fortunate enough to be involved in surveying the Low Memorial Library on the campus of Columbia University, a truly grand structure with no shortage of surprises; and while the marble clad public interior spaces are magnificent, the hidden idiosyncrasies are equally impressive. The ventilation system, fed by a massive open air shaft from basement to roof, led into a series of concentric masonry rings that fed air throughout the building.
Most memorable were the masonry buttresses bracing the limestone-clad rotunda dome, and the interstitial space between the dome and steel-framed plaster ceiling.
