People Power

The Oakland Museum of California – a groundbreaking building designed by Roche Dinkeloo in the 1960’s – gets a loving and respectful renovation by Mark Cavagnero Architects.

Course# Met152
Expires September 2012
This course is AIA/CES registered for 1LU

Adapting a site-specific architectural icon.
As we look for ways to save the embodied energy of our buildings, the wrecking ball solution to renewal seems an outdated and insensitive answer. Today’s architects search for ways to preserve and update buildings made for another time, as well as different attitudes and programs. In the process, our culture is enriched by saving the unique architectural expression of a very specific time and place while today’s public gets a comfortable, relevant place to visit and enjoy. In Oakland, California, a delicate hand was applied to preserve and update a 1960s museum that was thought to be an iconic structure when it was designed by the firm of Roche Dinkeloo.

Instructions:
Read the article with the flowing learning objectives in mind. Then complete the participant exercise online at the link below.

Learning Objectives

• Understand the significance of outdated but architecturally iconic Modernist buildings to their communities
• Learn how a respectful approach to the original design can help inform the renovation while accommodating and enhancing current uses.
• Learn how community involvement can help enrich the design outcome.
• Be mindful of the fact that even a “thoughtfully revolutionary” structure can be misread, misused, mistreated through time – calling out for the architecture community’s attention.

To download the full article in PDF format [click here]

To take the participant exercise online click here.

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