Blog posts – preservation
Michael Sorkin, “Save the the Whitney”
“What is Worth Preserving”
— types of architectural criticism
— tone
— argument
— values for conservation
Assignment
—
preservation of an apartment building — cf. a skyscraper
community value — major building in area
what makes a building worth preserving — value – worth preserving if it served an important purpose
— theater –
Sorkin essay as example of activist essay about preservation
— introduction: strong, declarative statements (“the Breuer Whitney is a masterpiece”
— he says what’s for and against (Graves’s plans are hostile, do violence to Breuer’s building)
— a defense of what he wants to save — Breuer Whitney — trying to show you the positive aspects of Breuer’s structure
— explain how the threat to the building would damage it
types of writing about architecture
formal
historical
experiential
activist
rough, strong, solid, durable, stable,
1. What building do you want to write about?
2. What values do you want to use to argue for preservation?
3. What is threatening it?
