PERILS OF SIGNIFICANCE

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Adara Zullo

Erkin Özay (chair), Nicholas Rajkovich

Spring 2022

Graduate Thesis, Architecture

MArch

Can we think of historic preservation interventions as design constructs?

Perils of Significance focuses on the case of Richardson Olmsted Campus; a prominent Buffalo landmark with over 500,000 square feet of historic mental asylum site designed by Henry Hobson Richardson and Frederick Law Olmsted. The site was intended to be a therapeutic landscape. Each successive building was added according to the Thomas Kirkbride plan, based on a staggered corridor layout to increase access to sunlight and natural ventilation.

Through the work, Zullo unpacks the complexities behind reuse projects, providing insights into the historic preservation in the Rust Belt cities. Deliberate mapping and timeline techniques chronicle the site's layered history and probe the concept of historical significance and its operative role in shaping preservation strategies. Zullo’s thesis concludes by imagining three speculative scenarios of what the site could have looked like, if other narratives of significance had been mobilized.

Working under the advice of longtime mentors Erkin Özay and Nicholas Rajkovich, Zullo was able to feed off their passions in urban housing and climate resiliency. Their collaboration led Zullo to construct her own research methods and approach to preservation, as a stepping stone for her practice after graduating.

The research exploration first addresses the history of the Olmstedian site, dating the campus from its inception in 1872 to its state as of 2008, analyzing each successive phase of construction, expansion, post-industrialization, and preservation. Zullo argues that economic development and historic preservation initiatives must not lose sight of these complex histories and vulnerable communities that neighbor the site.

Building on a story of preservation, the thesis evaluates the site's level of significance. While the complex is slated in the national registry of historic places as a historic building, its evolution of demolition and reconfigured site programming signifies an imminent demise of the ideals behind institutional care for the mentally ill. The Significance Matrix maps noteworthy events associated with or on the property based on what mainstream preservation narratives deem significant. The timeline begins with the transition from Seneca Nation land ownership to United States ownership in 1797 to recent interventions initiated by a private developer with inadequate oversight. This 2D matrix is paired with a 3D diagram of what has been deemed significant during the preservation process.

Zullo closes her work by choosing three of the most dramatic scenarios to open a conversation and debate the role of state and private development around public spaces, historic preservation, and climate resiliency. Returning the building to its original state as a Psychiatric Hospital lays out a future where the grounds as it is can still work as a curated landscape for those mentally ill. Zullo states it was also during this period in 1968 that building upkeep was a top priority for preservation efforts.

By envisioning these alternative futures, the research chronicles how each would have taken on a different path of significance than the current future.

“[Erkin] taught me how to question architecture, institutional settings and urban interventions, how they can serve as shelters from the structural inequities that burden the lives of vulnerable urban communities.”