IDENTITY & PRESERVATION Arq. Heather Crichfield, AIT
I start this paper by examining some political and popular constructions of identity discourse in Puerto Rico as relates to architectural preservation. I hope to articulate how Puerto Rican identity/
cultural issues permeate and control both contemporary and historical meanings attached to architecture. What this means for local architecture discourse is that it has rarely been able to emancipate
itself from a circular dialogue and engage in the articulation of contemporary life. I hope to show that
the way that identity construction has been approached in this context makes it difficult to think (or act) creatively or alternatively within architecture discourse and production. This word – creativity – is fundamental to what I hope to propose here today. It is precisely the designer’s creativity that deter-
mines how well we will respond to the current issues (crises even) that we face here in Puerto Rico:
ecological, environmental, aesthetic and cultural. It is a fortunate thing that I have been invited write
about identity and preservation because to some extent in the socio-cultural realm that is exactly
what has taken place: identity preservation. It would seem, therefore, that I am really proposing a change in terminology from preservation to creation. Although I am reading this topic inter-textually across various disciplinary categories - anthropology, sociology, history and literature – it is always through the lens of an architect.
First, I want to clarify the terms I am using. In the Puerto Rican context (and no doubt others 1
but this paper deals specifically with PR) identity frequently is referred to as culture2 but this under3
standing of identity – as a term that is conflated with culture – can be problematic, particularly when we are concerned with the livable relevance of our architectural heritage. The way that culture is constructed both politically and popularly very frequently sees it intemporally – that is as essential and
(perhaps unconsciously) as an unchanging characteristic of Puerto Rican society. These political and popular constructions of identity seem to rely on a thesis similar to the following; that Puerto Rican identity/culture is a historically essentialist project that legitimizes what is secretly feared to be ille-
gitimate. (It should be noted that this is common in much of the Americas regardless of north/south, Anglo/Latin descriptives). So it should be understood that the aim of this paper is not a comparative critique but an auto-reflective one.
This pull between modernism and cultural identity has been present in Puerto Rico’s govern-
mental institutions since the 1940’s, the great heyday of Muñoz Marín. Culturally this was a very exciting period inspired by Muñoz Marín and his collaborator’s agenda to bring the very best to Puerto
Rico; along with an economic agenda there was a socio-cultural one. Aesthetics were an important aspect of self-articulation and self-realization.
We see people like Pablo Casals in music; Henry
Klumb and Torro Ferrer in architecture, René Marquez and Abelardo Díaz Alfaro in literature, and
Rafael Tufiño and Lorenzo Homar in art, flourish during this period establishing new cultural markers
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mayo: mes de la conservación histórica
