DeAnza Overhangs

Keith Allen West asked me "What does the Goddess of Historical Architecture say?" about this New Mexico preservation project, to which I replied, "This article isn't all that enlightening, but my first impression is that the overhangs should be kept because they provide shade protection that keeps the buildings cooler in the summer and keeps water and some sun off the windows, which keeps them from prematurely aging and requiring additional maintenance, so it's also an investment in sustainability. Look at it this way... spend the money now for an ounce of prevention, or later when you have to have repairs done or buy interior shades to keep the sun managed." 

But hey, I'm just one (admittedly avant garde) preservationist! And I like to encourage collaboration... So, what do YOU think?

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Ways to Green Your Historic Home

You might be interested: these work on ALL homes, not just historic ones, and several of the ones in the comments section are good too!

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Floating Gardens

Bio-remediation of polluted waterways with floating gardens, Manila, Philippines. We need a lot more of this all over the world. Click on the photo to read how it was done.
 

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Acequia Beauty

How about THIS? An acequia (irrigation ditch) doubling as source of beauty and water source for an edible garden!!! Oh yeah, baby.

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Cathedral Turned Bookshop

 
A 15th-century cathedral turned bookshop.

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Protecting Cultural Heritage in Times of Conflict

For all my preservation friends: this presentation 
Protecting Cultural Heritage in Times of Conflict 
may prove of usefulness someday.

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El Potrero of Chimayo

The New Mexico Heritage Preservation Alliance has just added El Potrero of Chimayo to it's Most Endangered Properties List for 2012! We are working on developing contexts for the Chimayo area, which we'll be presenting here at the NMHPA conference on May 4!

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