New Design for Old Buildings

Foreword

This book skilfully deals with one of the horny nubs of architecture: how to work on and with old buildings in such a way that respects and reveres them, while also adding of our time, while also aiming for something yet greater – a dialogue between ancient and modern that lifts the value and meaning of both. In this it embodies the core values of the man whose writings were highly influential in the foundation of the conservation movement in nineteenth century Britain, John Ruskin, who wrote: ‘Our duty is to preserve what the past has had to say for itself, and to say for ourselves what shall be true for the future.’

It’s an important ...