This May, a diverse, international, and enthusiastic inaugural class of five students completed their first year in pursuit of the Master of Science in Historic Preservation (MSHP), a graduate degree program underwritten by the Michael Christopher Duda Center for Preservation, Resilience, and Sustainability. The Center funds full-tuition fellowships and provides support for other educational expenses, such as student travel, guest lectures, and special events.
The MSHP curriculum is unique in combining preservation and sustainability in a comprehensive approach. While both of these subjects are currently widely taught in universities, few schools include both in the same curriculum and none do so in the context of traditional architecture and urbanism considered as both history and contemporary practice.
The fall and the spring semesters included design studios with a conservation focus. In their introductory fall Traditional Design Studio, the students documented and presented conservation and expansion plans for the 1845 Greek Revival John Howe House in Howe, Indiana. With Professors Todd Zeiger and Steven Semes they prepared measured drawings that were submitted for the Historic American Buildings Survey of the National Park Service and designed conservation plans for the site including additions to return the house to residential use.
During the spring semester Urban Conservation Studio, students worked with local organizations in South Bend to survey the Near Northwest Neighborhood and propose guidelines for community regeneration, ultimately producing a comprehensive report on the heritage, conservation, and sustainable development of the area. Professor Nick Rolinski, with guest critics Kathy Schuth, executive director of the Near Northwest Neighborhood Association, urban designer Mike Watkins, and South Bend historic preservation administrator Adam Toering, led the students to survey existing conditions and propose criteria for future development of both the physical setting and the neighborhood’s social, cultural, and economic resources.
Other courses during the first year cover the history and theory of historic preservation, research and documentation of historic sites, introduction to traditional urbanism, American historic building cultures, and traditional materials and construction methods.
The class also engaged in summer fieldwork opportunities providing hands-on experience in preservation work. Three students are joining a team of preservation specialists at Lynnewood Hall, a Horace Trumbauer-designed landmark near Philadelphia. One of the largest and most elaborate residences from the early 20th century, the site is in urgent need of restoration and adaptation to new uses. Another student has joined a team sponsored by the National Park Service to analyze the needs of historic sites in Puerto Rico after recent hurricanes and other environmental hazards, and another will assist Indiana Landmarks and Kil Architecture in South Bend on current preservation projects.
The students have left for study in Rome with Professor Paolo Vitti and conservation practitioners to document and propose the conservation of a medieval Gothic church in Sardinia, as well as visit current project sites and conservation laboratories in Rome and elsewhere in Italy. In their final semester next spring, the students will pursue their individual thesis projects, which may be either in the form of a design proposal with a conservation and sustainability focus or a research project examining a relevant subject. Throughout the program, themes of preservation, resilience, and sustainability are at the heart of each course.
The second entering class arrived on campus at the beginning of August and, after a three-week introductory course, will start the sequence again. Follow the progress of both classes in upcoming editions.