sustainable design

The author of the 10 Principles of Future-Proofing, historic preservation architect Brian Rich, was recently interviewed by Architect Magazine about the development of the principles and his research. This article discussed the Principles of Future-Proofing and the intersection of sustainable design, preservation, and conservation of resources.

For historic buildings, future proofing means preparing for those changes in a way that protects a building’s historic character while extending its lifespan and conserving resources. So far, however, there has been no widely accepted rubric for applying concepts of future proofing or resilience to historic preservation and heritage conservation. Brian Rich, AIA, principal at Seattle’s Richaven Sustainable Preservation Architecture, is hoping to change that.

Read the full article at Architect Magazine

The phrase “first impacts” is coined by the author of the 10 Principles of Future-Proofing, Brian Rich, during research on the implications of life cycle analysis (LCA) on future-proof buildings. The phrase was developed during the Spring of 2014. “First impacts” refers to the environmental impact of creating and installing building materials including the extraction of raw resources, refinement of the materials, fabrication into building components, transportation to project sites, and installation of the building components. The concept is similar to that of “first cost” – the cost to develop a building and turn it over to the owner for occupancy.

See Rich’s research on Life Cycle Analysis here.

Based on early research on the topic of future-proofing, author Brian Rich published the first major contributions to the Wikipedia article on Future-proofing. In this article, originally published in early 2014, Rich lays out an early version of the Principles of Future-Proofing and discusses the literary use of the term in a multitude of industries. No cohesive, complete concept of future-proofing had been developed until this article is published. See the current edition of the Wikipedia article here.

Brian Rich, author of the 10 Principles of Future-Proofing, presented the Principles and the story of the walrus heads at Seattle’s Arctic Building at the AIA Seattle Historic Resources Committee meeting on November 6th, 2014. In addition to discussing the Principles, Rich also discussed the implications of Life Cycle Analysis for long term preservation of the built environment and the role of local traditional building materials in future-proofing.

See the full session description here.

The full set of slides for the presentation are posted on SlideShare.

The UW Today published a brief article about the Principles of Future-proofing on November 4th, 2014. As the states, “You can’t predict the future, but you can prepare for it.” And that has been the goal of Brian Rich, the author of the 10 Principles of Future-Proofing. The UW Today article summarizes an interview with Rich about future-proofing. See the full article here.

PrinciplesoOfFutureproofing.com confirmed that an extensive article on the subject of future-proofing was recently published by the Journal of Preservation Education and Research (PER). The article discusses the different origins and uses of the term future-proofing, demonstrates use of future-proof concepts in preservation and conservation theory, develops the 10 Principles of Future-Proofing, and demonstrates the application of the Principles to the rehabilitation of the walrus heads at the Arctic Building in Seattle, WA. Preservation architect and author Brian D. Rich is excited about the debut appearance of the Principles and hopes to contribute further to the discussion on future-proofing and resiliency in the built environment. The article is available with a subscription to PER here.

The Journal of Preservation Education and Research is the official peer-reviewed journal of the National Council for Preservation Education.

PER disseminates international peer-reviewed scholarship relevant to historic environment education from fields such as historic preservation, heritage conservation, heritage studies, building and landscape conservation, urban conservation, and cultural patrimony.

Principles of Future-Proofing

Research on future-proofing the built environment

All posts tagged sustainable design

Future-Proofing in Architect Magazine

“First Impacts” Phrase Coined for Life Cycle Analysis

Future-Proofing Principles First Published on Wikipedia!

Future-Proofing Author Presents at AIA Seattle Historic Resources Committee

UW Today Publishes Press Release on the Principles of Future-Proofing

10 Principles of Future-Proofing Published in Journal of Preservation Education and Research!