Architectural preservation is meticulous and complicated work. Teams of expert historians, builders, and designers assemble to carefully figure out how to retain the building’s most important elements, how to repair damage, and how to keep the structure around for as long as possible. Unlike significant works of art that are protected inside museums, safeguarded beneath vitrines and in climate-controlled environments, architecture is outside in the elements. Materials deteriorate. People subject buildings to wear and tear.
Hill House–Scottish Arts & Crafts architect Charles Rennie Mackintosh’s masterpiece–is about to undergo a complicated restoration process. To help protect the building and still let visitors marvel at its genius, the London firm Carmody Groarke is designing a mesh shield around the house that also serves as an outdoor museum. The unusual approach to preservation will help illuminate the process itself–and serves as a model for how other sensitive architectural works could be conserved.
To help the house dry out, Carmody Groarke is designing a mesh pavilion over the house while the National Trust for Scotland carries out its conservation efforts, which will take years to complete. This will keep rain off the building and also ensure there’s air circulation to help it dry out. Additionally, the structures semi-transparent design means people can still enjoy Mackintosh’s work instead of getting a disappointing “closed for restoration” notice.
Carmody Groarke’s mesh pavilion–which the firm is calling a “temporary museum“–also includes staircases visitors can climb to get a bird’s-eye view of the house and also see the preservation work once it gets underway. This strategy is a clever way to both preserve a structure for future generations while still allowing today’s audiences to appreciate it up close.