September 2012
Hanging on to History
Incorporating historical attributes into modern infrastructure projects is no easy task, but it is an important mission for federal agencies that need to be mindful of asset preservation to ensure cultural attentiveness as well as asset management to ensure current mission readiness. The Department of Defense (DOD), through the Office of the Deputy Under Secretary of Defense for Installations and Environment, Environmental Directorate, Cultural Resources Program, notes that the agency “maintains thousands of historic and cultural resources, which form an integral part of mission support and readiness.” Further, DOD declares: “The department’s cultural resources are the nation’s assets ….”
A pair of Naval Facilities Engineering Command-administered projects—one at the Pearl Harbor National Historic Landmark District in Hawaii, and the other at Marine Corps Base Quantico, Va.—exemplify the earnest challenge of blending old and new infrastructure.
A CREATIVE CONVERSION—NAVAL STATION PEARL HARBOR
Two World War II-era aircraft hangars located within the Pearl Harbor National Historic Landmark District are being renovated as part of a $142 million project to adaptively reuse them by integrating the circa 1941 structures with new “infill” construction to create a Pacific Regional Center for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). [read more]