The GSAPP PhD in Preservation Program invites applications for a PhD student for Fall 2025. This five-year fully funded position will allow the successful candidate to conduct an individual research project focused on the advancement of experimental preservation technology for existing buildings, under the guidance and supervision of the PhD faculty. Successful proposals will be able to articulate the current state of knowledge in the proposed area of research, identify significant gaps in the literature, and make a case for how their research project will contribute new relevant knowledge to the discipline.
One of the unique aspects of the PhD Program in Preservation is its captious conception of research, encompassing applied technology research through laboratory and field experiments on existing buildings and construction materials, as well as research methods stemming from architecture, art, history and planning. We think of preservation technology as two things at once: a practice of repair and a form of cultural communication; a way of caring for the existing built environment and a contemporary form of cultural expression; a way of transmitting cultural knowledge by translating and reinterpreting the narratives inscribed in buildings. Therefore, we are particularly interested in research proposals that integrate scholarly writing with the development of a physical applied project component as a means to test theories in practice. This PhD position offers an opportunity to develop their own research in dialogue with a scholarly community of doctoral students and faculty engaged in cutting-edge research at the intersection of experimental preservation technology, architecture, art, and material culture.
The successful candidate will explore new frontiers in experimental preservation, researching technologies that help care for materials, buildings, places and their attendant communities in ways that critically engage their intangible, sensory, ethical and environmental entanglements. The candidate’s proposed research topic will ideally explore the intersection of preservation technology and materiality as a way to engage current architectural, artistic, cultural and environmental urgencies, developing a speculative research project that critically interrogates normative preservation practices.
Candidates are encouraged to propose their own individual research projects that align with this general focus, potentially (but not necessarily) addressing one or more of the following topics:
Preservation Technology as a Form of Communication Investigating how experimental preservation technologies can be both a method of care and a cultural medium for communicating relevant information to the about existing buildings, sites and places, reframing their cultural significance.
Preservation Technologies and the Circular Building Economy Approaching preservation through the lens of material flows as a means to challenge the focus on single buildings and to radically expand preservation to the whole of the existing built environment. Addressing the challenges posed by the aging building stock in the context of sustainability and climate change. What role do preservationists play in ensuring that building adaptations remain sustainable and culturally relevant? Examining the intersection of historic preservation and circular economy practices within the building industry. This research might explore how preservationists can mediate between economic, technological, and environmental considerations in adaptive reuse projects. This research might investigating how the reuse of mass-produced, post-war architecture challenges traditional preservation practices.
Public Art and Preservation Technology Exploring how public art projects can engage communities in the process of preservation and reframe public interaction with historic buildings. Leveraging preservation technologies such as digital platforms and augmented reality to deepen engagement of communities with their material world. Developing virtual and augmented environments that enable communities to engage with preservation efforts in real-time and provide feedback on proposed interventions.
Art and Technology of Sensory Preservation Exploring technologies and methods for preserving under-examined materials of architecture, such as dust, smelly volatile molecules, the atmospheres they create, and their impact on the perception of, and attachment to heritage.
Ethics of Preservation Applying forensic technologies, such as material testing and spectral analysis, to address ethical questions of authenticity and authorship in historic preservation, or to make bring to light silenced or excluded histories. Exploring digital technologies to track the provenance of materials and interventions. Examining the ethical considerations surrounding ownership, authorship, and materiality in architectural preservation in light of contemporary social and planetary exigencies.
Buildings as Environmental Sensors Employing high-resolution scanning and photogrammetry to capture details of environmentally caused decay and material residues of pollution, creating detailed records that allow to read these subtle elements to reconstruct the histories of both the building and its surrounding environment. Developing technologies and methodologies for documenting, assessing, decoding and preserving material residues—such as dust or surface patina—as key bits of environmental information encoded on buildings.
Environmental and Invisible Preservation Applying advanced monitoring technologies, such as thermal imaging and LIDAR, to study the unseen aspects of buildings—pollutants, air circulation, and even microbial life in order to preserve of environmental factors that are integral to the social and environmental history of buildings.
Decay and Temporal Preservation Considering how controlled decay and time can be part of an intentional preservation strategy that honors the life cycle of a building. Developing time-lapse photography and advanced decay simulation models to track and document the controlled decay of buildings over time. Researching preservation technologies that can help manage and monitor this slow transformation, ensuring it is deliberate, well-documented and socially relevant.
Political and Social Histories of Built Places Researching the preservation of buildings with contested or complex political histories and how to balance the material, physical and socio-political aspects of heritage. Using digital storytelling and multimedia tools to document and interpret the social and political narratives embedded in historic buildings. Developing experimental applications of technologies to scrape and aggregate data in digital archives and GIS mapping, in order to, for instance, connect communities with the cultural narratives entangled in material places, or to develop new and more holistic place-based preservation approaches.