8 C O N T E X T 1 2 2 : N O V E M B E R 2 0 1 1 article on the value of historic window glass and the use of chemical analysis to show how window technologies have changed over the past five centuries. Providing horrifying fascination is a well-illustrated paper about the policy of the former mayorYuri Luzhkov, who was rebuilding historic Moscow in facsimile. This approach of ‘restoration as re-creation’ is becoming normal as a consequence of the liberalisation of postSoviet Russia. Although the preservation movement in Russia has protested vigorously against the abuse, the article reports seemingly little prospect of a more enlightened approach. The issue has a detailed case study, illustrated in colour, of the conservation and restoration of two early 17th century ceilings in Edinburgh Old Town. There is also a stimulating paper examining the success of bottom-up community archaeology in Telford, Shropshire, a new town of the 1960s. It discusses how this influences the role of communities in heritage, and changes perceptions of community identity and engagement with heritage. The latest issue of the Association of Preservation Technology Bulletin: The Journal of Preservation Technology (Vol XLII, No 2–3, 2011) will be of considerable interest to anyone concerned with modern heritage – the theme to which this issue is entirely devoted and which stems from the 2009 Association of Preservation Technology (APT) Conference. Thomas Jester and David Fixler discuss the progress made in the 25 years since the association last took an overview of the issues, in response to former APT president Michael Lynch’s prescient question: ‘What are we going to do with the recent past and in the not-too-distant future?’ The authors highlight the growing awareness in the 1980s of the seminal works of inter-war modernism and the neglect from which many were suffering; the establishment of DoCoMoMo ‘galavanising both modern zealots and committed conservationists’; and the difficulties of reconciling the principles and practices of preservation as they apply to modernism. There are excellent summaries of the philosophical and technical approaches over the last quarter century. The authors identify the problems arising from the sheer number of significant modernist buildings. They discuss how conservation management will apply to those constructed from materials with comparatively short life cycles, and how they will respond to the imperatives of sustainability and modifying climate change. Toronto is characterised by a substantial number of high-rise apartment towers built in the downtown core and inner suburbs during the rapid growth of the post-war period. Michael McClelland, Graham Stewart and Asrai Ord describe the ambitious programme initiated by the city council in 2008 to rehabilitate these towers. This programme marked an important departure from previous thinking that had placed little value on the conservation of buildings of this period. The Tower Neighbourhood Renewal Program focuses primarily on the towerin-the-park building typology that was integral to modernist urban planning ideas of the mid-20th century. In the UK, in concept, we might think for example of Roehampton, but there were numerous other less distinguished UK examples. These were more the result of public housing policy and urban renewal than growth. The Toronto initiative took a multi-faceted approach, upgrading the buildings particularly by over-cladding for energy conservation, with revitalisation of the community and refreshment of the landscaping on an unprecedented scale. This article is interesting for what it tells us about the contrast to the UK experience in the conservation of large-scale urban resources and the relationship to planning and politics. David Strauss discusses the refurbishment of Magnolia Branch Library in Seattle, built in 1964, and rehabilitated and extended in 2008. The distinguished single-storey, timber-framed building is in the west coast architectural tradition, which is still reflected in current architectural practice in the Pacific north west. It was formally protected in 2001. The detailed description of the balancing of repair, extension, upgrading of services and IT, and refreshing the original landscape scheme, demonstrate the need to consider change on the basis an interpretation of current objectives in the light of past intentions. The author emphasises the concerns that repair, even narrowly considered, is a revision. He quotes the Italian expression ‘traduttore, traditore’ – to translate is to be a traitor to the original. This might apply to all of us who attempt to improve or restore the work of exponents of a language whose meanings are still not lost. Equally interesting is Vanessa Fernamdez’ description of the preservation of post-war glass-clad office buildings to accommodate current energy controls, and the difficulties of reconciling sustainable design with the special architectural interest. The author discusses the evolution of this building type and the differing approaches to heating and ventilation according to regional climatic characteristics. She uses the case study of the refurbishment of the UNESCO Secretariat building in Paris. This building by Marcel Breuer and Bernard Zehrfuss, with Pier Luigi Nervi as engineer, was completed in 1958. It has a ventilated double-skin facade. Fernamdez concludes that the climate-control system can not be dissociated from the architecture of the building. ‘Although the history of devices, elements and materials related to environmental control in modern office buildings has not been widely explored,’ she writes, ‘the paper will give some clues to help understand their importance.’ A number of other papers in this issue are worth highlighting. Cameron Logan discusses modern hospitals as historic places. He concludes that as a consequence of design issues integrally tied to modernism – functional planning, campus development and built-in obsolescence – the conservation and adaptation of hospitals has proven difficult in North America.While attention in the UK has been given to Victorian and Edwardian hospitals as heritage assets, one wonders where the identification of the heritage significance of modern hospitals might lead us, given the political sensitivities, public expenditure constraint and priorities of the NHS. There are also papers on the sustainable restoration of Paul Rudolph’s 1963 Art and Architecture Building atYale University; consideration by Kenneth Itle and Harry Hunderman of the issues leading to the successful repair of the paved plazas which
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