Good renovations are like good philosophy.  In a Hegelian sense, we form a dialectic with the past; we retain the components and relationships that are still valid, we discard the elements that have fallen apart or are no longer useful, and then we add something new of our own.  In renovating, we question the utility, the structure, and the meaning of a space much like we do when we question and dismantle an existing thought before we add to or modify it.

It is commonly said that the most sustainable building is the one that you don’t build.  It follows that the next most sustainable building is the one that you renovate, and then the one that is designed for ease of maintenance and eventual renovation itself.

By giving new life to existing structures, we can minimize our use of resources and we can build upon the legacy of those that came before us.  By designing buildings with renovatability and maintenance in mind, we can minimize the future use of resources and we can leave a legacy for those who come after us. 

As our country’s existing buildings and infrastructure continue to age, we can expect that the future of architecture will become increasingly focused on renovation work.

At the same time, as epistemic inertia calcifies our thinking and fills our intellectual world with fixed ideas, we can also expect that the future of philosophy will be increasingly focused on questioning and dismantling our existing concepts.

Beyond the mere utility and structural integrity of a building, it is evident that beautiful and beloved architecture is cared for and lasts primarily because it is beautiful and beloved.  If we design a building or a thought in such a way that it can be flexibly adapted to new uses, and such that its bones are laid out in a logical manner, it may still fall into disrepair if it lacks the essential human quality of creative expression.  

In this way, both buildings and thoughts must be designed to enrich the lives of those who come into contact with them, for only then will people be inspired to make the proper effort to care for, maintain, and reuse these creations.  When we build upon the past we not only reduce our efforts, but we also form a connection to ideas and people across time.  Both buildings and ideas must be designed to consider renovatability and maintenance in the fullest sense.  We must not forget the softer imperative that buildings should incorporate expressive human elements in order to garner care, and that ideas must remain flexible and accessible to encourage individuals to modify them towards their own uses. When we design a building or create an idea, we must consider what input is required for it to remain useful, how it is organized to allow for reconfiguration and modification, and what deep human parts within us it touches and makes to sing.