Restoration and Preservation
What is preservation & restoration in Landscape Design?
Think about your favorite landscape – whether the front of a home, historic building or as part of a view. Historic landscapes and their structures have a visual identity worth preserving. Preservation and restoration in landscape design recognizes that a space has historic value. Landscapes reveal cultural details, give insight into the community. Burial traditions, irrigation methods, plant communities, social activities and how the area developed can often be determined.
Documentation, photographs and studies help preserve the location for future generations, so they can learn from the past. Too often, historical landscapes are overlooked, ignored or destroyed due to their fragile, neglected or unrealized state. Yet the very longevity of a site may contain vital information that when examined would benefit today’s communities: unique design, irrigation strategies, historic use.
In an aging landscape, some structures may need work to preserve and restore for safety and to assure the identity is not forever erased. Unfortunately, many of our historic landscapes are a high risk of being obliterated due to nature’s natural encroachment, as well as construction.
How can Red Bark Design help preserve or restore historic landscapes?
Darbi pursues information about historic sites much like a genealogist does family trees – through historical public records, archival photos and personal account compilation. She also photographically documents the site in its current state. With the historical data and present-day photos, Darbi provides a written report of the site features, noting changes, additions and upgrades.
She’ll then take the findings to the owners, curators or foundations for feasibility evaluation. Together they can determine to what level the preservation and restoration can occur – complete restoration or partial.
If you’re involved in an effort to preserve and restore a historical landscape, contact Darbi Davis at 520-261-6026 to discuss.
