Counterpreservation

Daniela Sandler is Assistant Professor of Architectural and Urban History in the School of Architecture of the University of Minnesota.

Sandler concludes with a brilliantly argued case for the worldwide significance of counterpreservation as a conceptual force that challenges the fundamental tenets of historic preservation as it is practiced in the West today.(Choice) Sandler imagines how architecture might grapple with the concept of transience, creating buildings that show the futility of hanging on to the past.... Any good contemporary reading of Berlin must come to grips with the city's relationship to its own decay. Sandler's accessible, smart book deserves a place on the reading list for the thoughtful kind of Berlin tourist, for student study abroad groups, and for those writing about the many rises and falls that have happened in the capital city of what has come to be known as 'The Berlin Republic.'(The German Quarterly) Sandler sees a categorical difference between counterpreservation and the fascination with ruins and ancient monuments inherent in some traditional conservationist approaches.... In general Sandler's book stands out for her perspicacious perspective, which is also related to the fact that she looks at the city from the perspective of an outsider.... A must-read for any student or scholar interested in Berlin's history and the fascinating ways in which the past manifests in the city's urban fabric.(Planning Perspectives) Daniela Sandler presents rugged methods of stewardship and alteration of Berlin buildings that constitute a 'reflective nostalgia' instead of a 'restorative nostalgia,' revealing preservation as a productive practice with its own embedded political and cultural editorial power.... May spur the field to reconsider that very basic mode of always interrogating, sometimes appreciating, and often conserving heritage artifacts as we find them—which has long been called simply preservation.(buildings & landscapes)