A Case for Building Conservation in a Modern Society: Bear Down Gym

Abstract

Increasing demand for new construction has made the building sector responsible for approximately 43 percent of carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions in the United States. Building conservation, an intervention strategy that refurbishes an existing building without compromising its architectural integrity, is a response to the population’s current infatuation with the new and now that has desensitized modern culture to the past, while surfacing one’s responsibilities to future generations. The focus of this study will be on the University of Arizona’s Bear Down Gym. Through a historical and architectural evaluation, this report makes a case for the rehabilitation of Bear Down Gym in respect to the Secretary of Interior’s Standards for Rehabilitation.