Historic Buildings
credible inclusion with known cost impacts. In such
cases, life cycle cost comparisons must be weighed with
The Historic Buildings program was formally initiated in
qualitative issues when making design decisions.
1998 as part of the Historic Buildings and the Arts Center
of Expertise, established in 1997. The Historic Buildings
Operations and Building Maintenance
program provides strategic and technical support to GSA
business lines and regional project teams to promote the
Systems and materials should be selected on the basis
reuse, viability, and architectural design integrity of
of long-term operations and maintenance costs as those
historic buildings GSA owns and leases. This mission
costs will be significantly higher over time than first costs.
requires GSA to be on the cutting edge in developing
The design of the facility operating systems should ensure
innovative design solutions that are affordable, extend the
ease and efficiency of operation and allow for easy and
useful life of historic structures, and minimize the
cost effective maintenance and repair during the facility's
negative effects of changes needed to keep buildings safe,
useful life.
functional, and efficient.
The designer should obtain constant feedback from the
The National Historic Preservation Act of 1966 man-
building manager and other maintenance personnel
dates that Federal agencies use historic properties to the
during design. This collaboration will allow the facility to
greatest extent possible and strive to rehabilitate them in
be designed with adequate understanding by both the
a manner that preserves their architectural character, in
designer and the building manager as to what is required
accordance with the Secretary of the Interior's Standards
for optimal life-cycle performance.
for Rehabilitation. Nearly one-fourth of the space in GSA's
GSA requires detailed instructions from the designer
owned inventory is in historic buildings. Regional Historic
stating the operational/maintenance procedures and
Preservation Officers coordinate external design reviews
design intent for all building systems. These instructions
required under the Act and serve as first points of contact
will be developed during the design phase and incorpo-
within each region to ensure that projects follow the
rated into the comprehensive training for operation and
Secretary's Standards while satisfying GSA's functional
maintenance personnel.
requirements.
Principal goals of the Historic Buildings program are to
realize the objectives of the National Historic Preservation
Act by: a) developing strategies that enable reuse of GSA's
historic buildings and b) developing creative design
solutions to resolve conflicts between preservation, codes,
and functional requirements of modern office use. The
program depends on the integral involvement of preser-
vation design professionals in the A/E team throughout
design development and project execution and on
effective coordination between the design team, GSA
preservation staff, and outside review groups.
06 F A C I L I T I E S S T A N D A R D S
FOR THE
PUBLIC
BUILDINGS
SERVICE
1.2 General Design Philosophy
Revised March 2005 PBS-P100
Previous Page
