From Deterioration to Revival: Approaches to the Conservation of Plastic Buildings

The four Futuro case studies (Futuro No. 000, Corfu-Futuro, Donaldson-Futuro, Munich-Futuro) presented in this journal document conservation approaches to plastic buildings and elements – in this case, glass-reinforced plastic (GRP) sandwich panels. They contribute to the definition of general conservation approaches, and at the same time reveal the knowledge gaps related to their individual histories and the necessity of a framework for managing interventions that are suited to GRP sandwich panels. The history and physical fabric of the selected Futuros, and the interventions done are compared in this article. The comparative analysis demonstrates how important it is to integrate a framework for adequate research and documentation into the conservation processes, in order to understand each building’s significance and plan the interventions accordingly. The arguments deduced from the analyses demonstrate which factors differentiate the conservation solutions of the case studies in order to reframe the Futuros’ expected life-span into a managed life-cycle.