The mathematics of preservation and the future of urban ruins »

On bldblog: should we preserve civic infrastructure that is historically interesting, but no longer useful?

So the question becomes: at what point do we preserve something not for its historical value but for its topological interest? If a bridge, or a highway overpass, becomes functionally obsolete, is it still subject to the rules of architectural preservation — whether or not it’s mathematically unique or culturally intriguing? Surely infrastructure is just infrastructure — i.e. when it breaks you replace it? You don’t preserve infrastructure.

Or do you?

For visual reference here I mentioned architect Alberto Campo Baeza’s 2002 proposal for a Mercedes Benz Museum. Might Campo Baeza’s structure be a model for what the I-95/695 intersection would look like if it was detached from the highway system and left alone, to be surrounded by new freeways?