Midway Barn: A Visualization Plan in Support of Reprogramming and Interpretation

A Historic Structure Report (HSR) usually provides documentary, graphic, and physical information about a property's history and existing condition. It is recognized as an effective part of preservation planning. A heavily text based HSR is often not processed to a level where it can serve for various kinds of uses. This research updates the detailed chronology of the development of Midway Barn from that presented in the 1994 Historic Structure Report by visualizing the evolution through analysis of primary and secondary sources such as field documentation, historic photos and drawings. The modeling software SketchUp was used to visualize the Barn and its surrounding environment. The model consists of three levels corresponding to the degrees of certainty underlying each layer. A “Level of Certainty” (LOC) concept was developed to clarify the certainty of information embedded in each layer of the model. In addition, the 2nd chapter provides a context research for agriculture tourism, both natural and cultural landscape. The Otter Creek Organic Farm (OCOF) provided a general agritourism plan for Taliesin in 2012. This thesis offers a refinement of Taliesin Preservation Inc (TPI)’s program concepts, informed to a degree by the experience learnt from other agri-tourism sites around the U.S. The last chapter clarifies and modifies the program opportunities, following the Foundation’s zoning and priority of the rehabilitation of each area.