[Source: Mark Kimble, Tucson Citizen] -- When the University of Arizona this week announced plans to take over and operate Biosphere 2, scientists weren't the only ones overjoyed. The preservation community - people accustomed to saving century-old Victorian homes and places where George Washington slept - has been worried about the future of the Biosphere, which is barely 20 years old. Preservation magazine, the nation's foremost voice for historic preservation, recently published a cover story on the Biosphere. "Will the lust for undeveloped land signal the end for this architectural wonder?" the story's author asked. Not yet. On Tuesday, UA said it will take over the Biosphere and use it as originally intended: as a world-class research center. This year marks the 20th anniversary of the start of construction on the Biosphere. The exact construction cost has never been disclosed, but it was at least $200 million. It would cost many times that to replicate it today. A steel and glass monument in the desert - and one that has been completed for fewer than two decades - hardly seems like something that would be of interest to the National Trust for Historic Preservation, which publishes Preservation magazine. But the magazine's editor says that's a misnomer. "Buildings of the recent past are often much more endangered than old Victorian buildings," said Arnold Berke, Preservation editor. "As time marches on, we're concerned with newer and newer buildings," he said. "Modern buildings are very much a target of preservationists." That prompted the magazine to devote the cover of its May/June issue to an iconic photo of the Biosphere and a story by contributing editor Reed Karaim. Karaim calls the Biosphere "an immediately recognizable architectural icon" that will need "luck to survive the inexorable march of the bulldozers." He reflects on the design of the main structure, writing, "The frame-and-glass pyramids, each with three majestic steps up to a flat top, echoed the pyramids of Central America." The roof of the agricultural area "was inspired by the reed dwellings of the Mesopotamian marshlands, first used as far back as 2000 B.C.," Karaim wrote. "Its wondrous engineering and compelling architecture are reason enough to save it," he added.
[Note: To read the full article, click here. Photo source: Biosphere 2.]
