Sustainability and Stewardship: Maintenance, Durability, and Service Life
AIA Historic Resources Committee / GSA / APT Symposium
By Harry Hunderman FAIA, 2010 Chair AIA Historic Resources Committee

The Historic Resources Committee together with co-sponsors, the General Services Administration (GSA) and the Association for Preservation Technology International (APT) will present a one-day symposium entitled Sustainability and Stewardship: Maintenance, Durability, and Service Life on Thursday, October 7 in Denver, Colorado. The symposium will immediately precede the annual APT 2010 Conference entitled Layers Across Time: Preserving a Diverse Western Heritage.

Beginning with the premise that "to sustain is to maintain" and that extending the life of existing buildings is more effective in reducing environmental impacts than building new structures, however green, this symposium is designed to explore issues related to sustainability and the stewardship of existing buildings. Why is conserving existing buildings so important to the environment? What is the relationship between sustainability (current metrics) and existing buildings? What can we learn by examining the life cycle of buildings? Why are some building materials and components more durable (and maintainable) than others? This symposium will address these questions and more to build a better understanding of the role of stewardship in a sustainable world.

The speakers, moderators and facilitators include:

• Patrice Frey, National Trust for Historic Preservation, Washington, DC, USA
• Wayne Trusty, Athena Institute International, Merrickville, Ontario, Canada
• Elaine Gallagher Adams, AIA, Rocky Mountain Institute, Boulder, CO, USA
• Beth Savage, General Services Administration, Washington, DC, USA
• Caroline Alderson, General Services Administration, Washington, DC, USA
• Don Horn, General Services Administration, Auburn, WA, USA
• Patrick Loughran, FAIA, PE, LEED AP, Goettsch Partners, Chicago, IL, USA
• Jean Carroon, FAIA, Goody Clancy, Boston, MA, USA
• David Woodcock, FAIA, FSA FAPT, Center for Heritage Conservation, Texas A&M University, College Station, TX, USA

Register today to be part of this discussion on the important relationship between stewardship and sustainability. Attendance is limited, register soon.

OTHER UPCOMING EVENTS

Layers Across Time - Preserving a Diverse Western Heritage
2010 Association for Preservation Technology Conference
October 6-9 | Denver, CO
Register today.

Growing Green: Traditional Building and Sustainable Development
2010 Traditional Building Exposition and Conference
October 20 - 23 | Chicago, IL
Register today!

Next American City Next American Landscape
2010 National Preservation Conference
October 27 - 30 | Austin, TX
Register today!

IN THE NEWS

Letter from the Chair
By Harry J. Hunderman, FAIA FAPT - 2010 Chair AIA Historic Resources Committee

I began this letter during the 2010 AIA Convention entitled Design for the New Decade, in hot, humid Miami Beach. As I noted in my last letter, there were several programs this year devoted to issues surrounding existing and historic buildings ...Read full letter

Letter from the Editor
By James J. Malanaphy, AIA

Welcome to the June issue of Preservation Architect. Peyton Hall FAIA, Wendy Hillis AIA, Michael Mills, FAIA and the HRC Communications subcommittee have assembled an exciting collection of feature articles illustrating issues related to the preservation of Modern architecture. On a related subject, Technology Preserves, David G. Woodcock, FAIA reports on the excellent papers presented during the February 2010 symposium conducted at the Texas A&M University Center for Heritage Conservation. The proceedings are well worth your review....Read full letter

The AIA HRC - Historic Sites Advocacy Team
By Sharon C. Park, FAIA

The Historic Sites Advocacy Team (HSAT) is a subcommittee of the AIA's Historic Resource Committee (HRC) and is charged with responding to requests for assistance on endangered historic properties. The team is committed to identifying, understanding and helping to preserve the architectural heritage in this country and internationally...Read full article

Call for Volunteers: AIA Historic Resources Advisory Group
By Harry Hunderman FAIA, 2010 Chair AIA Historic Resources Committee

Application Deadline: August 24, 2010

The AIA Historic Resources Committee Advisory Group is now soliciting applications for the 2010 appointment to the HRC Advisory Group. The advisory group is a five-member appointed committee responsible for the leadership and direction of the HRC Committee, The mission of the HRC is to identify, understand, and preserve architectural heritage, both nationally and internationally. HRC is engaged in promoting the role of the historic architect within the profession through the development of information and knowledge among members, allied professional organizations, and the public. Applicants are required to forward a current resume and letter of interest by email to hhunderman@wje.com.

For more information, criteria, and application instructions, visit the HRC Advisory Group Web page.

FEATURES

Is It Historic Yet? Preserving Architecture of the Recent Past
By Peyton Hall, FAIA

Fifteen years after the National Park Service's milestone conference and publication in 1995 on "Preserving the Recent Past," the identification, stewardship, and conservation of significant "modernist" buildings is a well established area of advocacy, research, and practice for architectural historians and architects. In the American context, we are well past the "mid-century modern" of the post-World War II era, and seriously contemplating the buildings of the 1970s. The "fifty-year-old building rule" is not really a rule in the criteria of the National Register for Historic Places, but rather a useful milestone by which to frame the fundamental questions of whether there is perspective and context upon which to base a determination of significance...Read full article

Yale University Art Gallery, Louis Kahn Building, New Haven, Connecticut
By Ennead Architects LLP (formerly Polshek Partnership)

The Yale University Art Gallery, Louis Kahn Building in New Haven, Connecticut is widely considered this visionary American architect's first masterpiece and a significant turning point in the history of American museum architecture. Designed by Louis I. Kahn during his tenure at the Yale School of Architecture and opened in 1953, it is renowned not only among modern buildings worldwide but as the first in a series of prominent modern structures at Yale...Read full article

Restoration of Louis Kahn's Trenton Bath House and Day Camp Pavilions
By Michael J. Mills, FAIA

Icons of modernism, Louis Kahn's Trenton Bath House (1955) and Day Camp Pavilions (1957) in Ewing, NJ were commissioned by the Trenton Jewish Community Center, and designed in crisp geometric forms and volumes within a proportional, ordered landscape...Read full article

Alfred Taubman Center for Design Education
By Alan Cobb, FAIA, LEED AP

Saving Albert Kahn's legacy structures is a passion for the Kahn firm of today. The Argonaut, built in 1927 by the premier architect of reinforced concrete manufacturing facilities, the 760,000 square foot, 11 story building was General Motor's first research center. Kahn worked closely with the National Park Service, and carefully followed the guidelines for historic preservation...Read full article

Brutal Architecture, Brutal Destruction
By Leeba Gluck, Intern Architect

John W. Chorley Elementary School in Middletown, New York, is slated for destruction at some point in the near future. The Chorley school, as described on the Paul Rudolph Foundation website, "...is Paul Rudolph's only building designed specifically to the scale of children. It is an enclosed, internal landscape of open classrooms... naturally lit by saw-tooth clerestory windows reminiscent of the many factory buildings dotting the nearby Hudson River."...Read full article

PRESERVATION KNOWLEDGE AND NETWORKS

AIAS Historic Preservation Membership Specialization Area
By Brett Roeth, AIAS
AIAS presently offers student members of the American Institute of Architects the opportunity to subscribe to three AIAS Membership Specialization Areas (MSA): Historic Preservation, Sustainable Design, and Urban Design and Planning...Read full article

2010 HRC Allied Preservation Organizations Web Sites
By James J. Malanaphy AIA

The HRC Advisory Group and the committee are very interested in the work of allied professionals in the field of historic preservation. Allied preservation organizations and others are invited to submit written reports and other materials for publication in Preservation Architect, and distribution at any of our conferences. Allied preservation organizations are national non-profit preservation organizations and federal agencies approved by the Historic Resources Committee Advisory Group. The HRC Advisory Group maintains the list of allied preservation organizations...View the list

DOCOMOMO and the Preservation of Modern Architecture
By Theodore H. M. Prudon FAIA

Advocating for the preservation of modern architecture and participating actively in the efforts has become more and more acceptable over the last two decades. While mid-century modernism is a term found nowadays frequently in many shelter magazines, not everyone is appreciative or convinced about its importance. On the contrary, articles in the national press and on-line lambasting modern architecture are still all too frequent and more recently taking aim at brutalism. Rudolph, Stone, Breuer or Pei have become household names often because their buildings are being disfigured or simply demolished...Read full article

The LA Conservancy "The Sixties turn 50" in Los Angeles
By Peyton Hall, FAIA

If you are surprised that the City of Angels turns 230 years old next year, then you might also be surprised to learn that the Los Angeles Conservancy now has more than 6,000 members and hundreds of volunteers, making it the largest local preservation group in the U.S. ...Read full article

National New Deal Preservation Association
By Kathryn A. Flynn, Executive Director

Did the New Deal touch or help architects in its 1930-40's era? If so, what came out of that help and is it still of any help to architects today? What are the New Deal treasures that the National New Deal Preservation Association (NNDPA) is concerned about? What can current architects do today to assist NNDPA carry out its goals? ... Read full article

"Technology Preserves" at Texas A&M University
By David G. Woodcock, FAIA

The Center for Heritage Conservation at Texas A&M University held its Eleventh Annual Historic Preservation Symposium on 26 and 27 February, 2010. The topic, Technology Preserves, addresses the role of technology in documentation of heritage resources, with an emphasis on digital methods. The topic followed the November 2009 symposium in Los Angeles, organized by the AIA Historic Resources Committee and offered in conjunction with the Association for Preservation Technology's annual conference, and addressed application issues rather than simply introducing the technology...Read full article

2010 Richard Morris Hunt Fellows Reunion
By Wendy Hillis, AIA

Sponsors, friends and alumni of the Richard Morris Hunt Fellowship gathered in Chicago May 12-15 to celebrate 21 years of French and American collaboration in the stewardship of built heritage. Inaugurated in 1990, the Richard Morris Hunt Fellowship, sponsored jointly by the American Architectural Foundation (AAF) and The French Heritage Society (FHS), is awarded annually to one French or American architect pursuing a career in historic preservation...Read full article

2010 Institute Honor Awards Recognize Preservation Projects
From the American Institute of Architects

Historic preservation continues to find a place in the Institute Honor Awards program. In each of the three categories, projects paying careful attention to the conservation of existing historically significant buildings and neighborhoods were recognized with 2010 Institute's Honor Awards...View the projects

HRC MEMBER AND COMPONENT NEWS

AIA Resources for Researching Mid-Century Architects
By Nancy Hadley, Assoc. AIA, CA

Documenting the original architect of a historic building can be a challenge. One helpful tool is the AIA Historical Directory of American Architects, a new online resource guide to information in the AIA Archives and elsewhere. Mid-century architects are especially well represented... Read full article

Barboursville - Heritage Conservation of a Jefferson Building*
By Don Swofford, FAIA

The family legend is that the house burned during the Christmas Holidays of 1884 when the candles on the Christmas tree set that tree on fire during a party...Read full article

* "Barboursville - Heritage Conservation of a Jefferson Building" was originally scheduled to be published in the March 2010 issue of Preservation Architect treating on the subject of the Preservation of Ruins. Through an oversight on the part of yours truly, the editor, the article was accidently omitted. My sincere apologies.

Preservation Architect is prepared by the Communications Subcommittee of the AIA Historic Resources Committee. James J. Malanaphy, AIA, is the 2010 sub-committee chair and, Peyton Hall, FAIA, is the 2010 Advisory Group liaison. The committee members are Kwendeche, AIA; Wendy Hillis, AIA; Michael Mills, FAIA; Ashley Robbins, AIA; Don Swofford, FAIA; Mark Thaler, AIA; Brett Roeth, Assoc. AIA is the 2010 AIAS liaison; and Joanna Beres, the 2010 National Associates Committee liaison.

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