AIA-HRC Events at 2011 AIA Convention
May 11 – 14, 2011 | New Orleans, LA
By H. Thomas McGrath Jr. FAIA – 2011 Chair, AIA Historic Resources Committee

Wednesday May 11, HRC All Day Pre-Convention Workshop at the 2011 AIA Convention, New Orleans LA: Evolutionary or Revolutionary: The Role of a Traditional Sense of Place & Lessons Learned in the Recovery of Post-Katrina New Orleans Neighborhoods

The recovery and rebuilding of residential neighborhoods in New Orleans offers a unique learning experience for those who preserve, rehabilitate, and build traditional architecture. The extraordinary destruction from the Katrina event to the New Orleans housing stock was massive. Today thousands of homes continue to deteriorate and remain vacant as a result of economic conditions, lack of insurance, and other factors. This AIA pre-convention Workshop will focus on the design, practice, leadership, technology, and collaboration that has occurred when and where infill residential structures have been built in New Orleans neighborhoods such as the Lower 9th Ward...Read full article.

Friday May 13, 11:30 AM – 1:30 PM, HRC Luncheon at the 2011 AIA Convention
Higgins Room at Calcasieu’s | New Orleans LA

The AIA Historic Resources Committee Luncheon is an annual event for Convention participants who work or are interested in the historic preservation and rehabilitation fields of practice. Experience James Beard Award-winning Chef Donald Link’s cuisine in a new private event facility at the Higgins’s Room at Calcasieu’s private dining in an original New Orleans warehouse. The 2011 HRC Luncheon is conveniently located just two blocks from the Convention Center above Cochon’s Restaurant. This event promises both an excellent way to enjoy contemporary Louisiana cuisine and network with your preservation colleagues. Following our meal, Tulane School of Architecture Professor Scott Bernhard AIA, the Director of the Tulane City Center and Mintz Professor of Architecture at the Tulane School of Architecture will share his insights into the history of the development of New Orleans unique architectural heritage and his analysis of the city’s recovery and future of its cultural legacy.

AIA Grassroots 2011 Leadership and Legislative Conference
February 2 - 5, 2011 | Washington, DC
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Preservation Action: Lobby Day
March 7 - 8, 2011 | Washington, DC
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Symposium on the Restoration of Cast and Wrought Iron
March 19 - 20, 2011 | Wood Auditorium, Avery Hall, Columbia University | New York, NY
From the Historic Preservation Education Foundation

Wrought and cast iron have long been among the most versatile building materials available to designers, craftsmen, and builders. Able to provide structural utility and decorative embellishment, iron can mimic delicate filigree or the solidity of a stone column. In the United States, especially during the late nineteenth and earlier twentieth centuries, hand-crafted wrought-iron and mass-produced cast-iron features were common in municipal buildings, churches, warehouses, factories, and commercial storefronts. Though extremely durable, cast and wrought iron, like all historic materials, require sensitive maintenance, repair, rehabilitation and, on occasion, replacement... Read full article.

Why Does the Past Matter? US/ICOMOS and UMass Center for Heritage and Society Conference
May 4-7, 2011 | Amherst, MA
By Neil Silberman- ICOMOS-ICIP and the UMass Amherst Center for Heritage and Society

The UMass Center for Heritage and Society, with the cooperation of the ICOMOS International Scientific Committee on Interpretation and Presentation (ICIP), is organizing an International Conference: Why Does the Past Matter? to be held at the University of Massachusetts Amherst May 4-7, 2011...Read full article.

Heritage on the Edge: Sustaining Buildings, Landscapes and Communities
APT Victoria 2011
October 11-16, 2011 | Victoria, British Columbia, Canada
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Alternating Currents: 2011 National Preservation Conference
October 19-22, 2011 | Buffalo, NY
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The Advisory Council’s 2011 Section 106 Course Schedule
By Advisory Council on Historic Preservation

The ACHP is pleased to announce our popular Section 106 training schedule for 2011. We are offering the 106 Essentials and the Advanced Seminar in 12 locations across the country. All courses are taught by highly knowledgeable ACHP staff who are engaged both on a daily basis and have practical hands-on experience with Section 106 issues. Attendees taking our courses receive an added benefit from the expertise that our instructors bring to the course…Read full article.

IN THE NEWS

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

Despite the reduction in AIA staff support for the Knowledge Communities this year, the HRC was able to continue to bring programs and information to the membership, substantially because of our continued relationship with allied organizations like the Association for Preservation Technology International (APT), the National Trust for Historic Preservation (NTHP), the General Services Administration (GSA), and others. Our success is also due, in part, to the support of our sponsors. We are grateful for the direct financial support of Pete Miller and his team at Restore Media again this year. In addition, we appreciate the support of Marvin Windows and UNICO for funding travel to Denver for the winning student teams to be able to receive the 2010 HABS Charles E. Peterson prizes in person… Read full letter.

Letter from the 2011 HRC Chair
By H. Thomas McGrath Jr. FAIA – 2011 Chair AIA Historic Resources Committee

I wanted to take this opportunity to introduce myself to all the AIA Historic Resources Committee (HRC) members as your oncoming 2011 Chair. I am grateful for the honor of serving both the Institute and the members in what I sincerely hope will be a rewarding year of both accomplishment and recovery for our profession and those we work with in the construction, rehabilitation and conservation communities…Read full article.

HABS Coordinating Committee: University Students win National Park Service's Charles E. Peterson Prize
From the National Park Service

Students from Universities in Arkansas, South Carolina, Texas, and Florida were announced as the winners of the 2010 Charles E. Peterson Prize for the best et of measured drawings prepared to the standards of the Historic American Buildings Survey (HABS). The contest is intended to increase awareness, knowledge, and appreciation of historic architectural sites and structures throughout the United States, encourage students to engage in the HABS recording process, and add to the permanent collection at the Library of Congress. The Peterson Prize has to date generated over 5,300 sheets of drawings for the collection, undertaken by over 5,000 students from sixty-eight colleges and universities...Read full article.

HABS Coordinating ommittee Announces Leicester Holland Prize
By Jonathan C. Spodek, AIA

The AIA-HABS Coordinating Committee is reminding HRC members of the new Leicester Holland Prize for a single sheet measured drawing competition. This competition is open to anyone, except HABS staff. The entry deadline is May 31, 2011...Read full article.

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.

FEATURES

Preservation and Sustainability - Myths, Methodologies and Metrics
By James Malanaphy, AIA

The long standing myth is that old buildings are out of date, out of style, poorly constructed, leaky drafty and energy inefficient: dilapidated eyesores that need to be replaced by graceful cutting edge state of the art more creatively designed cool looking energy efficient buildings. For the past few years the December issue of Preservation Architect has been dedicated to debunking this myth by highlighting the critical role conservation of the existing built environment must play in any serious effort to make our world economically, environmentally and socially sustainable. With the past constantly gnawing away at the future, the concept of modernism is extremely ephemeral - a flash in the pan. And if we can learn anything from buildings of the recent past, it is how fragile and difficult to maintain modern buildings can be when compared to their predecessors. This issue provides methodologies and metrics that architects can use to assess building performance and identify strategies that transform underutilized existing buildings into the exciting fun to be in high performance spaces needed today and that will be resilient enough to meet the changing needs of the future.

Sustainability & Stewardship: Maintenance, Durability and Life Cycle
Report from the October 7, 2010 AIA HRC/GSA Symposium, Denver CO
By Peyton Hall, FAIA

The AIA Historic Resources Committee (HRC) Advisory Group planned and the General Services Administration (GSA) sponsored a one day symposium October 7, 2010 entitled; "Sustainability & Stewardship: Maintenance, Durability and Life Cycle". The symposium occurred during the 2010 annual conference of the Association for Preservation Technology International held this year in Denver, CO...Read full article and view presentations.

Urban Outfitters Corporate Campus: 2010 AIA Institute Honor Award for Architecture
From American Institute of Architects and Meyer, Scherer & Rockcastle, Ltd

The Urban Outfitters Corporate Campus, housed in five rehabilitated buildings in the historic Philadelphia Navy Yard, provides design studio and office space for the company's distinctive retail brands while celebrating the idiosyncratic remnants of more than 125 years of ship-building...Read full article and View Honor Award Submittal.

PRESERVATION KNOWLEDGE AND NETWORKS

Historic Preservation at the University of Maryland Encourages Diversity
Christine R. Henry and Dr. Don Linebaugh, University of Maryland School of Architecture, Planning, and Preservation

The Historic Preservation program at the University of Maryland is dedicated to diversity throughout its program of study. Housed in the School of Architecture, Planning, and Preservation, the program's strength lies in its multi-disciplinary approach to studying and preserving the built environment. Students of many backgrounds and academic approaches master the skills of understanding, conserving, interpreting, and sharing the historic environment at scales from the local to the global. Students also grapple with questions of diversity in the historic record, confronting problems of minority participation and representation in mainstream historic preservation efforts...Read full article

Advisory Council on Historic Preservation Sustainability Task Force
By Druscilla J. Null, Advisory Council on Historic Preservation

The chairman of the Advisory Council on Historic Preservation (ACHP) has appointed a Task Force on Sustainability and Historic Preservation. The task force is addressing two key areas of concern-energy efficiency and community livability-and is promoting the full integration of historic preservation into the federal government's policies and programs addressing sustainability...Read full article.

Sustainability Matters: General Services Administration
Sustainable Design Program
From the General Services Administration Web Site

GSA is committed to incorporating principles of sustainable design and energy efficiency into all of its building projects. The result is an optimal balance of cost, environmental, societal and human benefits while meeting the mission and function of the intended facility. It is GSA's intent that sustainable design will be integrated as seamlessly as possible into the existing design and construction process...Read the full article.

Federal High Performance and Sustainable Buildings - Existing Buildings
National Institute of Building Science: Whole Building Design Guide
From the Whole Building Design Guide Web Site

The Federal Government is the nation's single largest landlord and energy consumer, operating more than 500,000 facilities comprising more than 3 billion square feet. Historically, approximately $30 billion is spent annually on acquiring or substantially renovating Federal facilities, and about $7 billion is spent on energy for Federal facilities. Almost $200 billion is spent on personnel compensation and benefits for civilian employees. This footprint represents an enormous opportunity to transfer sustainable technologies and practices on a large scale, thereby helping to transform the marketplace and create a more healthy work environment. Executive Order 13514 requires at least 15% of each agency's existing facilities and building leases (above 5,000 gross square feet) to meet the Guiding Principles by the end of fiscal year 2015...Read full article.

AIA Guide to Building Life Cycle Assessment in Practice
From the AIA Committee on the Environment

The AIA Guide to Building Life Cycle Assessment in Practice details the tools and tactics of balancing the costs and benefits of material and systems selection based on resource consumption and pollution from fabrication, shipping, construction, operations, and end-of-life deconstruction…Read full article.

Chicago 2010 - Traditional Building Exhibition and Conference Wrap Up
By Restore Media

In case you missed the Chicago 2010 Traditional Building Exhibition and Conference at the historic Navy Pier, sixty continuing education sessions including seminars, workshops, craftsmanship demonstrations and architectural tours plus the popular Traditional Building Design Challenge drew 2,500 from around the world to the annual Traditional Building Exhibition and Conference in Chicago, Oct. 20-23, 2010. Read the Wrap Up and access information about conference sessions at Chicago 2010 Traditional Building Show.

Announcing the 2010 National Preservation Awards
From the Midwest Office of the National Trust for Historic Preservation

October 19, the National Trust for Historic Preservation announced the recipients of the 2010 National Preservation Awards, sponsored by American Express. Each year, the National Trust celebrates the best of preservation by bestowing the awards upon individuals, nonprofit organizations, public agencies and corporations whose contributions represent singular success in preserving, rehabilitating, or interpreting America's architectural and cultural heritage. The awards were formally presented during the 2010 National Preservation Conference in Austin, Texas...Read full article.

Becoming Bucky Fuller
Author Loretta Lorance, MIT Press, Cambridge, 2009: 284 pp.
Review by Walter Sedovic, FAIA, LEED

Spoiler alert: Whether you believe that what others say about you is more important than what you say about yourself-or the other way around-this book is for you. Becoming Bucky Fuller carries a duplex message that RBF would have approved: It is as much about the influences shaping one of the most influential figures of the 20th Century as the shaping by Fuller himself of his persona via his writings, as both futurist and revisionist. For those of us who thought we knew R Buckminster Fuller-arguably one of the originators of the sustainable movement-well, think again. The rich tapestry woven by Loretta Lorance resulting from her meticulous research reveals that one of Bucky Fuller's favorite fabrications was...himself. It also reveals much more...Read full review.

Sustainable Preservation: Greening Existing Buildings
Author Jean Carroon, FAIA; John Wiley & Sons, Inc., Hoboken NJ, 2010: 401 pp.
Review by James Malanaphy, AIA

How do you define sustainability - as regards to the construction, utilization, operation and maintenance of our built environment? No matter what your take is, you will find it referenced in this extraordinary overview of current issues, goals and processes dominating our profession’s response to climate change and continued environmental degradation. It is easy to echo the assessment of David Woodcock, FAIA, “The book is a gold-mine of ideas, and supported by outstanding case studies. A 'must' for the practitioner and the academic.”…Read full review.

HRC MEMBER COMPONENT NEWS

President Obama Appoints M. Wayne Donaldson, FAIA, Chairman of the Advisory Council on Historic Preservation
From Advisory Council on Historic Preservation

In June 2010, Milford Wayne Donaldson was appointed by President Barack Obam a as Chairman of the Advisory Council on Historic Preservation…Read full article.

Meyer, Scherer & Rockcastle, Ltd. - Urban Outfitters Corporate Campus
2010 AIA Institute Honor Award for Architecture Recipient Firm Profile
By Meyer, Scherer & Rockcastle, Ltd.

MS&R was founded in 1981 by Thomas Meyer, FAIA, Jeffrey Scherer, FAIA, and Garth Rockcastle, FAIA. Tom and Jeff had worked together in the firm of Hodne/Stageberg Architects, and Garth and Jeff met as faculty members of the University of Minnesota College of Architecture. After a year or so of planning, we decided to embark on a practice centered on nine guiding principles…Read full article.

San Francisco Chapter AIA Historic Resources Committee
By San Francisco Chapter AIA Historic Resources Committee

The mission of the Historic Resources Committee (HRC) of the American Institute of Architects, San Francisco Chapter, is to promote awareness of the value of historic places, structures, and objects through education, advocacy, and events. The group seeks to preserve San Francisco's historic resources, contributing to the national and global effort to preserve our collective cultural heritage...Read full article

HRC Preservation Architect

Preservation Architect is prepared by the Communications Subcommittee of the AIA Historic Resources Committee. James Malanaphy, AIA, is the 2010 subcommittee chair and, Peyton Hall, FAIA, is the 2010 Advisory Group liaison. The 2010 HRC communications subcommittee members are Kwendeche, AIA; Wendy Hillis, AIA; Michael Mills, FAIA; Ashley Robbins Wilson, AIA; Don Swofford, FAIA; Mark Thaler, AIA; Amanda Gann, Assoc. AIA (AIAS liaison); and Joanna Beres, Assoc. AIA (AIA National Associates Committee liaison). Submittals and inquiries are welcome.
Contact Preservation Architect

The American Institute of Architects 1735 New York Avenue, NW Washington, DC 20006