Savannah Traditional Building Conference ends the 2024 Series on a Sweet Note

For Immediate Release: November 4, 2024

Contact: Peter H. Miller pmiller@aimmedia.com

Historic preservationists and new traditionalists gathered for two days of learning in the classroom and on architectural tours of Savannah, Georgia at the Trustees Garden, October 23-24, 2024. This was the third and final in-person event in the 2024 Traditional Building Conference Series.

Savannah is a lovely historic city with walkable, well-planned streets and squares, verdant trees, and historic buildings which date back to the 1700s. Savannah is home to the third largest port in America, nestled on the banks of the Savannah River, and a popular tourist destination. The Trustees’ Garden, a simple brick industrial building adapted as a conference and wedding venue, provided 200 attendees with a dramatic backdrop for breakfast, lunch, networking, and learning over two days.

Traditional Building Conference architectural tour guides were a “who’s who” of Savannah and Georgia leaders in historic preservation and traditional architecture: Savannah College of Architecture and Design (SCAD) Professor and architect, Christian Sottile, FAIA; Joseph Smith, AIA, Architectural Collaborative, Athens, GA; Luciana Spracher, Municipal Archives, Savannah; David Gobel, Professor, SCAD; Sarah Ward and Susie Bull, Ward Architecture + Preservation; Bridget Lidy, Senior Director of Planning and Urban Design, and MarRonde A. Lumpkin-Lotson, Interim Senior Director, Economic Development, City of Savannah; Jonathan Stalcup, Architectural Historian and proprietor of Architectural Savannah; Rebecca Fenwick, Principal, Ethos Preservation, Savannah; Kevin Rose, AIA, Rose Architects, Savannah; and Katie Fitzhugh, director of deconstruction, Re: Purpose Savannah.

Architects, contractors, building owners, facility managers and building artisans had had their pick of 9 tours that showcased the rich variety of Savannah’s historic preservation legacy: Plant Riverside, City Hall, Savannah’s Squares, the City’s former Waterworks, The Legacy of William Jay (1792-1837), the Armstrong-Kessler House, Trustees Garden and the Kehoe Ironworks, Savannah College of Art and Design’s SCADStory and Art Museum and Re: Purpose Savannah.

Educational sessions included Learning from Savannah with SCAD professor Robin Williams; Substitute Materials with Richard Off, AIA, Hoffman Architects and Engineers; The Impact of Hurricanes on Garage Doors with Amy Ader from Cambek; Fenestration for Hurricane Impact with John Ward from Kolbe Windows and Doors; Glass in Windows and Doors-Navigating Requirements for Climate and Code with Russ Oliveri, President of Oliveri Millworks; Hotel-Housing-Hotel with Anath Ranon, FAIA, LEED AP, BD, +C and MJ Wojewodzki, AIA, LFA, Quinn Evans; Architecture and Terra Cotta Cladding with Carla Hunigan, National Market Manager, Commercial, Ludowici; Antebellum Georgia with Joseph Smith, AIA, Principal Architectural Collaborative, Athens, GA; and Plaster Conservation with David Riccio, PA AIC, APT RP, President and Principal, John Canning & Co. , LTD, Cheshire CT.

The Peterson Prize and the Raphael Awards were presented in a luncheon ceremony during the Savannah conference. The Peterson Prize is awarded annually through the collaborative efforts of the National Park Service’s Heritage Documentation Program (HDP), the Athenaeum of Philadelphia, the American Institute of Architects, Historic Resources Committee, and the Association for Preservation Technology International to recognize the best set of measured drawings prepared to HDP standards and donated by HDP students.

The Peterson Prize honors Charles E. Peterson, FAIA, one of the founders of the Historic American Building Survey (HABS). It is intended to increase awareness, knowledge and appreciation of historic buildings, structures and cultural landscapes throughout the United States while adding to the permanent HABS/HERS/HALS Collection of measured drawings at the Library of Congress.

There were four cash prizes awarded to students who are identified HERE.

Alongside the Peterson Prize ceremony, TRADITIONAL BUILDING magazine’s Raphael Awards were bestowed to five winners for architectural art, including hand drawing and watercolor rendering. The 2024 Raphael winners are Thomas Wells Schaler for Light Patterns of Rome; Mac White for Interior Perspectives of St Joseph Seminary Chapel; Alexander J. Ford for the North Quad of the Hillsdale College; Georgina Renee Johnson for St Paul’s Cathedral and Margaret Derwent Ketchum for In Meme Edwa.

Immediately following the awards gala was a panel discussion titled Documentation Strategies: The Essential Tools from Drawing-by-hand to Laser Scanning. The panel moderator was Clay Rokicki, Historical Concepts, Atlanta. The panelists were Mark Schara AIA HABS Architect, National Park Service, Washington DC, Eric Menninger, Preservation Consultant, Atlanta and Scott O’Barr, Partner, Residential Design, Voith and MacTavish Architects, Philadelphia.

While the Raphael Awards encourage the art of drawing and painting by hand the Peterson Prize encourages the use of state-of-the-art technologies for documentation.

Platinum Sponsors help underwrite Traditional Building Conference Series education both in-person and online. They include: Aeratis, Allied Window, Cambek, European Company, Hartstone Tile, Historical Arts and Casting, Kolbe Windows and Doors, Ludowici, Marvin, Mon-Ray, Oliveri Millworks, Pilkington, and Wilmette Hardware.

Bronze Sponsors include Garbutt Construction, John Canning & Company, Kepco, Stewart Brannen Millworks, and Wiemann Metalcraft.

The Traditional Building Conference will travel to three new cities in 2025; Colonial Williamsburg, VA is now confirmed for June 10-11, 2025. Two additional locations, spring and fall, will be announced shortly.

In the meantime, the Traditional Building Conference Series 2024 continues with online education in November and December.