Traditional Building Conference: Winterthur

8 – 9 am Breakfast and Networking

9 – 9:15 am Welcome and Introductions

9:15 – 10:15 am TBC311 Capturing Many Pasts: Henry Francis DuPont and the Interiors

1 AIA Learning Unit

Speaker: Tom Savage, Director Museum Affairs, Winterthur Museum, Garden and Library

This session offers a fresh look at DuPont’s efforts as a collector. The focus is 1932 and beyond with an emphasis on the Colonial Revival and the expansion of the museum, gardens and technical details of the Winterthur’s installations. There will be images and information about the construction projects, interior design, landscape design, botanical collection, library and current exhibitions.

Learning Objectives

10:15 – 10:45 am Break

10:45 – 11:45 am TBC312 Lessons for Today from Winterthur’s Historic Millwork: A Craftsman’s Perspective

1 AIA HSW Learning Unit

Speaker: Brent Hull, President of Hull Historical, craftsman and co-author, Traditional American Rooms, Winterthur Style Sourcebook, 2009, Foxchapel Publishing

The rooms of Winterthur offer an amazing glimpse of period rooms in America and how homes of the time were designed and constructed. In preparation of the book Traditional American Rooms, Brent Hull, together with designer and educator Christine Franck, documented the moldings to aid architects and builders in replicating and matching period architectural details. Hull has used his study of Winterthur’s millwork to build more than 10 classically inspired houses. He will explain the design and construction details that make classical architecture so beloved in America and elsewhere.

Learning Objectives

11:45 am – 12:45 pm Lunch

12:45 – 1:50 pm TBCLC3 Historic Clay Roof Tile - Why and How to Use it Successfully

Speaker: Scott Lange, Regional Director, Northeast/Midwest, Ludowici, New Lexington, OH

1 AIA Health/Safety/Welfare Learning Unit

This course will provide an in-depth understanding of clay roof tiles: their composition, quality, design considerations, color and style. This ancient roofing material has been used since Neolithic times and continues to be used today. You will learn about the history of clay tile, how it is made, its material advantage, how to choose color, and how to install it.

Learning Objectives

1:50 – 2:55 pm Under the Microscope: Discovering Hidden Paint Treasures in Historic Buildings

1 AIA Health/Safety/Welfare Learning Unit 

Speaker: Susan L. Buck, Ph.D., Conservator and Paint Analyst, Williamsburg, VA

Research into historic architectural paints has advanced considerably in the last thirty years. Paint and wallpaper samples can be as small as a pinhead, but they provide vast amounts of information about original colors and decorative materials. This optical microscopy approach originated with the analysis of easel paintings but has been refined and expanded for analysis of architectural paints. Cross-section paint samples can also be used comparatively to date alterations and additions to buildings. This type of research is particularly relevant for aspects of material life having a paucity of written documentation, such as changes to service spaces and slave quarters. The scale of impact can be large, allowing one to reconstruct early exterior paint palettes of buildings like Monticello, the University of Virginia Rotunda and Pavilions, and Drayton Hall, using cross-section microscopy paint analysis and color matching with a colorimeter microscope. Important recent discoveries in the ongoing paint study of the Brice House in Annapolis, Maryland and the Nathaniel Russell House Kitchen Quarter in Charleston, South Carolina will also be included.

Learning Objectives

2:55 – 3:15 pm Networking Break

3:15 pm – 4:15 pm TBC201 Historic Window Rehabilitation: When to Repair and How to Replace

1 AIA Health/Safety/Welfare Learning Unit

Instructor: Charles, “Chick” McBrien, Regional Manager, Architectural; CSI, CDT; Marvin Windows and Doors, Warroad, MN

This presentation looks at window repair and replacement for historic renovation projects. Research, planning, window assessment, standards, and historic tax credits are reviewed. A broad range of window rehabilitation solutions are shown through case studies of historic projects.

Learning Objectives

4:15 – 4:25 pm Networking Break

4:25 – 5:30 pm History and Performance: Glass Properties and Storm Window Tips

1 AIA Health/Safety/Welfare Learning Unit

Speakers: David Martin, President, Allied Window, Cincinnati, OH and Kyle Sword, Business Development Manager, Pilkington Glass NA, Toledo, OH

This session will explore the history of glass and its use in windows from crown glass to vacuum insulated glass and the role and value of storms for energy efficiency and noise mitigation.

Learning Objectives

8:00 – 8:45 am Breakfast, Networking and Exhibits

8:45 – 10:30 am – Architectural Tour of Winterthur

1.5 AIA Learning Units

Tour Leaders: Winterthur Staff

Henry Francis Du Pont (1880-1969) became the steward of his father’s estate in 1914. He had studied horticulture and agriculture at Harvard. Over the course of his life-time, while managing a working farm and garden with serious horticultural intent, he assembled the largest collection of period rooms in the United States documenting East Coast architecture from the 18th and 19th centuries. He became a connoisseur of American decorative arts and assembled 90,000 objects to furnish the 175 rooms and galleries that comprise the museum. A selection of rooms will be shared with us to study period architecture, American decorative arts and a glimpse into the lives of the Du Pont family.

Learning Objectives

The tours begin with departures from the visitor center for each group every five minutes. Wheelchair access and transportation to the Museum from the visitor center is available by tram or golf cart. Requests in advance for transportation help us to serve you better. Please email jhayward@aimmedia.com

10:30 – 10:55 am Break for Networking and Exhibits

10:55 am – 12:00pm TBCWC2 An Introduction to Ornamental Metals

1 AIA Health/Safety/Welfare Learning Unit

Speaker: Douglas Bracken, President, Wiemann Metalcraft, Tulsa, OK

This course will provide an overview of different types of metal alloys used for ornament, fencing, lighting, and more. The session is organized to support architects’ efforts to integrate the use of metal ornament into projects for new construction, historic preservation, residential, commercial, and institutional work. You will learn about production methods and finishes for the metal alloys.

Learning Objectives

12:00 – 12:55 pm Lunch

12:55 – 1:55 pm TBC31H Period Historic Lighting: Adaptation and Restoration

Speakers: Jon White, Founding Partner and Chief Operating Officer, and Matt White, Founding Partner, Lead Designer and Master Craftsman, Heritage Metalworks, Downingtown, PA

1 AIA Health/Safety/Welfare Learning Unit

Recent changes to the historically predictable landscape of traditional residential and commercial lighting have been extraordinary. Dark Sky Retrofit, Wildlife Safe Lighting, Ignition Process Systems and Low Voltage are now commonplace considerations, but complicated by varying local codes more focused on compliance and certification than beauty and practicality. This course explores new technologies and proven techniques that, combined with vision and craftsmanship, offer a flexible and cost-conscientious approach to creating, recreating, adapting and restoring beautiful, historically appropriate lighting.

Learning Objectives

2 – 3:05 pm TBC251 Traditional Plaster 101

Speaker: Patrick Webb, Plasterer, Southern Pines, North Carolina

1 AIA HSW Learning Unit

This session will consider the various material components that constitute heritage plasters, stuccoes and mortars with a special focus on the chemistry and practical applications of the five "binders" or active components that have the most determinative influence on performance.

Learning Objectives

3:05 – 3:30 pm Networking Break
Note: Sponsor exhibits will close at 3:30 pm

3:30 – 5:30 pm Choice of One:

The Gardens and the Follies: Architectural Whimsy in the Winterthur Garden

Tour Leaders: Winterthur Staff

1.5 AIA Learning Units

Architectural follies are structures that are deliberately placed into landscapes to create or evoke experiences and emotions. They have been built for centuries; Henry Francis Du Pont incorporated a few follies into his garden design at Winterthur. Additional follies have been built for this exhibition. This tour will offer participants the opportunity to view 13 architectural follies and to learn about the design of the gardens of Winterthur with the professionals who manage and interpret them.

Learning Objectives

Sketching Interiors at Winterthur

Sketching Leaders: Mary Elfreth Watkins, Watkins Interiors, LLC, Washington, DC and Tiffany L. Burke, Project Manager; Austin Patterson Disston Architects, Southport, CT

1.5 AIA Learning Units

Offered in cooperation with the Philadelphia and Washington DC chapters of the ICAA

Drawing cultivates skills for architects and artisans through the study of architectural details, aesthetics and function. On the interiors tour, we will venture into rooms not normally open to the public in the Winterthur Museum. Our private access will afford uninterrupted time to measure and draw period rooms with exceptional architectural detail under the direction of architects experienced in working with the Classical orders. Discussions will focus on composition, form and function and geometric proportion.

Learning Objectives

Sketching Exteriors and the Garden at Winterthur

Sketching Leader: Scott O’Barr, AIA, NCARB; Senior Associate; John Milner Architects, Inc., Chadds Ford, PA

1.5 AIA Learning Units

Offered in cooperation with the Philadelphia and Washington DC chapters of the ICAA

Using the gardens, a special exhibition of follies, and the exterior of the mansion as out subjects for sketching, participants will have uninterrupted quiet time to work under the direction of two traditional architects specializing in period architectural design. Drawing cultivates skills for architects and artisans through the study of architectural details, aesthetics, and function. Much can be learned about why a building or landscape performs well or not from studying the exterior’s composition and architectural detailing. This knowledge can be applied to new traditional work today.

Learning Objectives

Exterior Tours will run unless there is a deluge. Sturdy footwear is recommended. We can provide transport via golf cart if you require mobility assistance. Please email jhayward@aimmedia.com if you need accommodation for the tours.