Tulane University Hosts Symposium on the Future of Preservation

The Tulane University School of Architecture and Dean Kenneth Schwartz will host “Preservation Matters,” a public symposium on the future of preservation education in New Orleans on Saturday, Jan. 31, 2009 in the Kendall Cram room of the Lavin-Bernick Center for University Life. The daylong symposium will begin at 9 a.m. with a keynote speech by Architectural Record editor-in-chief Robert Ivy, an alumnus of the Tulane School of Architecture.

“Preservation Matters” will examine the contemporary role of preservation in a rebuilding city, and will address the present and future role of preservation as a strategy and philosophy at the School of Architecture. Tulane professor Eugene Cizek, long a leader in preservation studies at the school, also will be honored for his many achievements.

The daylong symposium will feature panel discussions on issues such as preservation of monuments and places, of neighborhood and social capital, sustainability, education, international issues of preservation, and preservation for diverse communities.

A nationally prominent group of preservationists, preservation scholars, historians and community activists will participate in the panel discussions, including Erica Avrami, director of Research and Education at the World Monuments Fund; Daniel Bluestone, director of the Preservation Program, University of Virginia; Ned Kaufman of Kaufman Conservation; Stanley Lowe, formerly of the National Trust for Historic Preservation and former director of neighborhoods and planning policy for the City of Pittsburgh; and Jorge Rigau, a preservation architect in Puerto Rico and former dean of the Polytechnic University of Puerto Rico.

“As we build on the strength of the past and the many productive connections between Tulane and the City of New Orleans, this public symposium will engage questions about the contemporary role of preservation,” said Tulane Architecture Dean Kenneth Schwartz. "Given the importance of preservation in the practice of architecture today and preservation"s integral role as part of this community"s identity over time, this symposium will attract strong local interest in the city and university as well as national attention."

“Preservation Matters” is free and open to the public. For more information, visit http://architecture.tulane.edu/