UF to host statewide workshop 'Preserving the Recent Past in Florida,' Nov. 6 - 9

September 10, 2008

GAINESVILLE, Fla. — The University of Florida College of Design, Construction and Planning’s Historic Preservation Program and the Harn Museum of Art are partnering with the Florida Trust for Historic Preservation and the Florida Historical Commission to conduct a statewide public workshop on “Preserving the Recent Past in Florida” on Nov. 6 – 9 at the University of Florida.

The three-day program will include discussions, lectures and events with the goal of producing a document that will be specific to Florida and outline the criteria for the designation of historic sites for official national and state recognition.

“Like them or not, there’s no question that modern buildings of the recent past and other testaments to postwar-era design have transformed cities, towns, suburbs and landscapes throughout Florida,” said Roy Eugene Graham, FAIA, director of historic preservation studies at the College of Design, Construction and Planning. “This workshop will provide tools for identifying and preserving the most exceptional modern historical sites in Florida. These tools could help prevent the destruction of modern classics, such as Paul Rudolph’s Riverview High School and Alfred Browning Parker’s Manus House. Both these exceptional sites are presently slated for demolition, in part because of their lack of official designation.”

The workshop coincides with the exhibition of Promises of Paradise: Staging Midcentury Miami, on view at the Harn Museum of Art from Oct. 11 to Jan. 25. Promises is a groundbreaking exhibition devoted to the architects, designers and urban planners of mid-20th century Miami and their contributions to American modernism. The exhibition is organized by the Bass Museum of Art, located in Miami Beach, with funding from the National Endowment for the Humanities. The exhibition is made possible locally by ERA Trend Realty. Other partners of the workshop are DoCoMoMo/US and Florida, the Alachua County School Board and several central Florida chapters of the American Institute of Architects.

The events also include a lecture, dinner and blues performance honoring recent African-American history on Nov. 7. In addition, the workshop features tours of outstanding modern buildings and landscapes that were designed for the University of Florida by architects, such as Paul Rudolph, Russell T. Pancoast, Gene Leedy, William Morgan and Taylor Hardwick.

Admission is free for students enrolled at any educational institution but registration is required for participation. Architects and other professionals may earn continuing education units (CEUs) for the three days of the workshop.

Registration packets may be attained by contacting Leanna Varner, lvarner@dcp.ufl.edu, or by visiting http://conferences.dce.ufl.edu/CRRP. A block of rooms at the convention rate has been reserved at two Gainesville hotels, Holiday Inn and Hilton.