Gray Area: Provocations on the Future of Preservation

Get ready to be provoked!

Thinkers including Tod Williams (Tod Williams Billie Tsien Architects, New York), Susan Szenasy (Metropolis magazine, New York)*, Enrique Norten (TEN Arquitectos, Mexico City)*, Lloyd Alter (TREEHUGGER.com, Toronto), Mark Alan Hughes (founding director, Greenworks), Randall Mason (Graduate Program in Historic Preservation, Penn School of Design) and next-gen young preservationists will kick-start a rousing new conversation about design in historic cities, using Philadelphia as a point of departure.

*NEW!

Join us for an evening of smart talk that will explore questions such as:

·      How can Philadelphia best use its historic built environment as a catalyst for design invention, innovation and experimentation?

·      What is worth preserving ­– neighborhoods, landscapes, buildings, interiors, stories?

·      How can we create new ways of looking at old buildings?

·      How do we protect Philadelphia’s greatest asset, its unique urban character?

·      What are the connections among preservation, environmental sustainability, emerging technologies and economic development?

Attendees will take home a free copy of the Gray Area catalog, a compilation of projects and emerging ideas.

Gray Area is produced as part of DesignPhiladelphia and is supported by the Pew Center for Arts & Heritage through the Heritage Philadelphia program. The Gray Area catalog was produced with additional support from the Pew Center for Arts & Heritage through the Pew Fellowships in the Arts.