Safeguarding History and the Environment: Commonalities and Conflicts between Preservation and Sustainability
A Panel Discussion

Join moderator and preservation consultant Erica Avrami on this panel tackling the various conflicts and commonalities that exist between preserving buildings and making them sustainable. Explore the importance of both historic preservation and sustainability—and how they can work together—through in-depth discussion of both fields and case studies of East Village tenement buildings and the McCarren Pool in Brooklyn.

Preservation and sustainability are both big issues, especially in the current economic environment, but the two movements have not always worked had in hand. This panel will seek to start the conversation about the common ground and differing perspectives of the two.

Featuring panelists Chris Benedict, a sustainability architect and Pratt Institute faculty member known for her work in adaptive reuse; Fiona Cousins, an expert on all aspects of sustainable design who has worked on both renovations and new builds; Scott Demel, an associate architect at Rogers Marvel Architects whose work has focused on restoration with a commitment to sustainable design; and Ned Kaufman, a heritage conservation specialist and founder of Place Matters, a nonprofit dedicated to discovering and protecting places that matter in New York’s diverse communities.

This event is co-sponsored by the American Institute of Architects Historic Buildings Committee.