When You Got It – Flaunt It: New Designs for a New Era

Speakers

Jennie Gwin, AIA

Alessandro Cavallo

David Preziosi, FAICP

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When You Got It – Flaunt It: New Designs for a New Era

The 1950s to 1970s brought a new era of architecture to the forefront based on designs that eschewed the past and looked forward to the future. The economic boom and the optimism of the postwar years gave birth to new mobility opportunities and tourism, like never before, became a cultural mass phenomenon that contributed to creating brand-new identities and shaping the culture and image of places and people. 

One company that took modern design to its highest level was Braniff Airways, which revolutionized air travel with its focus on design. They hired top-notch designers including Emilio Pucci, Halston, Alexander Girad, Jack Tinker and Partners, Harper + George, Herman Miller, Welton Beckett Associates, and Pereira & Luckman for everything from uniforms, graphics, advertising, and buildings.

Eliot Noyes’ Bubble houses in Hobe Sound took experimental construction techniques to the next level. They responded to the Florida climate with the Airform technique, a quick and economical process that built thin shell concrete structures by spraying concrete over an inflated membrane.

The National Capital Region Headquarters of the National Park Service was part of the Mission 66 program that employed the design principles and materials of Modern architecture to prepare federal parks for increased visitation during the post-World War II era. The designs facilitated access to both natural and historic resources to conserve them. This session explores these innovative designs, how they have survived (or not), the fight to save them, and how renovations and restorations have led to their continued use.

 

Speakers
  • "Eliot Noyes’ Bubble House in Hobe Sound, Florida (1953-1954). An Alternative Solution for Modern Living"
    Alessandro Cavallo 
  • "Preserving Mission 66 Modernism in an Urban Environment Threatened by Climate Change"
    Jennie Gwin, AIA 
  • "The Cutting Edge Design and Architecture of Braniff Airways"
    David Preziosi, FAICP

 

Moderator

Karelia Martinez Carbonell

 

All sessions will take place at the University of Miami School of Architecture. Exact classroom locations to be announced.

Moderator

Karelia Martinez Carbonell

Karelia Martinez Carbonell holds a Doctorate in Public Administration with a concentration on non-profit management. For her, it is a privilege to serve her community. She is civic-minded and gives back as much as possible. Karelia has served on numerous nonprofit boards in Coral Gables. And since 2013, she has served as president of the Historic Preservation Association of Coral Gables (HPACG) where she leads the organization’s mission of promoting the understanding and importance of historic resources and their preservation. 

Alessandro Cavallo

PhD candidate in Preservation of Architectural Heritage at Politecnico di Milano. The field of investigation concerns the preservation of Italian architecture of the Twentieth century and the strategies of intervention and protection of the built heritage. Of particular interest are the constructive research experimentations pursued between the two wars and in the post-war period. The Ph.D. research investigates the spread of the doubly curved structures, thin shells in reinforced concrete and other materials, between the fifties and seventies in Italy, from the historical, constructive, architectural, and cultural point of view and the challenges of their protection.

Jennie Gwin, AIA

Jennie Gwin, AIA, is a Principal in Beyer Blinder Belle’s (BBB) Washington, DC, office who specializes in projects that integrate historic preservation, new design, and adaptive re-use. She has deployed this expertise on high-profile historic landmarks with complex project requirements, including Vizcaya, National Park Service National Capital Region Headquarters, National Gallery of Art, and numerous buildings for the Architect of the Capitol. She has an extensive technical background in historic preservation with particular expertise in building repositioning, government projects involving multiple stakeholders, and federal historic rehabilitation tax credit projects. 

David Preziosi, FAICP

David Preziosi, FAICP has a passion for preserving the historic sites that make communities a better place to live. For 28 years he has advocated for the places that tell the stories unique to communities across Mississippi and Texas. After he received a Bachelor of Environmental Design, a Master of Urban Planning, and a Historic Preservation Certificate, all from Texas A&M University, he began his career in historic Natchez, Mississippi as a city planner. He then became the executive director of the Mississippi Heritage Trust where he worked on preservation education and advocacy, prepared nominations to the National Register of Historic Places, authored design guidelines, and responded to the devastation wrought by Hurricane Katrina to historic buildings.