Great Spaces, Great Places
Why box-style architecture is bad… For my final post this month, I’ll return to more traditional and much loved past-time of mine, that is, criticism of bad architecture. We’ve got a problem around here. Our buildings are boxes. Or so many an architect (including me) would say. And its not necessarily localized to “here” per …
Continue reading “Our Buildings Are Boxes | Are Building Our Boxes?”
For most architects and architecture aficionados, the case for preserving and rehabilitating historic buildings seems like plain common sense. For the skeptics and fence-sitters out there, we put together a list of resources that lay out the many, many benefits of saving our older buildings. The 6-point list below comes from the National Trust for …
by Liz Almlie, Historic Preservation Specialist- South Dakota State Historical Society Of properties recognized in the National Register of Historic Places, one slice of them are nominated as the work of a master architect or craftsperson, which could also include builders, landscape architects, bridge engineers, and others. These are places that best represent their body …
Continue reading “Representing the Work of a Master in the National Register of Historic Places“
May is National Preservation Month, and Blueprint: SD will be highlighting relevant stories from the state, region and across the country to highlight some of the great work taking place in the field of architectural preservation and rehabilition. To begin this month’s focus, we’ve assembled a great list of resources to explore- for education, advocacy …
Full admission, the title of this post is stolen from the title of a book I just finished reading a few months ago, written by John-Mark Miravalle. While it detailed aspects of beauty from the traditional fine arts, it also was broad enough to cover the literary and culinary arts, and even touched on the …
Continue reading “Beauty: What It Is (and Why It Matters… to Architecture)”
The 2022 Champion of Architecture Award was given to Jay Vogt, who served two roles as Director of the State Historical Society and South Dakota State Historic Preservation Officer. The award was presented at the recent South Dakota American Institute of Architects state convention in Sioux Falls, SD. The award is given to non-architects or …
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Not all great historic buildings can be saved for their original purpose. Sometimes they are vacated due to new ownership, sometimes they become too small and many have accessibility issues. When a building is remodeled for a new purpose, architects call it adaptive reuse. Buildings that cannot find new uses are often abandoned and eventually …
(Cover image by Sandra Lea Dickenson, AIA Emeritus) Her name was Margaret Wellington. She was the wife of Dr. Raynor Wellington, history professor at the University of South Dakota in Vermillion. Margaret was a member of the building committee for a new home for the First Congregational Church in Vermillion, South Dakota (now known as …
Celebrations in Architecture: Goss Opera House, Watertown SD receives recognition from AIA SD President, Tom Hurlbert at 2021 AIA SD Convention. (Content submitted by RSA) Every once in a while, we as Architects become involved in a project that changes our perspective on the value of somebody’s passion for a project, and how it can …
Continue reading “2021 AIA SD Presidential Award Winner: Goss Opera House, Watertown SD”
Dakota Hall, Redfield, South Dakota 1909-2021 Cover image courtesy of the Redfield Press Not all historical buildings can be saved. I love old buildings and have spent much of my career protecting them, renovating them and repurposing them. There is a little of our history that dies when we lose one. We lost a significant …