RMHP Final Reports Collection Takes Shape

Posted on 31 January 2017 by rmhprize

Click here to access Mary Brush’s Final ReportMary Brush’s Final Report Published Online

The Collection of RMHP Final Reports just expanded with the addition of a second title, this time by Mary Brush, FAIA, Fellow 2005. This publication was made possible by the Sondra & Charles Gilman Foundation.

Based in Chicago, Illinois, Mary worked in prestigious firms such as Holabird & Root and Klein and Hoffman before starting her own firm, Brush Architects, LLC. Her academic background is brilliant: a Master of Architecture from the University of Illinois at Chicago in 1994, an M.S. in Historic Preservation from PennDesign in 1991, following an undergraduate studies in architecture at William Smith College in Geneva, New York.

Mary Brush, Fellow 2005

As Walter J. Hainsfuther, FAIA, of Design Team, LLC, writes, “Mary has been recognized internationally for her work in preserving historic structures, with a particular emphasis on the building envelope, over her entire career”. Her career perfectly illustrates an idea evoked by 2013 Rome Prize laureat Tom Mayes: “The notion that old places matter is not primarily about the past. It is about why old places matter to people today and for the future. It is about why old places are critical to people’s sense of who they are, to their capacity to find meaning in their lives, and to see a future.”

Mary, with the sensibilities drawn from her French roots, has always been attracted by France. The Richard Morris Hunt Prize has given her the possibility of increasing her knowledge, of exchanging and finally sharing it. In this way, she fits perfectly with our goal.

We wish to recognize to the patient and dedicated technical work of Javier Guillén Jimenez, who was able to format the original 2005 document and adapt it in the two languages for publication on this website. He deserves all our thanks.

Click here to access Mary Brush’s Final Report

Richard Morris Hunt Prize Jury 2016 in Washington, D.C.

Posted on 15 November 2016 by rmhprize

Photo U.S. Navy / Mate Johnny Bivera

According the Hunt Prize’s alternating structure, the next Richard Morris Hunt Prize Jury will assemble in Washington on Thursday, December 1st, to select the 28th RMHP Fellow and the 5th RMHP Scholar. These two American laureates will begin conduct their research project in France during 2017.

Architectes français, voir Appel à candidatures pour le Jury 2017 à Paris.

Encounter of Excellence in Paris

Posted on 17 October 2016 by rmhprize

Columbia GSAPP students mingle with Hunt Prize laureates and team members

Columbia University architecture and preservation studio participants were in Paris on October 5th with professors Jorge Otero-Pailos and Mark Rakatansky, on the return leg of their design studio session in Europe focusing on adaptive reuse. In Geneva, the students’ exploration of a new project within the United Nations’ historic complex included on-site archival research. They examined drawings and documents related to a 1920s design competition for the erection of a palais for the League of Nations, precursor of today’s U.N.

Representing a wide range of nationalities, the Columbia Design students and their professors were hosted by members of the Richard Morris Hunt Prize France Managing Team for a sociable evening including several past and present Hunt Prize laureates. Professor Otero-Pailos – whose recent appointment as director of Columbia’s program in Historic Preservation was another cause for celebration – had hoped to bring about this encounter rich with promises for the future.

Versailles et l’Indépendance américaine

Posted on 21 September 2016 by rmhprize

An exhibition in the Galerie des Batailles

Versailles owed it to itself to commemorate the 240th anniversary of American Independence. The Château de Versailles is a symbolic place in the history of the special friendship linking the United States and France.

Thanks to Béatrix Saule, Directeur général, a delegation of RMHP Fellows and Scholars were led on a private visit of the remarkable exhibition “Versailles et l’Indépendance américaine” on the evening of September 19th. Élisabeth Caude, Conservateur général, explained to us in captivating detail the depth of the role played by the Kingdom of France in the rebellion against England and the particular involvement of Louis XVI. This alliance culminated in 1783 with the signing of the Treaty of Paris.

On loan for the exhibition: Jean-Antoine Houdon, bust of Benjamin Franklin, marble, 1779.
Philadelphia Museum of Art
Franklin was one of the signers of the Treaty of Paris in 1783.

Recognition for Paris’s Cité de Refuge (1933/1952)

Posted on 5 June 2016 by rmhprize

Cité de Refuge (Le Corbusier, 1929) following renovation.
Main entry, south façade, Nov. 2015
© ADAGP-FLC / Cyrille Weiner

Designed by Le Corbusier et Pierre Jeanneret for the Salvation Army, everything is extraordinary at the Cité de Refuge (12, rue Cantagrel, Paris 13^ème): innovative architecture (its pilings, a rooftop garden, horizontal windows, an open plan and free façade), as well as its social aim, very ambitious for the time and based on a unique financing program.

Initiated by the Salvation Army over 80 years ago, the project continues today, welcoming and helping to re-establish those most in need, thanks to a renovation completed in November 2015.

This remarkable restoration, a conservation project with a benevolent objective, is the result of the joint intervention of the Salvation Army Foundation, the Fondation Le Corbusier, the Résidences Sociales de France-Immobilier, OPERA Architectes, François Chatillon architectural agency, COTEC….

François Chatillon, Managing Architect for Historic Monuments, leads the project in association with architect Vanessa Fernandez, (Hunt Fellow 2010), AMO historical research advisor. To read the project presentation (in French) authored by Fernandez, follow this link.