There is a renaissance of classicism in the arts, architecture, and civic art today that has the potential to restore beauty, civility, and harmony to our shared American life. The diverse tradition of philosophy, politics, and arts born in Greece, developed in Rome, and adapted across the centuries throughout Europe, was consciously adopted by our country’s founders to guide our nation and express its virtues. Today, a new generation of architects and artists recognize the classical tradition’s essential importance to building a future better than our recent past.
Christine G. H. Franck has been at the forefront of this modern classical renaissance, through her work as a designer, educator, author, and passionate advocate and has observed both extraordinary growth in and significant challenges to contemporary classicism. In her illustrated lecture, Franck will share her perspective on the scope, quality, and concerns of today’s classical renaissance. She will critically examine modern classical architecture, from the canonic to the idiosyncratic, from the public to the private, from the sacred to the mundane. She will introduce the work of both well-known and lesser-known architects, demonstrate the breadth and impact of this inspiring new architecture, and discuss the educational developments underlying and challenging these advances.
This annual lecture honors Alvin Holm, a founding member and President Emeritus of the Philadelphia Chapter of the ICAA. Past lecturers have included architects Gil Schafer, Peter Pennoyer and John B. Murray, as well as architectural historian Anne Walker.
AIA continuing education credits will be available for this lecture for those interested.
The Athenaeum of Philadelphia, designed in 1845 by John Notman, is an independent member-supported library and museum with collections that document the cultural and intellectual life of Philadelphia.
Christine G. H. Franck is a designer, educator, and author currently serving as the first Director of the new Center for Advanced Research in Traditional Architecture (CARTA) at the University of Colorado Denver College of Architecture and Planning. Franck is a recognized expert on the subjects of architectural education, historic American domestic architecture and modern classical architecture. Her own design work ranges from award-winning residential design to preservation, landscape and decorative projects. She holds a Bachelor of Science in Architecture from the University of Virginia and a Master of Architecture from the University of Notre Dame, and has been involved as either a trustee or an advisor for the Institute of Classical Architecture & Art, the International College of Chapters of the International Network of Traditional Building, Architecture and Urbanism (INTBAU), the National Civic Art Society (NCAS), and the University of Notre Dame School of Architecture.