The University of Colorado Denver College of Architecture and Planning is proud to announce the college’s first-ever director of Contemporary Traditional Architecture Initiatives. Award winning designer, author and educator Christine G. H. Franck (pictured left) has been appointed the first Director.
Dean Mark Gelernter says “this new position will help pull together a number of programs and initiatives in our college around the theme of Enduring Places. This means designing buildings and places that can last longer by adapting to changes over time, rather than wastefully replacing them when functions or tastes change.” Enduring Places partners sustainability with historic preservation, and focuses renewed attention on how buildings in the past adapted more gracefully to change than many of our more recent buildings. This initiative will help today’s practitioners learn important lessons from our traditional settlement patterns, design languages and building practices.
The Enduring Places theme builds on existing strengths in the college. The Center of Preservation Research (CoPR) documents and analyzes historic buildings and places for lessons today, while the MS in Historic Preservation studies traditional building materials and processes. The Rocky Mountain Chapter of the Institute of Classical Architecture & Art supports a special topic area in Classical architecture.
“Christine Franck is the ideal person to help move these initiatives forward,” says Dean Gelernter. “She is a recognized leader in contemporary traditional architecture, and she has a strong record of success in building and finding funding for initiatives like this.”
“There is a forward-thinking spirit evident in the ground-breaking work of CU Denver’s College of Architecture and Planning,” says Franck, “and I am delighted to join their efforts and help advance knowledge, research and practice of contemporary traditional architecture.” She holds a Bachelor of Science in Architecture from the University of Virginia and a Master of Architecture from the University of Notre Dame. She began her career working for leading classical architect Allan Greenberg, and administering the first two American programs of the Prince of Wales’s Foundation for Building Community. Her own residential design work has won national awards including a Palladio Award.
Franck was the first Executive Director of the Institute of Classical Architecture & Art in New York. She has taught in the architectural programs at the University of Notre Dame and the Georgia Institute of Technology. She currently serves or has served on the Board of Directors of the ICAA, the ICAA Rocky Mountain Chapter, the National Civic Art Society, the International College of Chapters of INTBAU, and the Advisory Council of the University of Notre Dame. In 2002 she was honored by HRH The Prince of Wales
with the first Public Service Award of the Prince’s Foundation for “her outstanding contribution to the study of architecture and design.”
About the University of Colorado Denver
The University of Colorado Denver proudly celebrates its 40th anniversary. Since state legislation made it an independent university in 1973, CU Denver has grown from a few classrooms in an old tram car barn to a complete and dynamic urban campus, serving more than 14,000 students and awarding more graduate degrees than any other institution in Colorado. This year—through special events, commemorative displays, new building ground-breaking, a retro-themed Block Party and even a brand-new mascot—we celebrate 40 years of high-quality education in the heart of downtown Denver.
For information contact: Betsy Metzger, 303-315-1020; betsy.metzger@ucdenver.edu