The University of Notre Dame School of Architecture will host a three-day colloquium, “Durability in Construction,” Tuesday to Thursday (Oct. 26 to 28) at Bond Hall. The event is free and open to the public. Continuing education credits will be offered to architects free of charge.
For millennia, durability was central to the practice of architecture; buildings were made to last as long as possible, with materials and techniques chosen toward that end. Today short-lifespan construction has become the norm. Increasing the lifespan of buildings is crucial to environmental sustainability. This colloquium will focus on the importance of enduring architecture and review traditional methods from which buildings may benefit today.
British architect John Simpson will deliver the keynote address Tuesday at 5:30 p.m. in 104 Bond Hall. Simpson’s Carhart Mansion in Manhattan, completed in 2005, is the first building to employ load-bearing masonry in New York since the 1960s.
Wednesday’s presenters include New York architect Richard Sammons, London architect Alireza Sagharchi, and former chair of the School of Architecture Thomas Gordon Smith. Thursday’s presenters include Portuguese architect Jose Cornelio da Silva, and Jorge Hernandez, who recently completed the Coral Gables Museum, a LEED-certified renovation and addition to a National Register building.