The Sam Fox Public Lecture Series is designed to bring in "internationally recognized artists, architects, historians, and critics to campus, promoting new ideas in practice, theory, and technology in art, architecture, and design." I'd especially recommend this year's first speaker, architect Ann Beha, Principal, Ann Beha Architects, Boston, who's delivering the Carolyn Toft Lecture in Historic Preservation. Beha is noted for her ability to harmoniously integrate contemporary and historic architecture; St. Louis desperately needs her insights. One of our strongest assets is our wealth of top-notch architecture, but the problem we currently face is that many of our greatest buildings are flanked by open space, or ticky-tacky, disposible commercial buildngs. How to preserve what we have, while building new structures that are visionary but not jarring or out of place in an old, old city? If anyone will have answers, it's Ann Beha. As a profile of Beha in Wellesley's alumni magazine noted:
"Among her firm's innumerable prominent projects have been a preservation plan for the Massachusetts State House, the restoration of H.H. Richardson's Austin Hall at Harvard Law School, the renovation of Wellesley's French House, the renovation of the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, and the creation of planning studies for the Field Museum in Chicago. Ann also takes pride in her firm's historic-preservation efforts for community buildings such as three Cambridge fire stations and several libraries, places that, she says, 'real people actually use . . . every day'
Beha's focus on research sets her work apart: She believes that before instituting change, she must' 'understand a building's message, what it has been through, its rhythm and proportions.' This approach resonates with communities and preservationists across the nation."
The lecture takes place Wednesday, September 9; it's free and open to the public, with a reception at 6, followed by the lecture at 6:30 p.m. in the Steinberg Auditorium at the Mildred Lane Kemper Art Museum, 1 Brookings Drive, on the Washington University campus. This one's a no-miss for those concerned about the future of St. Louis' built environment. --Stefene Russell
