27 replies to this topic

[riari]

{cotuit...feel free to move this if it belongs somewhere else}

Pawtucket: what's it like?...find out at the RI Statewide Historic Preservation Conference in PAWTUCKET on Sat., April 14.  The conference is a great chance to walk and talk Pawtucket all day long.  Walking tours will stroll Downtown, the Exchange St historic district, and Pawtucket hydroelectric facilities past, present, and future.  Bus tours will visit Pawtucket industrial sites, 20th-century landmarks, and Oak Hill.  Plus there's a tour of East Prov industrial sites, but if you wanted the opportunity to visit a bonbon factory in Central Falls, that tour is SOLD OUT.  

Also, there's a Pawtucket Forum (catch up on train station and trash transfer developments), a Pawtucket KleenUp, Pawtucket food from the Exchange St. Cafe, and several sessions and the closing reception at The Grant.  Eltron and J are hosting a panel at The Grant on renovating old buildings as incubator spaces.  

The main theme for the conference, besides Pawtucket, is "Something Old, Something Green," as we look at the exchange between historic preservation and environmental sustainability.  But I just wanted to make sure that the Pawtucket Patriots out there knew that the conference is a big showcase for Pawtucket.  

[Cotuit]

riari, on Mar 20 2007, 10:07 AM, said:

{cotuit...feel free to move this if it belongs somewhere else}

I think its worthy of its own thread.

[riari]

Cotuit, on Mar 20 2007, 10:22 AM, said:

I think its worthy of its own thread.

Why thanks.  

I'm doing my best to dangle some bait here.  Other tour highlights (besides the bonbon factory) include Apex and the workers' bowling alley at Hope Webbing.  Plus the interior of Tolman Auditorium (1926) is an almost movie palace with colonial-revival/deco ornament, murals of local historic scenes, and a huge space.  See it to believe it.

[KBagley]

I'm registered!  This is always a great conference and one of the better ones among statewide preservation conferences.

[Cotuit]

I printed out the pdf and am perusing the sessions.

[eltron]

Cotuit, on Mar 20 2007, 02:29 PM, said:

I printed out the pdf and am perusing the sessions.

Come hear J. and I wax poetic about almost losing our shirts and shoveling icy slush off of leaky roofs!

It should be a great day, actually. And riari (if its who I think it is) should be commended for putting it together...

Edited by eltron, 20 March 2007 - 01:55 PM.

[riari]

eltron, on Mar 20 2007, 02:54 PM, said:

Come hear J. and I wax poetic about almost losing our shirts and shoveling icy slush off of leaky roofs!

No reenactments, please!

[eltron]

riari, on Mar 20 2007, 08:18 PM, said:

No reenactments, please!

Ha! hopefully we're past all that now....

should be a fun day!

[Cotuit]

eltron, on Mar 21 2007, 09:59 AM, said:

should be a fun day!

I'm looking forward to it!  

[Cotuit]

Got my confirmation today and I got all my first choices for conferences.  

[mr2448]

Cotuit, on Mar 25 2007, 04:33 PM, said:

Got my confirmation today and I got all my first choices for conferences.  

It's good to see this event go to a city other than Providence or Newport. Woonsocket or West Warwick would also be a good choice.

[riari]

mr2448, on Mar 25 2007, 08:11 PM, said:

It's good to see this event go to a city other than Providence or Newport. Woonsocket or West Warwick would also be a good choice.

Would love to do West Warwick, but the grant funding for the conf prioritizes cities and towns with local historic districts.  It can be done, however, as there have been conferences that team up a town with a LHD with one without.  North Smithfield/Woonsocket; Hopkinton/Westerly.  Block Island has a local historic district...hmm...

FYI last-minute registerers, the tours of Exchange St, Central Falls, and Industrial Pawtucket are SOLD OUT.

Edited by riari, 26 March 2007 - 02:40 PM.

[mr2448]

riari, on Mar 26 2007, 07:09 AM, said:

Would love to do West Warwick, but the grant funding for the conf prioritizes cities and towns with local historic districts.  It can be done, however, as there have been conferences that team up a town with a LHD with one without.  North Smithfield/Woonsocket; Hopkinton/Westerly.  Block Island has a local historic district...hmm...

FYI last-minute registerers, the tours of Exchange St, Central Falls, and Industrial Pawtucket are SOLD OUT.

I am surprised that none of the West Warwick Villages have been designated as LHD's. Crompton, Phoenix, Natick, etc all seem to have some of the necessary qualifications. I think Apponaug in Warwick is a LHD and maybe this is the way to reach West Warwick?

[riari]

"The greenest building is the one already built," said keynote speaker Jean Carroon.  
Any feedback from the conference?

[eltron]

riari, on Apr 16 2007, 01:57 PM, said:

"The greenest building is the one already built," said keynote speaker Jean Carroon.  
Any feedback from the conference?

It was awesome!

Of course, I was just glad our temporary plumbing held out, but having 400 people in the building was great to say the least. Good job all around!
All of the feedback I heard was enthusiastically positive for the conference and pawtucket!

[riari]

eltron, on Apr 16 2007, 02:25 PM, said:

It was awesome!

Of course, I was just glad our temporary plumbing held out, but having 400 people in the building was great to say the least. Good job all around!
All of the feedback I heard was enthusiastically positive for the conference and pawtucket!

I hope the plumbing worked out for you over nor'easter weekend...dare I ask?
Grant was a superb venue, and Pawtucket was awesome.  City people, nonprofit people, for profit people, losing-shirt people...all a pleasure to work with.  Thank you so much!

[Cotuit]

I was waiting for a chance to download my photos from the Hydro Walking Tour, but I haven't had a chance yet. The conference was great though, the opening speaker (I forget her name off the top of my head) gave a lot to think about. And the Grant was beautiful. Glad I finally got to see it.

[Cotuit]

Here's some photos I took on the walking tour I went on:

[Frankie811]

How green is our architecture?  As discussed at a number of the conference seminars, the recently developed system for certifying a proposed building’s green status gives short shrift to the energy efficiency of old buildings and their reuse. http://www.projo.com...U3.1de70c6.html

[xine]

Frankie811, on Apr 19 2007, 06:45 AM, said:

How green is our architecture?  As discussed at a number of the conference seminars, the recently developed system for certifying a proposed building’s green status gives short shrift to the energy efficiency of old buildings and their reuse. http://www.projo.com...U3.1de70c6.html

Setting aside the evil embodied by architects who have made the grave error of not being born in 1830 for a moment if we may, there were many really important points raised in the conference about how historic preservation is supportive of green building goals and vice versa, including many those promoted by LEED.

I think the criticism of LEED in this respect is not quite fair since it doesn't recognize the other categories in which LEED rewards preservation of existing buildings especially within existing urban infrastructure. Besides the paltry points for actual reuse of buildings, there are points for reuse of salvaged material; for selection of sites on mass-transit lines; for sites within walking distance of schools, shops, and jobs; for materials produced locally; for redeveloped sites that don't consume farmland or green space; for spaces with high amounts of daylight and views like most older buildings; and for density and buidling within  projects in high-density areas (with the new LEED-ND system).

LEED is very far from a perfect system and could do much more to promote long-lasting materials, occupant density, and encourage easier use of low-tech solutions like natural ventilation. I think you could also make a case for considering a point for buildings in a recognized historic district or status.

Consider, though, that LEED's basic approach is to encourage buildings that are better than an average office park that tears down a forest 30 miles from a city center, paves the entire site, has five times as many lights as it needs but not enough windows to go around, suffocates its occupants with recirculated air, and throws everything out in 5 years when the tenant changes.  

Not only is that an odd benchmark for every single building we build, but the system is over-relied upon as the only measure of "green".