BACK2010 Shutze Award Winner for Urban Design, Charleston, SC
Excellence in Traditional Design Winner for Urban Design, Charleston, South Carolina - our third award for this project!
Here is a speech excerpt of the Shutze Awards Ceremony by Calder Loth:
"We now go to the big picture: Urban Design. We can’t overstress the necessity of maintaining a sense of place in the infill and new development in our historic cities and neighborhoods. It’s difficult to think of a more beloved historic American city than Charleston. We are all aware of the ongoing debate in Charleston on how to treat new infill... Regrettably, Charleston has been subjected to well-meaning preservationists who parrot the meaningless mantra that new structures should be 'of our time'. ‘Of our time’, ‘of our time’, that’s all you hear from them. I’m sick of hearing it. As Steve Semes says: infill in historic quarters should not be of our time but of its place."
"A primary area of Charleston that desperately needs a fix and a vision for the future is Marion Square, a great urban space framed by historic buildings as well as vacant lots and some real architectural eyesores. Through a visioning process and a knowledge of Charleston's special architectural character, the distinguished firm of Fairfax & Sammons has given the city a blueprint for the future, one that can ensure that you know you are in Charleston when you are there."
"Using photos of historic and existing views alongside engaging renderings of sensitive infill and remodeling, the city has been given and inspiring image of what Marion Square could be, a place dripping with character and functioning urbanity. One infill project is slowly taking shape. We hope to live to see the entire vision become a reality."
"Anne Fairfax of Fairfax & Sammons (which maintains a Charleston office), and Peg Moore of Charleston’s Committee to Save the City, please receive our award for this enlightened plan: a Vision for Marion Square.”
