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Gray Area 3—Negotiating Between Contemporary Design and Historic Preservation

University of the Arts
Title page of the limited-edition catalog Gray Area: Provocations on the Future of Preservation, produced by Gray Area, part of DesignPhiladelphia, with support from The Pew Center for Arts & Heritage in 2011.
Title page of the limited-edition catalog Gray Area: Provocations on the Future of Preservation, produced by Gray Area, part of DesignPhiladelphia, with support from The Pew Center for Arts & Heritage in 2011.

The next phase of a multi-part conversation about historic preservation, first initiated in 2011, Gray Area 3 will convene community members and a team that includes architect and Pew Fellow Brian Phillips, a builder, an educator, a preservationist, and a public historian. They will discuss the "adaptive re-use" of two vacant Philadelphia buildings: the Max Levy building at 212-220 Roberts Avenue in Germantown and Hawthorne Hall at 3849 Lancaster Avenue in Mantua. The project is conceived to stimulate discussion around these sites, and many others like them, by exploring contemporary design solutions that take into account community needs, preservation concerns, and the modern realities of urban life. Local residents will also be chosen to act as "community partners," in order to gather and incorporate public feedback.

Primary EventsEvents & Exhibitions
Rick Lowe speaks at the third World Summit on Arts and Culture. Photo courtesy of the International Federation of Arts Councils and Culture Agencies.

Gray Area 3: Rick Lowe on Art Making and the Future of Preservation

May 6, 2014
African American Museum in Philadelphia

uestions of ractice
Interview

Gray Area: Provocations on the Future of Preservation

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Recipient
University of the Arts

University of the Arts

Established in 1876, the University of the Arts is one of the nation's only universities dedicated solely to educating students in the visual and performing arts and design. The university offers a broad range of undergraduate and graduate programs to nearly 1,900 students who connect, collaborate, and create across disciplines and traditional boundaries. 

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Explore Connections
Larry W. Cook, Untitled.
National Media Spotlight on Philadelphia’s Cultural Scene
Nels Cline in performance at Royce Hall, Los Angeles. Photo by Phinn Sriployrung.

Guitarist Nels Cline on Musical Lineage
Video Tradition & Translation
Walking with Trane, Urban Bush Women. Photo by Gennia Cui.
Questions of Practice: Choreographer Jawole Willa Jo Zollar on Art and Social Justice
Video Social & Community-Based Practices
Sonia Sanchez. Photo by Erika Vonie.
Celebrating Poet Sonia Sanchez, plus Pew Fellows Earn Guggenheim Fellowships, Peabody Award, and More
Pew Fellows Candice Iloh and Armando Veve. Photos by Neal Santos.

Fellow to Fellow: Candice Iloh and Armando Veve Find Inspiration in Each Other’s Mediums
Interview Cross-Disciplinary Practices
Enrique Bostelmann, Portrait of Cora Flores, 1980, part of Mirages series.

Projects in Process: Discoveries in the Archives with Berman Museum and Japan America Society
Essay Legacy & Archives
Yolanda Wisher, 2022 Philadelphia's Cultural Treasures fellow and 2015 Pew Fellow. Photo by Mark Palacio.
Four Philadelphia’s Cultural Treasures Fellows on Care and Community Impact
EgoPo Classic Theater, rehearsal for Ramayana with Papermoon Puppet Theatre and Kalanari Theatre Movement, 2023, Java, Indonesia. Photo courtesy of EgoPo. 

Projects in Process: Wilma Theater and EgoPo on Creative Collaborations
Essay Co-Authorship & Collaboration