Events

Join the APT Technical Committee for Sustainable Preservation (TCSP) for this roundtable discussion on Decarbonizing the Built Environment through Heritage. In this webinar, authors who contributed to the APT Bulletin Special Issue of the same title will provide a brief overview of their article topic followed by a moderated discussion led by the TCSP. Discussion topics include reuse of existing buildings as a critical decarbonization strategy, tools and methods for quantifying embodied carbon, aligning performance standards with historic buildings, and more. 

Presented by the Technical Committee on Sustainable Preservation

As showcases for invention and innovation, world fairs have presented unique creative opportunities for bold engineering and iconic architecture symbolizing progress. While many fair structures were never intended to survive beyond an exposition, vestiges remain and continue to evolve as enduring expressions of cultural pride and optimism. This webinar will explore the history, reuse and conservation of two geographically distant world’s fair icons conceived in very different times, places and socio-political environments, resulting in unexpectedly differing outcomes.

Belgian Friendship Building
The Belgian Building at Virginia Union University, the sole surviving structure from the 1939 New York World's Fair, presents two distinct preservation conditions rooted in its original design as a temporary exhibition pavilion. Its structural steel frame — built-up riveted columns and girders connected between assemblies with bolts, allowing rapid disassembly — has performed with exceptional durability, showing no measurable movement or significant corrosion after more than eighty years. The envelope system is another matter. Architectural terra cotta tiles, stamped "Pottelberg, Made in Belgium," are suspended from horizontal steel purlins by galvanized wire and held in place with mortar whose thermal expansion coefficient is incompatible with both the steel and the tile. Differential movement has cracked and displaced mortar throughout, leaving the purlin system exposed to water infiltration. The wall assembly offers no practical path to remediation: the uninsulated air gap resists insulation, the thin steel window frames cannot accept double-pane glazing, and interior furring would damage original soapstone sills throughout. Available interventions threaten harm to what remains, fail to address the underlying condition, or conceal character-defining features of the building — a consequence of a system designed for a two-season exhibition, now asked to perform indefinitely in the humid mid-Atlantic climate of Richmond, Virginia.

Bryan Clark Green, coauthor of The Robert L. Vann Tower and the Belgian Friendship Building, published in 2025, will chronicle this strange saga, the building’s international journey, its preservation, adaptation and many lives.

Habitat 67
When it was designed and built half a century ago by the young and promising architect Moshe Safdie, Habitat 67 reflected the most unconventional aspects of the Montreal landscape. Its prefabricated, modular concrete construction, stacked in an unusual and irregular configuration, was shocking. Safdie's concept behind Habitat 67's bold form aimed to introduce a cutting-edge housing option—a hybrid between the multilevel single-family home and the multi-apartment urban building. Over the years, it has attracted tourists and architecture enthusiasts from around the world to study its fascinating composition.

Habitat was designated a heritage building (historic monument) by the Quebec Ministry of Culture in 2009 to preserve its iconic facade and fundamental character. When Moshe Safdie decided to renovate and restore his own unit within the Habitat complex, his vision was to preserve its character-defining attributes while making significant improvements. Architect Ghislain Bélanger of CO12 Architects worked closely with Safdie to address decades of water damage and restore the interior while undertaking technical upgrades to meet 21st century sustainability and energy conservation standards. Safdie and CO12 architects continue to be involved in the ongoing restoration of the building’s concrete exterior.

• Ghislain Bélanger, MOAQ, MRAIC, PA LEED
• Bryan Clark Green, PhD.
  

With the wide range of aging bridge types and conditions throughout the world, the need for quick, affordable and effective bridge repair techniques led one U.S. State Department (MassDOT) to partner with local universities (UMass Amherst and MIT) to research and develop 3D scanning and printing applications to help evaluate and restore deteriorated steel beam bridges throughout Massachusetts. This multi-year and phased collaborative research project yielded methods and lessons-learned for:

• documenting (3D scanning) and evaluating existing steel bridge beam deterioration,
• laboratory testing and evaluation of 3D printed steel bridge beam repairs, and
• adapting a potential new in-situ repair technology (cold-spray additive) into a commercially available, economical and in-situ repair application.

This webinar invites discussion and questions from the preservation community as it continues to explore the limits of 3D scanning and cold-spray additive technology in preserving our Nation’s aging (bridge and building) infrastructure.

New and Old: The 2027 Model Codes and Best Practices Applying Codes to Existing and Historic Buildings  -  A Two Session Series!

Session 1: The 2027 Model Codes

Among the 2027 model codes, published by the International Code Council in late 2026, are the International Existing Building Code and the International Energy Conservation Code.  Both regulate the rehabilitation of existing and historic buildings, with special provisions available to qualified historic structures.  Given the significant changes to the IEBC included in the 2027 edition, the ability to navigate these documents for the benefit of the historic or existing building is essential. This session will include an overall presentation on the codes affecting historic or existing buildings and present opportunities to balance code requirements with the parallel goals of maintaining historic significance, cost, and construction efficiency.  Given the direct relationship between energy requirements and building HVAC systems, the session will include a presentation on the unique considerations affecting the selection of equipment for historic buildings. 

• Discuss the new format, content, and changes in the 2027 International Existing Building Code. 
• Identify the issues and potential solutions facing historic buildings vulnerable to exterior fires. 
• Describe requirements and opportunities for historic buildings in the International Energy Conservation Code and other reference standards. 
• Review considerations for meeting HVAC performance requirements that can also protect and enhance the historic building. 
  

Continuing Education

3.5 LU/HSW/PDH CEU

Can't join the webinar live? A limited-access recording of this session will be available to those who register for the webinar. 

Please note: Accreditation guidelines dictate that CEU credit is only available to participants of the live sessions.

• John Curley
• Sean Denniston
• Lesley M. Gilmore, AIA, FAPT, APT RP
• Mike Jackson, FAIA
• Marilyn Kaplan, FAPT
• Laine Mclaughlin, AIA
• Thomas Newbold, PE
• Tina Roach, AIA

After successful events in Chicago, Washington, DC, and New York City APT heads to San Antonio!

Please join us for an evening event to connect with colleagues, meet new preservation peers, hear the latest news from APT international and our Texas Chapter, and learn from the Alamo team about the exciting ongoing work at this UNESCO World Heritage and National Historic Landmark site.

After some general comments about APT and the tremendous work at the Alamo there will be opportunities to tour the site to see and meet with the experts doing active restoration work.



Wine, beer, and light refreshments will be served.

This is an educational and social event with a brief formal program plus opportunities to tour and socialize.

New and Old: The 2027 Model Codes and Best Practices Applying Codes to Existing and Historic Buildings  -  A Two Session Series!

Session 2:  The Performance Compliance Method - A Little Used but Powerful Tool

The Performance Compliance method, one of three compliance paths included in the International Existing Building Code (IEBC), is considered by some to be the optimal code path for existing and historic buildings.  In 1985 this compliance path, then titled “Compliance Alternatives,” was introduced to the BOCA National Building Code, one of the legacy construction codes on which the IEBC is based. Its unique structure uses a numerical risk index system to establish code-minimum solutions unique to a building’s construction and occupancies classifications. This session will provide an overview of this compliance method.  Although it will not serve as a detailed training session for this method, it will demonstrate the benefits of the method with the intention of encouraging its use by architects and engineers. The session will include case studies where the requirements of multiple compliance paths have been explored and compared, ultimately leading to selection of this compliance method due to the cost and construction efficiencies it provides when applied to historic or other existing buildings.

• Explore the value the Performance Compliance Method can provide when rehabilitating historic buildings. 
• Discuss the basic mechanics of using the Performance Compliance Method. 
• Describe the value of comparing compliance paths permitted by the International Existing Building Code.
• Review the different outcomes permitted by use of the Performance Compliance Method, and how these can positively affect budget while protecting historic materials and spaces. . 
  

Continuing Education

3.5 LU/HSW/PDH CEU

Can't join the webinar live? A limited-access recording of this session will be available to those who register for the webinar. 

Please note: Accreditation guidelines dictate that CEU credit is only available to participants of the live sessions.

• John Curley
• Sean Denniston
• Lesley M. Gilmore, AIA, FAPT, APT RP
• Mike Jackson, FAIA
• Marilyn Kaplan, FAPT
• Laine Mclaughlin, AIA
• Thomas Newbold, PE
• Tina Roach, AIA