Beyond Architectural Style: What Should Preservation Preserve?

A Salon Talk by Chuck Wolf
Thursday, November 12, 3pm
Admission included in Membership, $10 for non-members

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ABOUT THE SALON

More and more, local public discourse reminds us that Santa Fe’s appearance tells only part of its story. Behind architectural identity are overlapping histories of Indigenous settlement, Spanish colonization, cultural adaptation, and a never-ending relationship between people and landscape. Drawing on purposeful observation through photography, recent writing, and observations of Santa Fe and the nearby Salinas Pueblo Missions, Chuck Wolfe will look beyond familiar forms to the human experiences, traditions, and historical consequences that give places their holistic identities. 

Wolfe challenges the familiar opposition between protecting historic character and accommodating change, suggesting that neither preservation nor abundance, considered alone, offers a complete civic vision. Central  to his presentation is what he calls the “replacement question”: If Santa Fe’s signature visual vocabulary suddenly disappeared, how would the city sustain its collective memory, adapt, and endure?

ABOUT THE SPEAKER

Chuck Wolfe is dedicated to improving global conversations about places, varied landscapes, and how communities grow and evolve. He has authored three photo-intensive books, Seeing the Better City, Urbanism Without Effort, and Sustaining a City's Culture and Character, which explore methods for understanding places as the intersection of built, sociocultural, and natural environments. His multifaceted career in the United States and living abroad includes 34 years as an environmental and land use lawyer, articles appearing in publications ranging from The Atlantic to GeekWire, and part-time academic roles as affiliate faculty at the University of Washington, visiting scholar positions in Sweden and Scotland, and serving as a 2018 Fulbright Specialist in Australia. This extensive background informs his current work, writing, and photography—notably his Substack, Resurgence: A Journey--as he navigates and reflects on his personal and creative explorations in New Mexico and the American Southwest.