Affordable Housing and Town Planning: Ray Gindroz and Hugh Petter on the affordability crisis

Architect Ray Gindroz discusses his life's work on affordable housing, and architect Hugh Petter speaks about planning new towns around mixed-income housing.

In November 2023, the Institute of Classical Architecture & Art hosted the national conference Enduring Places. For three days, 225 participants from around the country gathered in Charleston, South Carolina and engaged in a diverse offering of talks, panel discussions, working sessions, and tours focused on three themes: craftsmanship, preservation, and sustainability. Over eight hours of this rich programming are now freely available to the public.

About the Lecture:

Affordable housing is one of the most significant challenges facing our cities and towns today. Once limited to gateway cities such as New York, San Francisco, and London, affordability is a challenge that faces nearly every American city and town. As we address these issues, it is essential to note that historic town-planning principles hold the secrets to success in solving the affordability crisis.

About the Speakers:

Raymond L. Gindroz was a managing principal and Chairman of Urban Design Associates, an international practice in urban design and architecture. Under his leadership, the firm pioneered the development of participatory planning processes for neighborhoods, downtowns and regional plans. This included transforming inner-city neighborhoods and public housing projects into mixed income communities and working with downtowns to attract new development. He also initiated the revival and application of Pattern Books in neighborhood building. He continues as a senior consultant to the firm. Ginzdroz taught at the Yale Graduate School of Architecture, Carnegie Mellon University, and The City University of New York. His published writings include the Urban Design Handbook (2003, second edition 2014) which has become a standard text in many architecture schools around the country and in England. He and his wife established the Marilyn and Ray Gindroz Foundation which supports international study programs for university students in Architecture, Urbanism and Music.

Hugh Petter graduated with Distinction from Portsmouth School of Architecture. He helped to establish the Foundation Course at The Prince of Wales’s Institute of Architecture, where he served as Senior Tutor. Hugh sits on the Executive Committee of the Georgian Group, is a member of the RIBA Planning Group, an elected brother of the Art Workers’ Guild and past Chairman of the Trustees, and is a member of the Prince’s Foundation Professional Network. Hugh joined ADAM Architecture as an Associate in 1993 and became a Director in 1997. Hugh is recognized worldwide for his residential portfolio, his master plans and new urban design, and commercial projects. Some current and recent projects are Nansledan, a major urban extension to Newquay for the Duchy of Cornwall and the new Levine Building at Trinity College in Oxford. Hugh’s work was recently published in Living Tradition, The Architecture and Urbanism of Hugh Petter, by Triglyph Books.

SPONSORS

The ICAA is very grateful to John F.W. Rogers for generously making this program possible along with our supporters:

Classical American Homes Preservation Trust
Historic Charleston Foundation
Oliveri Millworks
Traditional Building
Schafer Buccellato Architects

CONTRIBUTING SPONSORS

A Classical Studio, Inc.
Benedictine College
Gaston & Wyatt
Goodwin Classic Homes
Jared Goss
Historical Concepts
ICAA Northern California Chapter
Leeds Custom Design and Seabreeze Building
Anne Kriken Mann
John B. Murray & Elizabeth Brooke Murray
Poggenpohl
Reis Contracting
Skurman Architects
Peter J. Talty
Tucker & Marks
The Urban Electric Co.
Vallette & Russell Windham

LECTURE SPONSORS

Ankie & Fran Barnes
Stan Dixon
Marsha & David Dowler
Barbara Eberlein
Kirk Henckels
Jeff Allen Landscape Architecture, LLC
Anne Lazar
Marmi Stone
Suzanne R. Santry
Tammy Connor Interior Design
Urban Design Associates
Whitlock Builders
Bunny Williams

CONFERENCE COMMITTEE

Russell Windham, Chair
Ankie Barnes
Andrew Cogar
Richard Economakis
Ray Gindroz
Alexa Hampton
Thomas Lloyd
Michael Mesko
Eric Osth
Suzanne Santry

IN COLLABORATION WITH ICAA NATIONAL OFFICE STAFF

Peter Lyden, President
Caroline Slaten, Vice President, Development
Julia Sucher, Manager, Development & Special Events
Lexi Hoglund, Assistant, Development and Office of the President