Please note: The Spring 2021 SoA Colloquium season continues with a presentation by SoA Lecturer Melanie Reddrick, AIA: The Clearing. Although the event will not be held in the Charles C. Hight Architecture Library due to Covid-19 related building restrictions, we are excited to announce that the talks will be broadcast on Zoom.
Monday, April 5, 2021 at 12:30 PM EST
Zoom Meeting ID: 99861954335 Passcode: 889268
(If you are joining out of the local Charlotte area, you may email soa-info@uncc.edu for an alternate Zoom log-in.)
Our neighborhoods have a past. Sometimes that past is evident, preserved, and celebrated—through our monuments, through our policies, and in our collective memory. Sometimes that past is hidden, forgotten, or has naturally faded over time. And sometimes that past is quickly and intentionally erased through a conscious process of clearing. This lecture will explore the clearing of two Charlotte neighborhoods (Fairview Homes and Double Oaks). It will also highlight two design proposals associated with these neighborhoods. One proposal is an individual reflection on the street names and stories that have been lost to history through the process of urban renewal. The other proposal is a collaborative effort between local students and professionals that seeks to knit these wounded neighborhoods back together. Both proposals (one under construction, one unbuilt) seek to bring the histories of these neighborhoods back into our collective memory, while healing the scars left behind by the initial destructive act.
Ms. Reddrick received the 2020 Distinguished Alumni Award in Architecture.