Norwich University School of Architecture + Art will host a lecture by Devin Colman titled "Playing with Modernism: Recreational Architecture in Vermont in the mid-20th Century,” on Friday, April 4, at 4 p.m. in Chaplin Hall Gallery.
Colman is the state architectural historian for the Vermont Division for Historic Preservation. He will be discussing and presenting examples of modernism expressed in recreational buildings from the 1930s through the 1970s. This period saw the rapid growth of Vermont's skiing industry and the state park system, both of which required numerous new, modern facilities to attract and serve visitors. Some of these buildings are now historic structures, but are often not recognized as such because they don't look “old.”
“The goal of my talk,” Colman says, “is to raise awareness of these types of resources, and foster an appreciation for them as historic structures that document an important period of mid-20th century design.”
Colman has worked for the Vermont Division for Historic Preservation since 2006, after earning a Master of Science in historic preservation from the University of Vermont. His primary professional interest is in the identification and treatment of mid-20th century modern architecture—the buildings that many don’t think are historic and about which relatively little research has been done. Colman and his family live in a historic 1956 ranch house in Burlington.
This event is free and open to the public.
Norwich University is a diversified academic institution that educates traditional-age students and adults in a Corps of Cadets and as civilians. Norwich offers a broad selection of traditional and distance-learning programs culminating in Baccalaureate and Graduate Degrees. Norwich University was founded in 1819 by Captain Alden Partridge of the U.S. Army and is the oldest private military college in the United States of America. Norwich is one of our nation's six senior military colleges and the birthplace of the Reserve Officers’ Training Corps (ROTC).
