Features
The 25 – Gary L. Brewer
A partner at Robert A.M. Stern Architects, Gary L. Brewer leads the design of institutional, hospitality, and residential projects.
His work includes the Spangler Center, which complements McKim, Mead & White’s 1920s master plan for the Harvard Business School campus, and a hotel, conference center, and golf clubhouse on Kiawah Island in South Carolina.
He also has designed a number of private residences around the country and is working on two new projects in Charleston—a mixed-use building that involves the restoration of a historic train shed and repurposing notable houses; and the first senior living building on King Street.
The work that he and the firm have done illustrates that traditional design and urbanism are legitimate approaches for many different building types, ranging from single-family houses to university buildings, apartments, and commercial structures.
“We think deeply about urban design and how our buildings can contribute to cities and enhance neighborhoods,” he says. “One of the core ideas of our practice is to make places better. Groupings of buildings, in a way, are actually more important than individual buildings.”
Brewer, who has always been interested in art and academics, saw architecture as a profession that would allow him to span both areas.
When Brewer began practicing, in the 1980s, there weren’t many firms focusing on traditional design. That led him to co-found The Institute of Classical Architecture & Art, a professional organization that helps educate as well as advocate and support traditional urbanism and design.
What started as a small group of adherents of traditional design now is an entity with 15 chapters.
“I don’t think any of us imagined it would grow into a national organization that has had such a lasting impact,” he says. “For younger architects, examples like this show that with an idea and a certain amount of chutzpah and energy, they can truly effect change.”
Brewer, who frequently lectures on traditional house design, the history of pattern-book houses, and New York City clubs, is the co-author of the 2021 monograph “Houses: Robert A.M. Stern Architects.”
The work he’s done with RAMSA, he says, “helps people have a better appreciation for their community because what we do is so rooted in context. What we’re trying to do is drill into the history of a place and make it more of what it was, so that it is special to the place that we’re building.”
Calling traditional buildings prime sustainability assets, Brewer says that he hopes that “people will begin to think about the long-term benefits of building traditional architecture, so we can get back to where people are excited about the impact these buildings can have on their communities.”
