Building Tradition Episode 21: Interview with architect Christian Sottile

Host Peter H. Miller Hon AIA interviews Christian Sottile, professor of architecture at Savannah College of Art and Design and principal of Sottile and Sottile Architects

"Historic preservation is about the future. Preservation is a powerful act of design," exclaims Christian Sottile, professor of architecture at Savannah College of Art and Design and principal of Sottile and Sottile Architects.

Christian Sottile Photo Courtesy of Christian Sottile

Sottile has a perspective on preservation not often shared by others in the professional design community. "The more I practice traditional architecture the more I realize that traditional design is the search for truth. And historic preservation is more about the future than the past."

Sottile and Sottile's work prove the point. Their preservation and adaptive use projects, the Armstong Kessler Mansion as well as the SCAD Art Museum bring the past to the future, making these buildings worth preserving 100 years from now because they are durable, beautiful and loveable.

"Classicism offers our SCAD students something real," Sottile explains. "They love drawing by hand." The human element of classical design is an antidote to the digitization of our world, the orders, an antidote to the chaos of our culture .

Listen in as Christian Sottile talks about designing a sympathetic addition to an Italian Renaissance mansion, salvaging 500,000 bricks in a historic riverfront power plant and how architecture is being taught at Savannah College of Art and Design.