Seattle is a seaport city and the largest in the Pacific Northwest region. With a growth rate of 21% between 2010 and 2020, it makes it one of the nation's fastest-growing large cities. Native Americans inhabited the Seattle area for at least 4,000 years before the first permanent European settlers. Arthur A. Denny and his group of travelers, subsequently known as the Denny Party, arrived from Illinois via Portland, Oregon, on the schooner Exact at Alki Point on November 13, 1851. The settlement was moved to the eastern shore of Elliott Bay and named "Seattle" in 1852 in honor of Chief Si'ahl of the local Duwamish and Suquamish tribes. Today, Seattle's diverse population includes Native, Scandinavian, European American, Asian American, and African American people, as well as a thriving LGBT community that ranks sixth in the United States by population.
The "Emerald City" is defined by Puget Sound to the west and the various lakes the city is built around, including Lake Union, Lake Washington, and Greenlake. Water, green foliage, and mountains define almost every view. Its beauty and location serves as a backdrop for big businesses with Seattle roots like Boeing, Amazon, Microsoft, and Starbucks, and nourishes an art and music scene that has set trends around the globe. Seattle’s skyline is peppered with historic towers next to modern landmarks by Frank Gehry and Rem Koolhaas, all within walking distance of each other. Come and learn how the recent growth and influx of money has both helped and challenged the preservation industry in the Pacific Northwest. We look forward to seeing you in Seattle in October 2023!
Event Summary
2023 APT Annual Conference October 9-14, 2023
Sheraton Grand Seattle, Washington 1400 6th Ave, Seattle, WA 98101, United States
Program Track 1: Technology in Historic Preservation
Technology (T.E.C.H.) in historic preservation, will showcase innovative use of new, emerging, or existing technologies in historic preservation. Technology serves several critical roles in historic preservation, providing ways to document properties, design adaptations, and/or remedy structural or other material issues, just to name a few. Before point cloud scanning, there was hand measuring and documenting with ink on mylar; before center coring and base isolation, there were shear walls and moment frames; before solar shingles, there were cedar shakes. All of these represent advancements in technology that affect historic building features or preservation practices.
Program Track 2: Environment (Resilience and Natural Disasters)
How do we enable historical places to adapt to the dynamic forces in our environment (T.E.C.H.)? Our preservation approaches are evolving in the face of environmental hazards. Stronger storms, rising sea levels, inland flooding, increased wildfire danger, landslides, and earthquakes highlight the importance of adopting proactive measures to ensure long-term protection. With a focus on the technical preservation of heritage, this track highlights resilience, including recovery from, and preventative measures related to, natural disasters and climate change. It is not intended to cover the natural hazards themselves, except where sufficient contextual information is needed to understand the preservation approach. Understanding both traditional and unconventional preservation solutions may proactively prepare for and respond to natural disasters as well as reduce the impact of carbon and climate change.
Program Track 3: Cultural Heritage
Technical issues involved in saving our shared cultural heritage (T.E.C.H.) can both inspire and inform ways to conserve and curate our built environment for future generations. Cultural heritage is local and global, ancient and modern, visible and hidden, celebrated and threatened. Protecting cultural heritage takes many forms and presents challenges that are both unique to specific projects and universal. Throughout history, heritage has become endangered – through conflict, gentrification, and programs that typically do not represent our vibrant and mixed communities. How are our stories protected as a bookmark of the past while leaving space for tales not yet told? Presentations that address the issues of Justice, Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion are strongly encouraged.
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