Finding a New Commonwealth

On Nov. 30, 2022, French President Emmanuel Macron attended a remembrance ceremony at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier at Arlington National Cemetery less than three weeks after Armistice Day and 104 years after the cease fire marking 40 million military and civilian deaths during World War I. The tomb behind the old Custis-Lee Mansion overlooking the cemetery holds the remains of four soldiers interred separately after highly choreographed selections over the last 10 decades, representing 19 candidates from both World Wars, Korea, and Vietnam, 17 of which were exhumed from French soil or passed through France on their way to final resting place in Virginia.

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In the Market for Adaptive Reuse

Between the University of Virginia’s leafy main campus and downtown Charlottesville’s picture book pedestrian mall, the 10th and Page neighborhood has become a living case study for nearly 25 years in post-urban renewal revitalization. After the destruction of the predominantly African-American neighborhood Vinegar Hill in the 1960s, many of its residents reestablished themselves in and around 10th and Page, which has been a stronghold of Black homeownership and generational wealth for more than a century.

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Blue Ribbon “Changemakers” Anchor ArchEx in November

Architecture Exchange East 2022 boasts a three-day agenda with top-tier speakers, events meant to foster meaningful engagement and education under the banner of “Rebuilding Community.” The annual event, which offers both virtual and in-person ticket options, offers the kind of interactions that the profession has craved over the last couple of years, with organizer AIA Virginia forging its theme centered on rebuilding communities by reconnecting architects and industry professionals from around the Commonwealth.

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New Book Offers Real-World, Interdisciplinary STEM Lessons Using Architecture to Bridge Disciplinary Divides

Architecture education activist and author Arnaldo D. Cardona, whose career has been focused on advancing interdisciplinary learning approaches, published an innovative curriculum guide with today’s classrooms in mind. By providing hands-on activities that demonstrate how architecture is an ideal springboard to engage students in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math (STEM), he integrates interdisciplinary strategies, critical thinking, standards of learning, rubrics, and portfolio assessment. Using a performance-based approach, he lays a solid educational foundation in which students learn by discovery.

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The Heathen’s Guide to Going to Church: Adaptive Reuse of a Bygone Typology

THE STORY

The heart of communities in the West has always been the church, where congregants have not only worshiped and found greater meaning in their lives, but built their social lives around this hub. However, in recent decades, changing demographics and secularization have depreciated the church’s position as the social locus of society. This phenomenon is particularly conspicuous in Europe where its large, historic cathedrals have become progressively more vacant.

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