Christian
Sottile
Dean, School of Building Arts
- M.Arch., architecture, Savannah College of Art and Design, 1997
- M.Arch. II, architecture and urban design, Syracuse University, 1999
First year at SCAD:
1999
Credentials/past experience:
Design principal, Sottile & Sottile, Urban Design and Civic Architecture, Savannah, Georgia; urban research fellow, Florence, Italy; city architect, City of Beaufort, South Carolina; professor of architecture, Savannah College of Art and Design, Savannah, Georgia; apprentice, John C. LeBey, FAIA, Architect, Savannah, Georgia
Most significant accomplishment(s):
Establishing Sottile & Sottile as an international, award-winning urban design and civic architecture practice with its primary focus on civic design and master planning, emphasizing historic research, urban analysis and community-wide engagement. Most recently, Sottile led the design of the new SCAD Museum of Art, a historic preservation project that revived the freight sheds of the Central of Georgia Railroad complex, a National Historic Landmark and the only extant antebellum railroad complex in the United States.
Awards, recognition, honors:
- National Council of Arts Administrators, Art Leadership Award, 2011
- AIA National Honor Award for Urban Design, 2010, 1998
- Congress for the New Urbanism, Charter Award, 2009
- Government Finance Officers of the United States, 2009
- AIA Georgia Honor Award, 2008, 2005, 1996
- Georgia Department of Community Affairs, 2008, 2005
- Historic Savannah Foundation, Preservation Award, 2008, 2004, 2002, 2001, 2000
- American Planning Association, 2008, 2005, 2004
- Georgia Trust for Historic Preservation, 2003
- USA Today, Top 100 Academics in the Nation, 1998
In the news:
Preservation magazine: "New Life for an Old Depot: Remnants of an 1853 railroad depot contribute to a major expansion of a Savannah Museum"
SCAD press release:
SCAD press release:
Organizations:
American Institute of Architects; National Council of Architectural Registration Boards; National Council of Arts Administrators; National Charrette Institute; Veritas Academy Rhetoric School; Savannah Development and Renewal Authority; Creative Coast Alliance; Congress for the New Urbanism; American Planning Association
Publications and/or presentations:
- TEDx Conference, Recovering Humanity in the Built Environment
- China, Jiujiang City, US Planning and Historic Preservation
- Association of Metropolitan Planning Organizations, The New City
- Georgia Conservancy, Blueprints for Successful Communities
- New York Project for Public Spaces, Livability Forum
- Urban Land Institute, The Next Big Ideas
- United States Urban Forestry Program, Savannah's East River
- American Planning Association, National Conference, Human Design Principles
- International Making Cities Livable Conference, Design Districts
- National Public Radio, History of Ellis Square
- National Endowment for the Humanities, Sustainable Urbanism
Inspiration for teaching:
"To engage in discourse about our collective future, to dissolve perceived boundaries between design disciplines and to re-establish art as the shared language of the built environment. The future is the city. It is the place where all design disciplines come together and where all design disciplines are needed at the same time. At SCAD, we are doing nothing less than preparing students in the School of Building Arts to be the designers of the new city."
Courses:
- ARLH 306 Reading Urban Form
- ARCH 302 Architecture Design Studio II
- ARCH 303 Architecture Design Studio III
- ARCH 421 Advanced Architectural Presentation
- ARCH 765 Emerging Urban Issues
- INDS 321 Interior and Exterior Illustration
Artist statement:
"Make it so beautiful it breaks their hearts; fills their minds with wonder; and awakens their soul to awe."
Hide Bio
