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."
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Jeffrey
Eley
Chair, historic preservation
- B.F.A., Virginia Commonwealth University, 1980
- M.Arch.History, University of Virginia, 1983
First year at SCAD:
1983
Credentials/past experience:
Professor, director of off-campus programs, dean of international studies, vice president for student services, vice president for academic services, Savannah College of Art and Design, Savannah, Georgia; board member, Georgia National Register Review Board for the Historic Preservation Division of the Georgia Department of Natural Resources; member, Board of the Historic Savannah Foundation
Most significant accomplishment(s):
"Contributing to the professional success and happiness of others."
Awards, recognition, honors:
1999. The European University/Hermitage Museum Summer Seminar, The Romanov Family as Collectors of Art, 1999; Co-chair. Mayor of Savannah's Task Force on Public Education Issues, 1992; Forbes Scholar. Victorian Society Summer Study Program in England, 1985; Association for the Preservation of Virginia Antiquities travel stipend for young scholars, 1981
Organizations:
Historic Savannah Foundation, National Trust for Historic Preservation, Association for Preservation Technology International, Recent Past Preservation Network, Victorian Society in America
Publications and/or presentations:
Publications
Presentations
- Ecologically Responsible: The Salt Marsh Cottages at Moss Creek Plantation, Island Packet, March 2011; Savannah Sketchbook, published May 2000; Exhibition Curator/Event Coordinator. It's in the Mail… Exhibit of special stamps and posters commissioned by the Royal Mail (British Postal System) during the twentieth century. Exhibit A Gallery, Savannah College of Art and Design, October 1994; exhibition coordinator, Deepening Concerns and New Impulses, exhibition of graduate student work from the Savannah College of Art and Design. Amerika Haus, Cologne, Germany, December 1992; Camberwell College of Art, London, England, January 1993; Savannah College of Art and Design, February 1993.
Presentations
- Architectural Romanticism in Nineteenth-Century Savannah. Presented as part of Sotheby's seminar Celebrating Savannah. October 2000.
- The Art of Restoration. Presented during the 52nd National Trust for Historic Preservation Conference in Savannah, Georgia, October 1998.
- An Aesthetic Jumble: Interior Design circa 1880. Presented as part of the 1996-1997 Historic Savannah Foundation lecture series, January 1997.
- Savannah Saved: The Preservation Movement in Savannah. Presented as a Mary Washington College historic preservation lecture, October 1995.
- A Utopian Dream: Oglethorpe's Plan for Savannah. Keynote address to the Southeast Association of Schools of Architecture annual meeting. October, 1994.
Inspiration for teaching:
"I am inspired by individuals - including family, friends, colleagues and students - who are passionate about what they do and have discovered ways to share their interests with others. As a professor, I strive to help students discover their own passion and challenge them to set goals that demand their very best. Each year, each quarter and each class students consistently inspire me through their extraordinary accomplishments."
Courses:
- ARLH 150 Architectural History in Savannah
- ARLH 206 Modern Architecture I: 1750-1900
- ARLH 208 Modern Architecture II: 1900-Present
- ARLH 236 European Architecture: 1400-1750
- ARLH 307 American Architecture and Urbanism
- ARLH 315 British Colonial Architecture in America
- ARLH 360 Architectural New York
- ARTH 100 Survey of Western Art I
- ARTH 110 Survey of Western Art II
- ARTH 373 New York as an Art Capital of the World
- HIPR 101 Introduction to Historic Preservation
- HIPR 202 Recording and Interpretation for Historical Buildings
- HIPR 203 Preservation Research
- HIPR 407 Adaptive Rehabilitation
