I am very pleased to be invited and attended "Board of Directors" Meeting of the Society of Architectural Historians in Atlanta, GA on April 29, 2025.
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This year, it has been such an honor and a pleasure for me to be invited to “Board of Directors” meeting of “the Society of Architectural Historians” (SAH) at the beginning of its 78th Annual International Conference in Atlanta, GA (April 30 - May 4, 2025), as one of editors of SAHARA, digital architecture sources archive by “SAH” and funded by the Mellon Foundation. (with my published “2156” high quality architectural and interior photographs to develop its content on climate responsive, energy efficient and inclusive design, and my reviewed/edited/updated/published “2729” SAHARA records since August 2025).
As the largest professional gathering dedicated to architectural history anywhere in the world (as SAH indicated in their e-mail on Apr 4, 2025), this year, this inspiring international conference has consisted of 56 sessions as well as roundtable discussions, workshops, networking receptions, keynote talks, SAH’s annual awards ceremony, and public architecture tours. It has been such an exciting international conference to enrich and nurture our scientific/scholarly vision!
“Board of Directors” meeting was highly beneficial for me to comprehend multilayered structure of the SAH, potential and critical subjects for its current and future directions with board members’ suggestions and experiences in teaching, research and publishing in architectural, urban, landscape, interior history. In particular, I have been pleased that they brought emerging / international scholars’ challenges and struggles into focus. (from financial support to visa issues, etc.). As a SAHARA editor, I have expressed a. why we need “data” on the scope and content of this SAH digital architecture resource archives, b. vital importance of “active” collaboration between SAHARA and SAH affiliate groups, members for (more) inclusive and diverse content and c. (more) responsive SAHARA scope and content with a focus on (urgent) problems in architecture and relevant design-centered disciplines and their histories, such as “climate emergency, health equity, social justice, efficient energy usage, affordable food, underrepresented communities, accessibility, etc.”.
At the end of the Board of Directors meeting, it was another pleasure for me to meet Gabrielle Esperdy (Editor, SAH Archipedia and Buildings of the United States, Dean and Professor of Architecture, Hillier College of Architecture and Design, New Jersey Institute of Technology) in person: I have expressed my thanks to her to publish my “887” architectural photographs by SAH Archipedia and my wish for our collaboration to develop SAHARA and SAH Archipedia together.
Award Ceremony was a celebration of inspiring professors & scholars for their dedicated research studies with publications which bring fresh and innovative perspectives into their expertise field. With my deep concerns about “ (inclusive) historical documentation practice and methods” in architectural his/herstory (for climate risk and other urgent issues in the field), I am more than pleased that “SAH 2025 Fellow” award has been given to an “archivist”, architectural historian and educator this year: Stephen Tobriner (Ph.D. from Harvard University, 1972). (1). Following his award, it was a great pleasure for me to have a short talk with him about architectural archives and hope to continue it.
Within “SAH”, I am more than pleased that our “Historic Interiors Affiliate Group” has launched its “Article Award” and the winner of this inaugural award has been announced during the Award Ceremony evening of this conference! (2). It has been another honor for me to co-prepare this (first) Article Award proposal with Assoc. Prof. Jennifer Kaufman Buhler with support by Assoc. Prof. Paula Lupkin, the founding president and Assoc. Prof. Anca Lasc, co-president of our affiliate group. It has been more than great to meet our Historic Interiors Affiliate Group members in-person as well!. (3).
With my deep concerns about climate emergency/natural disasters, in particular, I have learned a lot while listening to speakers at the session of "Revising Histories of Post-Conflict/Disaster Reconstruction" and hope I can learn more about their research studies.
Hinman Research Building (rehabilitation / adaptive reuse project by NADAA), Georgia Tech. Campus, Atlanta Central Library (the last architectural design by Marcel Breuer) are some of new discoveries for me in Atlanta (in addition to conference presentations and discussions) and they took their places in my photography collection.
Finally, my "first" destination to the U.S. was Harvard (for the first step of my Ph.D. dissertation research) and SAH (established at Harvard in 1940) means a kind of scholarly "home" for me due to its (full) commitment to scientific integrity, moral clarity and professional excellence: As two SAH conference speakers (2018, 2023), a recipient of SAH scholar fellowship (2018), a contributor and an author of SAH Archipedia, an editor of SAHARA and active member of HIG-SAH, “SAH” has been still nurturing my vision with fresh ideas. Thanks, SAH's leaders, its team and its huge global community. “Trust” can’t be replaced with any other word/thing.
Atlanta will always have a special place in my personal archive.
1. https://www.sah.org/about-sah/news/news-detail/2025/02/20/society-of-architectural-historians-names-2025-fellow,
last accessed on May 7, 2025.
2. https://www.sah.org/programs/sah-awards/publication-awards,
, last accessed on May 7, 2025.
3. https://www.sah.org/programs/sah-connects/2020/what-is-a-historic-interior;
https://sahhistoricinteriorsaffiliategroup.sah.hcommons.org/about/working-committees,
, last accessed on May 7, 2025.