On Thursday, May 2nd, the FIU College of Communication, Architecture, + The Arts held a public teach-in at the Miami Beach Urban Studios following the fire at the Notre Dame Cathedral in France. The panel was moderated by John Stuart of FIU | CARTA’s Miami Beach Urban Studios.
Panelists included:
- John Bailly, FIU Honors College
- Jason Chandler, FIU Architecture
- Jennifer Fu, FIU GIS
- Carlos Fueyo, FIU MBUS
- Dr. Mark Osterman, Vizcaya
- Yucef Merhi, Wofsonian-FIU
- John Stuart, Moderator, FIU MBUS
- Debbie Tackett, City of Miami Beach
“It was a terrific conversation with passions flying about what Notre Dame means– as a cathedral and as under state ownership–, what preservation means in this case with so many layers of destruction already in its history, the challenges of rebuilding before the Olympics in Paris, and the ethics of pouring billions of dollars into project monuments,” said John Stuart, Executive Director of Miami Beach Urban Studios.
The discussions continued and explored a wide array of topics. From comparing parallels between historic building fabric and our own historic preservation and fire safety codes, to the politicization of Notre Dame as seen through Nazi war posters found in the Wofsonian, to the philosophical challenges posed by human attachment to objects and our desire for the authentic; each speaker brought a great perspective on what to learn, and what’s next for Notre Dame.
