Advertise on podcast: Building Tradition

Neela Wickremesinghe is the director of restoration and preservation for the historic Green-Wood Cemetery in Brooklyn, New York. Neela manages a crew that maintains, preserves, and restores the mausoleums and statuary that dot these 478 bucolic acres. There are 580,000 “inhabitants” in the cemetery, including family plots adorned with marble, granite, and brownstone grave markers. Neela earned her B.A. in architecture and urbanism from Smith College and her M.S. in historic preservation from Columbia University’s Graduate School of Architecture, Planning and Preservation. Right out of school, she worked for an environmental review company, doing research for National Register nominations. She then combined her architectural history and historic preservation advocacy experience with hands-on training in the building arts, including a stint at Evergreen Architectural Arts, where she learned how to gild, paint, restore murals, clean stone, and do plasterwork. “At Green-Wood, joy comes from working on something new every day,” Neela tells us. “We might be resetting a marble angel knocked over by a fallen tree or cleaning the soot off a stone mausoleum. I am also teaching young craftspeople their building arts skills.” Green-Wood Cemetery created the Bridge to Crafts program to train students and emerging professionals in masonry restoration—stone cleaning, repair, and repointing. Many Bridge to Crafts graduates move on to preserve other important historic buildings and monuments in New York City. Neela exclaims, “We’ve had students who’ve gone on to clean the Brooklyn Bridge.” Green-Wood’s apprenticeship program embraces people who want to work with their hands—young people, mostly, who are curious and want to learn by doing alongside a veteran craftsperson. “This is a different type of program that allows a young person to figure out what they might want the rest of their life to look like.” Listen in on an inspiring conversation with Neela Wickremesinghe of the historic Green-Wood Cemetery restoration crew.

Host Peter H. Miller, Hon AIA interviews Steve Ballenger of Zepsa Industries. They discuss Ballenger's career in the building arts, his own learning trajectory and the opportunity for others to be craftspeople.

Host Peter H. Miller, Hon AIA interviews Lauren Barnes of Hoerr Schaudt Landscape Architects. They discuss Barnes' career trajectory, her job description, the Hoerr Schaudt company training program, the craft of horticulture and garden design that delights.

Host Peter H. Miller, Hon AIA interviews husband-and-wife team Alan Stein and Nancy Vitris of Tanglewood Conservatories. They discuss the intersection of crafting by hand and machine, how they launched a craftsmanship training program in their local high schools and how this was the foundation for their own in-house apprentice program for Tanglewood Conservatories craftspeople.

Host Peter H. Miller, Hon AIA interviews architect Thomas Kligerman, who is widely recognized for residential architecture that conveys a sense of place, is finely crafted, and has an emotional connection to landscape and memory. Listen in to a conversation about modern traditional architecture, coastal cottages, and "summers by the sea."

Host Peter H. Miller, Hon AIA interviews Steve Hendricks of Historic Doors who, with his team of skilled millwork building artisans, makes period authentic exterior doors as well as interior moldings.

Host Peter H. Miller, Hon AIA interviews Doug Bracken of Wiemann Metalcraft, a blacksmith and metal fabricator of ornamental metals. Listen in as they discuss combining heritage trade skills with modern technology to produce ornamental metalwork of enduring beauty.

Host Peter H. Miller, Hon AIA interviews Chris Pelletieri, renowned stone carver and teacher. Listen in as they discuss Pelletieri's traditional analog craft. His notable works include St Rita's Catholic church in Alexandria Virginia and the neo-Gothic Cathedral of Saint Divine on the Upper East side of New York City.

Host Peter H. Miller, Hon AIA interviews award winning interior designer Barbara Eberlein, and Jerry Wind, author and professor. Listen in as they discuss how integrating AI into the creative process can help architects and designers do their best work.

Host Peter H. Miller, Hon AIA interviews James C. McCrery, AIA, NCARB of McCrery Architects. Listen in as they discuss church design, enlightened clients, the enduring importance of beauty, and the often-overlooked truths behind building a successful architectural practice.

Host Peter H. Miller, Hon AIA interviews Thomas E. Luebke FAIA, Secretary of the United States Commission of Fine Arts. Listen as Luebke explains the meaning behind national monuments, their historical context and the important mission of the U.S Commission of Fine Arts.

Host Peter H. Miller, Hon AIA interviews Lenore Winters, of Lenore Winters Studio, an architectural artisan who serves designers, builders and their clients. Listen in as Winters tells the stories behind her artwork and shares advice for students, emerging professionals, craftspeople and building artisans who create beautiful spaces.

Host Peter H. Miller, Hon AIA interviews Richard Sammons, of Fairfax and Sammons Architects, one of the most important and accomplished classical design firms in the country.  Listen in as Sammons explains how his classical design principals and use of sustainable materials inform and create new period houses and the "creative reconstructions" of buildings from the 18th and early 19th centuries."

Host Peter H. Miller, Hon AIA interviews Carl Elefante, FAIA,  principal emeritus of the award-winning firm Quinn Evans Architects. Listen in as they discuss traditional design, adaptive use, historic preservation, sustainability and practical solutions for the future of our built environment.

Host Peter H. Miller, Hon AIA interviews Thomas E. Austin, the Architect of the Capitol. Austin talks about how the historic preservation work he manages helps "inspires future generations," while inspiring him at work every day.