As part of her research residency in France as a Fellow of the 2023 Richard Morris Hunt Prize, American architect Lurita McIntosh Blank, a heritage specialist based in Chicago, was welcomed at ENSTIB on April 10.
Received by Arnaud Besserer, teacher-researcher and Head of International Relations, as well as by Laurent Bléron, Director of the school, she also had the opportunity to exchange with Éric Mougel, teacher-researcher, about timber construction practices in France and the United States. She was given a full tour of the Campus Bois and its laboratories.
Her research project, entitled “Vertical Timber Framing Practices: Continuity of Craft and Tradition from France to the Illinois Country,” focuses on the transmission of know-how related to half-timbered houses, timber framing, and traditional carpentry. Her work adopts a comparative approach between the French built heritage and the historic constructions of the Illinois region, once a French territory.
After stays in Paris, Rouen, Alsace, and Occitanie, Lurita McIntosh Blank is continuing her exploration in Lorraine. Her work will be published in a final report accessible on the Richard Morris Hunt Prize website (www.rmhprize.org, under the Final Report section).
This visit was an opportunity to enrich international scientific exchanges around timber-related skills and to forge new links between French and American researchers committed to heritage preservation.
