Chicago, Oct. 20-23, at the Historic Navy Pier

The theme of the 2010 Traditional Building Exhibition and Conference is "Growing Green: Traditional Building and Sustainable Development." Chicago, one of the nation's greenest cities, is hosting the event this year at its picturesque Navy Pier.

This year's event will feature more than 60 conferences, workshops and tours providing up to 24 CEUs from AIA, AIBD, IIDA, NAHB, NARI and others. They will feature topics such as historic tax credits, window restoration, life cycle maintenance, LEED for historic building, adaptive reuse, sympathetic additions, and more. In addition, live demonstrations on the show floor and Lunch and Learn programs add more learning opportunities.

"Growing Green: Traditional Building and Sustainable Development means many things," says education director Judy Hayward. "It reflects the content of our conference and addresses the following goals: Applying what is inherently energy efficient and sustainable about historic buildings to traditionally inspired new construction; exploring new technologies that can enhance the performance of historic or new buildings; and cultivating the skills and goals for developing creative approaches to finding and keeping work in a very rough economy."

One of the highlights is a panel of mayors to be moderated by Peter Harkness, founder and Publisher Emeritus of Governing magazine. "They will discuss local policies that support green building practices," Hayward explains. "Increasingly, we find that mayors throughout the United States are taking a leadership role to increase energy efficiency, pedestrian friendliness, and downtown revitalization by creating innovative local policies." Another highlight is a talk by Steve Semes, Academic Director of the Rome Studies Program for the University of Notre Dame School of Architecture, and author of The Future of the Past: A Conservation Ethic for Architecture, Urbanism, and Historic Preservation (W.W. Norton, 2009).

The winners of the 2010 Palladio awards will also present their projects; the commercial presentation is scheduled for Thursday morning, followed by the residential presentations in the afternoon. All in all, it's a valuable event not to be missed. For more information, go to www.traditionalbuildingshow.com or call 781-779-1560.