Richard Morris Hunt Fellow, 2011

Robert J. Hotes, AIA, LEED AP, the 2011 Richard Morris Hunt Fellow, is currently a Senior Associate at John Milner Architects, Inc., where he focuses on the restoration and rehabilitation of historic buildings for institutional, governmental, and other non-profit clients. Prior to his current position, he worked for the Philadelphia office of RMJM Hillier, where he was Senior Preservation Architect in the Preservation Architecture Practice Group, bringing with him a wide breadth of award-winning experience in the restoration and rehabilitation of historic structures, as well as the thoughtful design of new buildings and additions.

Bob received a BSE in Architecture and Civil Engineering from Princeton University and a Master of Architecture and Certificate in Historic Preservation from the University of Pennsylvania. In 1990, he pursued additional training as a US/ICOMOS preservation intern at the Institute Spetsproyectrestavratsiya in Moscow and as an architectural conservator for a summer program at ICCROM, the International Centre for the Study of the Preservation and the Restoration of Cultural Property in Rome.

As the 2011 Richard Morris Hunt Fellow, he intends to study the approaches to “compatibility” and “differentiation” adopted by French architects and historic preservation professionals when dealing with new design in historic contexts, with a particular focus on the new and innovative construction materials and conservation techniques being developed for these circumstances. His study will explore the range of viewpoints in France on the design of additions and new construction in historic contexts, the variety of attitudes toward the pre-existing context (from stylistic continuity to striking contrast) and the various approaches and degrees to which architects and preservation professionals either conform to or challenge the issue of compatibility versus differentiation.