Dr. Fallon Samuels Aidoo presented the keynote lecture, “Preserving Real Estate of the Black Atlantic: New Histories of Old Houses,” as part of the 2022 Nantucket Preservation Symposium, on June 23, 2022.

Dr. Fallon Samuels Aidoo, founding principal of Studio RxP and as a professor at Tulane University School of Architecture, analyzes hazards to heritage and adapts heritage to hazards. Her work within academia and professional practice revolves around rehabilitation, revitalization, and recovery of real estate impacted both chronically and acutely by distress, deterioration, disinvestment and disasters. These inquiries focus on marginalized and minoritized historic sites, structures and streetscapes significant to Black, Indigenous and immigrant histories on the Atlantic, Pacific & Gulf coasts. Her coastal research currently involves partnership with oral historians, archaeologists, cartographers, city planners and community stewards in New England and New Orleans, such as the African American Heritage Trail of Martha’s Vineyard. She has contributed to publications and projects of architectural retrofit, landscape rehabilitation, inclusionary preservation and disaster management for cultural heritage in Philadelphia, Los Angeles, Tulsa and San Antonio as well. Dr. Aidoo holds degrees in urban planning (Ph.D., Harvard), architectural history (M.S., MIT), and civil/structural engineering (B.S., Columbia), plus a GIS Certificate (Harvard). She meets the U.S. Secretary of the Interior’s Standards for Architectural Historians engaged in Historic Preservation and requirements for AICP certification from the American Planning Association.

The 2022 Nantucket Preservation Symposium was a conference organized by Nantucket Preservation Trust, in partnership with the Preservation Institute Nantucket, with underwriting support from the Community Foundation for Nantucket’s ReMain Nantucket Fund. Audio visual support was provided by NCTV.

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