The 25 - Cory Rouillard

The award-winning work of Cory Rouillard, the preservation architect at New York City-based Henson Architecture, has included the restoration of significant historical buildings, new construction in a historic context, and work in many unusual circumstances, including relocating entire buildings and reassembling buildings from disassembled components.

She has decades of historic preservation experience as a licensed architect, architectural conservator, and active advocate for climate leadership through preservation, and promotes technical guidance for the appropriate care of existing buildings to protect the nation’s cultural heritage and meet carbon-mitigation targets.

Beyond the daily focus on careful stewardship of the country’s built heritage, one building at a time, her work seeks and emphasizes broader patterns and connections between the extensive historical and global wisdom of the built environment, the expertise of the preservation community, and the leadership role the profession has to play in addressing the climate crisis.

Through her longstanding involvement with the Association for Preservation Technology and as co-chair of its Technical Committee on Sustainable Preservation, she has spearheaded the development of the Online Sustainable Conservation Assistance Resource or OSCAR, an online tool that provides information about climate-appropriate repair and retrofits for historic buildings in a readily accessible fashion.

Other initiatives during her tenure with the association include the development of the Zero Net Carbon Collaboration for Existing and Historic Buildings, the expansion of the Sustainable Preservation Bibliography, and several symposia, forums, and other outreach events.

At an early age, Rouillard was taken by what she calls the “short-sighted destructiveness of suburban sprawl” she witnessed in her hometown. “This led me to study architecture, dabble in urban planning, and land whole-heartedly in historic preservation as a means to be more thoughtful and respectful of how we meet our needs without compromising our environment,” she says.

She sees her role as being a strong and vocal advocate for the sustainability of the stewardship of historic buildings. “In recent years, I’ve been talking to my local representatives and candidates at every opportunity I have,” she says. “I’ve been encouraging my colleagues around the country and internationally to do the same.”