In light of “critical regionalism,” what is excellence, in a regional context? What if excellence is out of context? And what if context is out of excellence?

These questions guided the Symposium’s organization, by new arts media entrepreneur Ellen Berkovitch. She served as moderator, working closely with Thornburg Managing Director David M. Miller. On April 18th, six of the original panelists gathered on a stage in the new Thornburg auditorium (Christopher Mead could not attend).

“How do you describe a masterpiece?” were Legorreta’s first words, when asked to explain his admiration for Louis Kahn’s Salk Institute in La Jolla, California. Legorreta went on to share his impression that architects are hired “because of what they do”-- not in order to imitate. Harry Teague of Aspen, Colorado argued for “authenticity” over “sentimentality.” Stephen Dynia of Jackson, Wyoming echoed that great new buildings reflect history by making history. Suby Bowden painted a picture of visitors so enamored with a built surface -- Louis Kahn’s Kimball Museum in Fort Worth -- that they rub their hands over the cast concrete. Steve Oles noted the challenges for I.M. Pei, a Chinese-born architect -- not just of working in Paris on his pyramid addition to the Louvre, but in the “context” of the palace of the kings of France. Architectural photographer Robert Reck,of Albuquerque, riffed that Antoine Predock is “a portable regionalist.” Contemporary art dealer Linda Durham weighed in on how sprawl is the unfortunate result of Santa Fe’s allergy to density.