Sunday, May 23, 2010

Diane Smith's Living Modern in Connecticut Wins Emmy Award

Documentary Profiles the State’s
Extraordinary and Endangered Examples
of Mid-Century Modern Architecture

A Co-production of Diane Smith Media and CPTV


BOSTON, Mass. (May 22, 2010) – Living Modern in Connecticut has been honored with a Boston/New England Emmy award in the category of Historical/Cultural Program. The 33rd Boston/New England Emmy Awards were presented at Gillette Stadium at Patriot Place on Saturday, May 22, 2010.


In the half-hour documentary, host and producer Diane Smith tells the story of notable buildings, erected in the middle of the Twentieth Century. They range from the Glass House in New Canaan, to the Phoenix Companies’ “boat building” in Hartford, to a hockey rink shaped like a whale in New Haven, and a “floating tower” on Long Wharf. The world-renowned architects who designed these buildings took advantage of new technologies and materials to reshape our cities and suburbs. But, just 50 years later, many of these landmarks are threatened. As the documentary makes clear, historic preservation has progressed far beyond saving that colonial home on the town green.

In a stunning review of the bold and innovative designs that set modern buildings apart, Smith tracks the history of the modernist movement in Connecticut. From New Canaan to New Haven to Main Street in Suffield, Smith examines the increasing threat to modern buildings now considered ‘gems’ in the world of architecture, through interviews with Robert A.M. Stern, the dean of Yale University’s School of Architecture, modernist architect Kevin Roche, architect and preservationist Jared Edwards, architect John Johansen, the last surviving member of the “Harvard Five” and others.

Living Modern in Connecticut is a co-production of Diane Smith Media and CPTV, made possible with support from the Connecticut Commission on Culture & Tourism.

An Emmy award-winning television journalist, Diane Smith has been on the air in Connecticut since 1982. For ten years, she produced and hosted "Positively Connecticut ™ on CPTV as well as the Positively Connecticut segment on CPTV’s All Things Connecticut magazine series. Her fifth book "Seasons of Connecticut," will be published in June. She is the Elections Coordinator at CT-N, a former co-host of the WTIC News-Talk 1080 Morning Show and former news anchor at WTNH-TV. Diane Smith recently received the Governor’s Award for Excellence in Culture and Tourism.



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