College of Architecture Outstanding Alumnus Jack H. Pyburn ’69 (ARCH), an acclaimed architectural preservationist was recently elevated to Fellow in the American Institute of Architects.

Pyburn founded his own architectural firm in 1984 based on his education in urban design and his experiences in historic preservation, courthouse restoration and campus and community planning. The Office of Jack Pyburn, Architect, Inc. practices the evaluation, restoration, rehabilitation and adaptive reuse of historic properties.

Pyburn’s major accomplishments in the field of historic preservation include the rehabilitation of Vulcan Tower in Birmingham, Ala., the restoration of the Wright Brothers Memorial Visitor Center in N.C., and, with Texas A&M’s Historic Resources Imaging Laboratory, the historic district survey and nomination of the Village of New Plymouth in The Bahamas. Pyburn’s rehabilitation and adaptive use project for nine historic courthouses in Georgia earned him numerous outstanding rehabilitation project awards from several organizations throughout the state, including the American Institute of Architects, the American Society of Landscape Architects, the American Society of Interior Designers and the Georgia Trust for Historic Preservation.

Since graduation, Pyburn has been involved as an instructor and lecturer in colleges and universities across the country and in The Bahamas. He has written several publications and given numerous presentations focusing on historic preservation. A recent publication Pyburn compiled has become a one-of-a-kind travel guide of downtown Atlanta, Ga. It features a graphic tour of 20 historic buildings.

He is currently interested in Schokbeton Precast Concrete, a German method of precast providing stronger concrete by using vibration during pouring. He recently traveled to Holland and New York to research this technique. His technical report on precast will be presented at the VIIIth International DOCOMOMO Conference in New York City. DOCOMOMO is an acronym for “DOcumentation and COnservation of buildings, sites and neighborhoods of the MOdern MOvement.”

He is a member of the advisory group for the Historic Resources Committee for the American Institute of Architects and member and past founding chairman for the professional fellows of the Center for Heritage Conservation at Texas A&M University.