New York City-based photographer Christopher Payne specializes in the documentation of America's vanishing architecture and industrial landscape. His most recent book, Asylum: Inside the Closed World of State Mental Hospitals (MIT Press, 2009), is the result of a six-year exploration of America's abandoned state mental institutions. Payne's first book, New York's Forgotten Substations: The Power Behind the Subway (Princeton Architectural Press, 2002), offers a behind-the-scenes glimpse into New York's subway substation architecture. Trained as an architect, Payne is a graduate of Columbia University and the University of Pennsylvania. He brings a unique and insightful perspective to the preservation dialogue, and provides his audience with rare glimpses into abandoned architecture through his stunning photography.

This event is free and open to the public. Refreshments will be served at the conclusion of the lecture.