Buildings in Society International History and Culture AD 500–1914 Conference (Belfast June 2014)

Buildings in Society International History and Culture AD 500–1914 Conference
19 - 21st June 2014
Queen's University, Belfast

Buildings studies too often fall in the gaps between the disciplines of architectural history, archaeology and social anthropology. This conference seeks to bridge those gaps, to draw from all these approaches and examine how people created buildings and how people responded to them.

It will examine the historical contexts of buildings construction and the reactions to them in use. It will consider a diversity of structures from around the world, including houses, public buildings, institutions, agricultural and industrial constructions, polite and vernacular architecture.

Possible themes include, but are not limited to: industry, ritual space, power and display, biographies of buildings, methodological approaches, vernacular buildings and regional societies, family and domestic spaces.

Call for Papers

Venue: Riddel Hall, Queen’s University Belfast, Belfast, Northern Ireland, UK
Convenors: Dr Jill Campbell, Dr Mark Gardiner, Dr Liz Thomas
Keynote speaker: Dr William Whyte, St John’s College Oxford
Closing date: 1 November 2013

People shape buildings and buildings in turn shape people’s perceptions, experience and behaviour. Yet in spite of the importance of architecture in structuring our environment, the relationship between architecture and societies in the past remains poorly understood and under-theorized. Building studies fall in the gaps between the disciplines of architectural history, archaeology and social anthropology.

We need to recognize that architecture has conscious and unconscious intentions and buildings have a diversity of meanings beyond their actual function. Those meanings may be mis/understood, resisted or denied by those experiencing the building, and through habitation or use.

Buildings (from conception to construction and reconstruction) exist in different times – being re-structured, re-thought and re-experienced by subsequent generations. They are not static objects but have a dynamic biography. Buildings do not have a single meaning, but multiple and changing meanings.

This interdisciplinary conference will examine the historical contexts in which buildings have been constructed and the responses to buildings over time. It will consider a diversity of buildings, including houses, public buildings, institutions, agricultural and industrial structures. Papers addressing theoretical approaches in historical building studies, as well as papers reflecting interdisciplinary discourse are particularly welcome.

Possible themes include, but are not limited to: industry, ritual space, power and display, biographies of buildings, methodological approaches, vernacular buildings and regional societies, family and domestic spaces.

Abstracts of proposed papers should be no more than 300 words and a CV of the speaker should be no more than 150 words. These should be sent by 1 November 2013. All enquiries and proposals should be sent to bisi@qub.ac.uk

More information:
http://www.qub.ac.uk/sites/BISI/