Posted by Rosie Jennings on September 23rd, 2024.
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Session at the Association for Art History 2025 Annual Conference
University of York
Conference: Wednesday 9–Friday 11 April 2025
Deadline to apply: Friday 1 November 2024
In September 2025, the University of York will open its new School of Architecture marking a revival of York’s legacy in architectural studies. This began with the (largely forgotten) Institute of Advanced Architectural Studies (IoAAS) in 1953, a postgraduate study and research centre incorporated into the new University in 1963. Before its dissolution in 1997, IoAAS was renowned as an international centre for mid-career professionals to acquaint with changing ideas and policies and an advocate for inclusivity in the built environment sectors.
With its rigour and progressivism, IoAAS became the founding home of the Society of Architectural Historians of Great Britain (1956-) and the journal Yorkshire Architect (1968-88). Together they disseminated the critical voice of the unsung North of England and pluralised the sector’s role in transforming society. A British equivalent of the Institute for Architecture and Urban Studies, New York (1967-85, historicised in Förster’s Building Institution (2024)), IoAAS offered a precedent for the London School of Architecture’s new lifelong learning “Part 4” (2023-).
Critically engaging with IoAAS’ legacy, this session invites papers that offer historical inquiry into other specialised and unsung architectural institutions (e.g. decolonial educators like the Kwame Tech, Ghana – Le Roux, 2004 or the UK’s hitherto overlooked Building Research Station – 1921-97). What can revisionist institutional micro-histories reveal about the development of built environment disciplines; how have these institutions’ diverse modes of practice disrupted or complicated them and their historiographies; and what are the discipline-specific or general methodological challenges of writing institutional histories in architecture?
Convenors:
Kim Förster, Manchester School of Architecture
Yanqi Huang, Bartlett School of Architecture, University College London
Joshua Mardell, School of Architecture, Royal College of Art
How to submit:
Please email your paper proposals direct to: [email protected]. You need to provide a title and abstract (250 words maximum), your name and institutional affiliation (if any). Please make sure the title is concise and reflects the contents of the paper because the title is what appears online, in social media and in the digital programme. You should receive an acknowledgement of receipt of your submission within two weeks.
More details can be found on the Association for Art History’s website.
