7ICCH – thematic session on ‘construction cultures of the recent past 1950-2000’

By DOCOMOMO Belgium / June, 12, 2020 / 0 comments

CONGRESS | 12–16 July 2021 | Lisbon, Portugal

The seventh International Congress on Construction History 7ICCH (link) will be held in Portugal in July 2021. The call for abstracts has been launched recently. 13 thematic sessions ar
e being proposed, in addition to an open call for papers. We have put forward a thematic session on ‘Construction cultures of the recent past. Building materials and building techniques 1950-2000’ (link). We want to deepen the knowledge on the historical properties and value of these materials, which will provide valuable insights for heritage studies and circular renovation as well. So we hope that it sparks your interest and that you consider sending in an abstract.

The session aims to broaden research in construction history in time (up to 2000), as well as in width and in depth. We invite papers on the history of innovative materials and first applications or milestones, as well as commonly used and traditional (or so called improved traditional) building materials and techniques that illustrate common construction practice in 1950-2000. Various technical, practical and scientific properties can be discussed, for instance: characteristic material properties (mechanical, physical, thermal, etc.); the production process; how the materials are connected; the wear and tear of materials. We encourage papers that link these technical and practical aspects to cultural properties and give insights inhow the building culture is embedded in building materials: the organisation of the building site in relation to the building materials; the cooperation between various building actors (including material producers, material suppliers, standardisation bodies, etc.); the evolution of architectural standards to which the development of materials gave rise (and vice versa); the perception of materials in the trade press, etc. Papers that focus on local building materials and building techniques are invited to position them within an international framework, in order to be able to discuss the tension or interaction between global evolutions and local applications.

Abstracts (of max. 400 words) are awaited by June 28, full papers by November 15 2020. Abstracts need to be submitted online and will be reviewed by an independent scientific committee. Please don’t hesitate to contact us if you have further questions.