6ème Congrès International de l'Histoire de la Construction

Call for Abstracts

Researchers and practitioners from all aspects of the history of construction are invited to submit a 400-word abstract before June 15, 2017. More information on the open and thematic sessions and the submission procedure can be found on www.6icch.org.

If your abstract is selected for a paper presentation at the congress, you will be notified by September 15, 2017. The deadline to submit full papers is December 1, 2017. Papers presented at the congress will be published in proceedings available at the congress. All papers and presentations must be in English.

If you have questions related to this procedure or if you experience any problems in submitting your abstract, please contact the congress secretariat at info@6icch.org.

Organizing Committee

KU Leuven: Krista De Jonge
Universiteit Antwerpen: Michael de Bouw
Université Catholique de Louvain: Patricia Radelet-de Grave, Denis Zastavni
Université Libre de Bruxelles: Rika Devos, Bernard Espion
Vrije Universiteit Brussel: Inge Bertels, Stephanie Van de Voorde, Ine Wouters

Open Sessions

In the open sessions, the following topics can be treated:

• The discipline of Construction History: methodology; teaching; historiography; relation to other disciplines; sources on construction history, etc.
• Building actors: contractors; architects and engineers; trade unions and guilds; institutions and organisations, and others,
• Building materials: their history, production, and use of timber, earth, brick and tiles, iron and steel, binders and concrete, plaster and mortar, glass and glazing, composite materials and other materials,
• The process of building: from design to building; the organization of the construction yard; prefabrication and industrialization; construction tools and equipment; craftsmanship and workshops
• Building services and techniques: lighting; heating; ventilation; health and comfort
• Structural theory and analysis: stereotomy; modeling and simulation; structural theory and structural forms; applied sciences; relation between theory and practice
• Socio-cultural aspects: economics of construction; law and juridical aspects; politics and policies
• Knowledge transfer: rules and standards; building regulations; training and education; technical literature and drawings; innovations, experiments, and events

The papers can cover any time period (from ancient times to the 20th century), have any geographical scope (local to intercontinental) and discuss any type of building or structure.

Thematic Sessions

In parallel with the open sessions, thematic sessions will be organized. These themes have been suggested by the session chairs, who share the scientific responsibility of these sessions with the Scientific Committee.

• Building maintenance in ancient times (up to the early modern period)
• Experts and building assessments. An international comparison. 13th-20th Century
• Architects and bureaucrats: centralized governments and the administrative pre-conditions of building before 1750
• ‘Economization takes command’ – Towards an epistemic history of building economy since the French Revolution
• Modernizing timber – regional developments and conceptual transfers of timber technology in the 20th century
• Historic pre‐cast concrete
• Early thin concrete shells – players, impulses, and effects
• The pursuit of comfort by design. Material history of building services in 19th and 20th-centuries architecture
• Modern ‘comfort’ in colonial/postcolonial settings beyond the ‘centre/periphery’-framework
• Exchange in the construction worlds of 19th and 20th century Asia: The diffusion of materials and processes in the Global South
• Little planet. New approaches to a big picture in construction histories. East Asia and Europe in the 19th and 20th centuries