Organized by:

The Center for the Study of Architecture in the Arab Region

In Collaboration with

College of Architecture and Arts, Petra University, Amman, Jordan

Introduction

Architecture and heritage are intertwined through conservation. Architecture is a container of heritage in the sense that anything related to history and culture had occurred in space and in a place, the raison d’être of architecture. A guiding hand in human endeavors, heritage is a record of cultural precedents in any society, and as such, it is a foundation for growth and advancement in any human discipline, profession, or industry. Past poetry and poets in a country, established glass manufacturing and its developers in a region, and old houses of a style line and their designers in a city all add to the body of heritage in their respective settings. These accomplishments are credited to the culture of the place—a city, province, country, or the world—through time and are referenced by the spatial environments that contained or witnessed them, being a building, an urban district, a designed landscape, or an interior space. This is to say: a) that such accomplishments represent conspicuous events, pattern of occurrences, general trends, consummate persons, and societal ingenuity that coalesce to make the weave of the culture of the place through time; and b) that such spatial environments are important, first and foremost, by the virtue of being associated with the cultural phenomena.

The centrality of “place” in the construct of heritage makes heritage a fundamental driving force in architecture and other built environment fields. Place and space are the framers of architectural thinking, imagination, and production. Practitioners, researchers, and educators in architecture and environmental design fields are deservedly entrusted with the built environment heritage and are expected to lead professionally in protecting its integrity through diverse means and approaches. Are they leading? This loaded question aims in essence at invoking self reflections, collective dialogues, and, ultimately, personal positions on the role and responsibilities that architecture and design professionals have to reckon with in the way of conserving heritage buildings, sites, and cities.

In addition to sustaining the cultural well being of societies, heritage conservation holds professional rewarding prospects. For example, existing buildings and districts in older cities and urban cores are the frequent domain of sizable architectural and planning projects all over the world. When conservation professional expertise is lacking or unavailable, as occasionally—and sometimes frequently—is the case, opportunities for architects and planners are rendered in vain. The incessant opportunity of conservation projects versus the uneven availability of qualified professionals to engage in them makes it imperative for the architectural and environmental design community to look into ways for enhancing the conservation capacity of its members at the theory, practice, and education platforms.
 

Conference Theme and Research Tracks

For the architectural community to engage meaningfully in heritage conservation, responsibilities and opportunities revolving around this activity need to be recalled, analyzed, and articulated. The conference addresses the responsibilities and opportunities theme through main program, the subject of this announcement; and through a special program, the subject of a separate announcement for the conference on Digital Media and its Applications in Cultural Heritage (See website: http://www.csaar-center.org/conference/DMACH2008/) The main program has the four research tracks below. We invite architectural practitioners, educators, and researchers and their counterparts in the environmental design fields to develop a paper in any of the topics listed under the theme tracks.
 

The Heritage Idea and the Conservation Response

• Heritage values as applied to the built environment
• Authenticity and accuracy in restoration and reconstruction
• Conservation as a protective response
• Established and emerging types of cultural resources
• Significance assessment of architectural cultural resources
• Architectural character as a framework for maintaining integrity of historic buildings
• Conservation principles out of conservation philosophies
• Intervention or treatment types
• Conservation standards and guidelines
• Historic preservation versus archaeological conservation

• Conservation in allied disciplines (landscape architecture, city planning, interior design, art)
• International thoughts and doctrines in conservation
• research trends in the field of cultural heritage
 

Conservation in the Design Realm

• Heritage messages and their expression in architectural design forms
• Conservation principles, standards, and guidelines in architectural practice
• Adaptive re-use design process
• Additions to historic buildings
·  Design on archaeological sites
• Construction documents for rehabilitation and restoration projects
• Cases and comparisons
 

Conservation Context and Geography

• Jurisdictional context of conservation and ensuing politics
• Conservation legislation, laws, and public policy
• The economic and financial faces of conservation
• Authority and decision-making in discharging conservation service
• Conservation, the environment, and sustainability
• International comparisons and collaborations
• Heritage sites and tourism
• Cultural tourism and the sustainable management of heritage sites
• Attending to heritage across the Mediterranean
 

Conservation Education, Information, and Technologies

• Heritage conservation education, training, and professional enhancement
• The place of heritage and conservation in architecture, design, and engineering curricula
• Historic site presentation and public education
• Approaches for the identification and documentation of historic buildings and environments
• Survey techniques in archaeology
• The word, the drawing, and the image media in service of heritage and conservation
• Data acquisition and recording techniques associated with buildings and cultural districts
• low-cost systems for documentation and monitoring of cultural heritage
• New materials and technologies for conservation and safeguarding of cultural heritage
 

Important Dates

LATE PAPER SUBMISSION

Papers may still be accepted for oral presentation shortly before the conference takes place. Papers submitted on or before May 30, 2008 will be considered in the review process. It may not however, always be possible to include late Papers in the Conference Proceedings. Instead, late Papers may be published in an online  volume of CSAAR Transactions on the Built Environment (ISSN 1992-7320).

Abstract Submission

Abstract submissions should be approximately 500 words and must be in English. Abstract and full paper submissions should be sent in MS Word or PDF document format. Abstracts should be e-mailed to scientific committee co-chairs (conservation@csaar-center.org). Full paper submissions are required to be done online at csaar submission and review system following the link below. Submissions will be peer reviewed.

Full Paper Submission

• For full paper format and submission guidelines, click here>>.

• On-line paper submersion system is open now >>  

Posters, Panel Discussion & Workshops 

The conference also welcomes proposals for:

* Poster papers
* Plenary Session/ Panel Discussion
* Workshops

Proposals may address any of the topics falling within the scope of the conference themes.

Schedule (for Posters & Workshops Proposals)

Proposals due: March 15, 2008
Notification of Acceptance: May 30, 2008
Position papers due (panels): May 01, 2008

General Note: Workshops and Panel Proposals should be submitted by e-mail to conference co-chair (jamalq@kfupm.edu.sa)
 

Instructions for submitting proposals for poster papers, workshops and panel Discussion available here>>.

Conference Fees and Registration

Authors are invited to complete the registration process before August 15th,   2008. Deadline for sending registration fees is October 15th. Failing to send the registration fees on or before this date will result in excluding the paper from the proceedings. Click here for online registration>>.   

Conference Proceedings

All papers accepted for publication at the conference will be published in the conference proceedings, which will be available to delegates at the time of registration.  In addition, papers will be published in a volume of CSAAR Transactions on the Built Environment (ISSN 1992-7320), an online version of the conference proceedings.

Location & Accommodation

Conference Site Coordinator

Dr. Suheir F. Soudani, Petra University, Jordan

Conference Secretariat

Samer Taweel, CSAAR
same[at]csaar-center.org