BOOKING FORM
MIRROR OF MODERNITY:
Detach this form and return with payment to: National Conference
2009, AHSS, The Glasite Meeting House, 33 Barony Street, Edinburgh, EH3
6NX. Please make your cheque payable to AHSS.
Cost

Full delegate (1 – 2 May)
£40.00

AHSS/RIAS Members (1 – 2 May)
£32.00

Day ticket Friday (1 May)
£22.00

Day ticket Saturday (2 May)
£22.00

Full-time Student (1 – 2 May)
£24.00

Student day ticket
Friday 1 May
£12.00
Saturday 2 May
£12.00
No. of
places
Total
Friday 1 May, RIAS President’s Reception
FREE
Name
Address
Postcode
Telephone
The AHSS National Conference, held jointly with DOCOMOMO
International and hosted by the Scottish Centre for Conservation Studies,
will be held on Friday and Saturday, 1-2 May 2009 in the Main Lecture
Theatre, Edinburgh College of Art, 74 Lauriston Place, Edinburgh, EH3
9DF.
Traditionally, conservation and modern architecture have been seen as
opposite extremes within the built environment. The period since 1945 has
been marked by violent fluctuations between these extremes: the 1940s-1960s
witnessed the rise of tabula-rasa scientific modernism, only to give way to
conservation, tradition and context in the 1970s and 80s, and more recently
returning to a kind of assertive ‘Modernism’. But does the picture of conflict
between the advocates of each side tell a complete story? Over the past 40
years the historiography of Modernism has generally moved towards an
increasingly nuanced and complex interpretation of the subject. Within
DOCOMOMO, recent years have seen a growing attempt to identify ‘other’
modernisms, moving beyond stereotypes of arid utilitarianism, towards lesserknown ‘traditional’ elements or ‘everyday’ building programmes within modern
architecture.
Please reserve places for the reception below (subject to
availability on a first-come, first-served basis):

THE POST-WAR REVOLUTION IN URBAN CONSERVATION
Email
* Please note: Confirmation of your booking will be made by telephone
or email
Cover Image Courtesy of ASSIST Architect
The Architectural Heritage Society (AHSS) is a registered charity: SC007554REG
This conference will carry the investigation of ‘other modernisms’ into new and
more adventurous territory, by tackling a phase of revolutionary change in the
built environment that has been traditionally regarded as a resounding defeat
of modernism – the victory of urban conservation over mass redevelopment
throughout western Europe and North America in the late 1960s and 70s. The
conference will begin by sketching out the broad international context of the
shift towards urban conservation, including the post-war reconstruction of cities,
as well as urban conservation in the 60s. The day will open with post-war
reconstruction in Poland, moving swiftly to touch on 1960s-70s cases in Canada,
France, Italy, and England, and concluding with contemporary challenges in
China. The second day will focus on the specific national case of Scotland,
focusing both on the ‘elite’ architectural conservation initiatives of Edinburgh’s
New Town, and on the innovative programme of community-led rehabilitation
of 19th century working-class tenements in Glasgow. The international portion of
the programme will be delivered by academic historians, while the Scottish
strand will draw upon the recollections of contemporary architects, chiefly from
the 1970s but also from those involved in the evolution of community ‘rehab’
into the urban regeneration of today.
For further details contact the AHSS National Office, 33 Barony Street, Edinburgh
EH3 6NX on 0131 557 0019 or e-mail: nationaloffice@ahss.org.uk
PROGRAMME
Friday 1 May 2009
9.00
REGISTRATION
9.40
Welcome from the chair
9.45
The conflicting 'modernities' of postwar urban conservation, Dr Miles Glendinning
10.10
Urban conservation and the international conservation charters, Ruxandra Stoica
10.35
The postwar reconstruction of Poland's devastated cities, Dr Ella Chmielewska
11.00
(A)Political Buildings: Ideology, Memory and Warsaw's 'Old Town', Michał Murawski
11.25
Twentieth-century architecture in Quebec City: the dilemma of integration in a 'colonial jewel', Dr Emilie
MIRROR OF MODERNITY
AHSS National Conference 1-2 May 2009
D'Orgiex
11.50
Pursuit of deeper purpose: the reconstruction of fortress Louisbourg, Nova Scotia, Anne Raines
12.15
The postwar rise of conservation in England: heroic struggle or technocratic evolution? John Pendlebury
12.50
LUNCH
2.15
France’s Loi Malraux and the secteurs sauvegardés programme, speaker TBC
2.40
Area conservation as socialist standard bearer: a plan for the historical centre of Bologna in 1969, Dr
Luisa Bravo
3.15
TEA
3.50
From Porta Pia to Porta del Popolo: modernity and antiquity face-to-face in postwar Rome, Prof
Maristella Casciato
4.25
The contemporary challenge: urban conservation issues in present-day China, Prof Zhu Rong
5.00
DISCUSSION + SUMMING UP
5.30
Close of Conference
6.00
President's Reception at RIAS, 15 Rutland Square, Edinburgh
Saturday 2 May 2009
9.00
REGISTRATION
10.00
Welcome from the chair , Neil Baxter
10.10
Civic amenity on a national scale: the foundation and work of the Scottish Civic Trust, John Gerrard
10.35
More a trustee than a proprietor: establishing the New Town Conservation Committee, Desmond
Hodges
11.00
Conservation at the grassroots: the first major project in Edinburgh's New Town, John Knight
11.25
East Lothian’s 'valley section' and the work of Frank Tindall, Ben Tindall
11.50
LUNCH
1.20
Glasgow Tenement 'Rehab': welcome from the chair and introduction, Raymond Young
1.30
Glasgow Tenement ‘Rehab': Government policy initiatives and housing improvement, David Whitham
1.55
Glasgow Tenement 'Rehab': The concept of improvement: a legacy of the Great Storm, Dr Peter
Robinson
2.20
Glasgow Tenement 'Rehab': Overview of a housing revolution, Raymond Young
3.05
TEA
3.35
Edinburgh's Old Town regeneration story, Jim Johnson and Lou Rosenburg
4.15
Modernity in Context: small burgh revitalisation in 1950s-70s Scotland, Diane Watters
4.40
The Glasgow community housing movement and its legacy, speaker TBC
5.05
DISCUSSION + SUMMING UP, David Page
5.30
End of Conference
Supported by
The Architectural
Heritage Society
of Scotland