As a result, the developments with the greatest impact on the design and production of architecture are left to technical, economic and practice management discourses of building. Although the architectural humanities has recently shown interest in new technologies of digital fabrication (often celebrating the apparently closer relationship of the design process to realisation these developments bring) or in questions around life cycle analysis, embodied energy and ecologies of design, there are scores of other developments less noticeable but no less significant that should also demand our attention.

How are new technologies and techniques from BIM to robots and smart materials changing the production of buildings and the roles and environments of architects, constructors and users? How are ‘immaterial’ forces such as law and regulation materialised in building and with what effects? How and in what ways does risk management or the requirement for comfort or the performance imperative transform materials, practices and the possibilities of design? If we are to understand the transformations in architectural culture that emerge from these developments or to effectively critique or intervene in them then surely we need to engage with these contexts and with the questions that ensue, and to engage as much with practitioners, professionals and producers within the industry as with those attempting to operate outside it.

In addition to the usual conference papers Industries of Architecture will also host a number of open-structured debate-oriented workshops with the aim of bringing into the discussion those working in building, technology, law, practice management, construction or in industry together with researchers in the architectural humanities. Summaries of these sessions will be an important part of the closing session, as will overviews of the conference strands.

IOA’s opening night will include screenings of a series of artists’ films that explore the production of architecture, with special focus on the work of Berlin-based film maker Harun Farocki and on Allan Sekula’s documentaries, and discussion with some of our contributors. It will be hosted at the art deco Tyneside Cinema built in the 1930s to show newsreels. The session is part of the SAPL Public Events series and tickets are available for the public. The main conference will take place next to the University at the Great North Musuem and in the school of architecture. The Friday night keynote and conference buffet will be held in the panelled lecture theatre and library of the Newcastle’s beautiful Victorian Mining Institute.

We welcome contributions that explore these contemporary developments and also those that ask what theoretical and critical approaches may be appropriate for their interrogation.

Might the architectural humanities extend approaches already found in construction history, economic history, labour history, critical geography or in science and technology studies to explore these issues without losing sight of questions of design, aesthetics and affect? What other discourses such as process philosophies, relational ontologies or new materialism offer potentials for understanding these constellations of humans and nonhumans, structures and operations? What politics can be brought to, and are already found, in the industries of architecture? To what extent do discourses of gender and difference challenge the ways we might think about work on site and in the office? Are critical strategies of design always already informed by industry and must this be a problem? Can critical practice operate within the conditions of production rather than find a space in which to operate outside them?

Industries of Architecture recognises that there has been work in research and practice where concerns with the production of architecture were central, whether the enquiries of Sigfried Giedion or Reyner Banham into the entanglements of industrial developments and modern architecture, or the workerist-informed theory of the Venice School, the investigations of the Bartlett International Summer School into the production of the built environment, or in Brazil, Arquitectura Nova’s work at theorising and altering the role of architectural design in the organisation of labour on the building site. As well as new approaches to present conditions, and in order to support the same, we encourage re-evaluations of this earlier work or historical studies of, for example, labour on and off site (and in the office), relations of material and immaterial labour, management and organisation, products and materials manufacture, spaces of production or the impact of new regulatory or contractual regimes, and architects’ engagement with these issues. What other histories are to be written, particularly those that might acknowledge the very local and differentiated systems and structures of production in former socialist states for example, or in cultures with very different contexts to the US and Europe? What methodologies can we make use of to capture these often invisible and unrecorded histories? What are the implications for contemporary practice?

Please send a 500 word abstract, including title, and 50 word biog to IOA@ncl.ac.uk. We aim to notify you by 1 July 2014. Please note that full papers will be required prior to the conference for panel chairs and to begin the editorial process for publication in the Industries of Architecture volume in the Routledge Critiques series, and a special conference issue of Architecture and Culture.

They are likely to include an introduction by the convenor/s, and short presentations/film showings/etc. of around 5 minutes followed by a couple of hours of discussion over refreshments, but other formats such as visits to construction sites are also planned. Summaries of these sessions will be an important part of the closing session.

Workshops will take place on the afternoon of Friday 14 November with the closing review of workshops on Saturday afternoon. There is a special ‘workshop rate’ that covers this second half of the conference for those who are keen to be involved with this part of Industries of Architecture but can’t attend the full conference. If you are interested in contributing to one of these workshops please do contact the session organiser/s directly.

BIM Goes the Architect

John Gelder (University of South Australia)

As built-environment information modelling (BIM) matures, both technologically and culturally, traditional professional and other roles will be increasingly challenged, particularly those built around computation such as the various engineering disciplines. On the other hand, some architects see BIM as an opportunity for their profession to reclaim the central position it once enjoyed in traditional procurement. Is this likely, possible, or even desirable? Or is the profession of architecture as currently practised more likely to be replaced by one or more new design professions, in the same way that the design role of the medieval master builder was replaced by the dilettante architect during the information technology (IT) revolution of the Renaissance?

The Creative Potential of Regulation

Rob Imrie (Sociology, Goldsmiths, University of London), Emma Street (Real Estate & Planning, University of Reading) and Sarah Wigglesworth (University of Sheffield, Sarah Wigglesworth Architects)

It is a commonly held view that the regulations and rules that govern design practice - such as planning, building regulations, BREEAM, CfSH - are external impositions that reduce the scope of the architect’s creativity. In contrast, this workshop aims to explore how such rules and regulations can be a springboard for creative engagement and design opportunity. The participatory workshop will start by examining our attitude to, and experiences of, regulation and will speculate on the contents of an imaginary ‘Part Q’ Approved Document (AD) that addresses the needs & desires of older people. We will aim to describe this new Part Q in ways that depart from how regulations are often written about and discussed, by stipulating enabling or aspirational criteria that focus on wellbeing and quality of life.

Retrofit in Practice: What Next?

Sofie Pelsmakers (Doctoral Candidate, UCL Energy Institute and co-founder of Architecture for Change) and David Kroll (Anglia Ruskin University)

To meet the UK government’s ambitious carbon reduction standards, existing buildings will need to be upgraded to meet high fabric efficiency standards. But what are the challenges faced? Which policies exist to encourage this large scale retrofit – and what are the barriers? How much do we currently know about how well these buildings perform and what standards will they need to meet? What could some of the unintended consequences be of fabric upgrade? Will planning support or hinder interventions? Is there a role for architects in the upgrade of existing structures? And, why not simply demolish and start anew?

On Site: Observations and conversations on the design and production of the built environment

Linda Clarke and Christine Wall (ProBE, University of Westminster) and Nick Beech (Oxford Brookes University)

This workshop engages with the question of what role and contribution construction labour and the labour process play in determining the design and realisation of architecture. Through a site visit to a major construction project in the Newcastleupon- Tyne region [tbc], delegates will have an opportunity to observe processes of production and talk to those responsible. The workshop will then discuss and evaluate this experience and explore how far the current social and contractual relationships between construction workers, managers, and professionals can accommodate to different designs, methods, technologies and organisation of production.

Risk and Reflexivity: Architecture and the industries of risk-distribution

Liam Ross (University of Edinburgh) and Adam Sharr (Newcastle University)

This workshop invites participants from a range of construction industry fields – not just architects but also developers, insurers, lawyers, consultants, contractors and facilities managers – to discuss how the question of risk surfaces within and between their fields: where does it come from, how is it represented, where is it transferred to, and what residual risks remain? Between these short presentations, round-table discussions will consider the ‘reflexive’ effects created by the commodity of risk in building: what risks do buildings mitigate, and what risks do they construct? How are the risks and rewards of building distributed? How is a culture of risk-awareness re-shaping disciplinary roles and responsibilities? How is the built environment reshaping us as occupants, habituating us to, or protecting us from, risk?

New glass performances and materials designed for purpose

Katie Lloyd Thomas (Newcastle University)

Unfortunately this workshop has been withdrawn

Organisers:

Industries of Architecture is the second collaboration between Katie Lloyd Thomas (Newcastle University), Nick Beech (Oxford Brookes University) and Tilo Amhoff (University of Brighton) who in February 2011 co-organised the Further Reading Required symposium at the Bartlett – a ground-breaking interdisciplinary investigation of construction documents, published as a special issue of Architectural Research Quarterly 16/3 (2013). For Industries of Architecture they are joined by Adam Sharr (Newcastle University).

Advisory Team:

Robert Carvais (France), Jonathan Charley (UK), Jonathan Hale (UK/AHRA), Merlijn Hurx (Holland), Silke Kapp (Brazil), Mary McLeod (USA), Antoine Picon (USA/France) Julieanna Preston (New Zealand), Andrew Rabeneck (UK), Peg Rawes (UK/AHRA), Lukasz Stanek (UK), Paolo Tombesi (Australia), Sarah Wigglesworth (UK).

Sponsors:

Tickets:

Full conference tickets include Thursday night screenings, refreshments, lunches and the conference buffet on Friday night (with a pay bar). Workshop rates include Friday workshops, conference buffet and lunch an all sessions on Saturday. Delegates also receive a complimentary copy of one volume from the AHRA conference series Critiques published by Routledge, and an issue of the AHRA journal Architecture and Culture published by Bloomsbury.

Full conference: early bird (by 13 September) £190 / standard £230

student (publications not included) early bird £80 / standard £100

Workshop rate: (Friday pm and full Saturday): early bird £120 / standard £155