Round Table

Call for short Papers

Organiser: Claudiu Silvestru, Austria

Conversion projects are one of the main tasks of contemporary architecture. The reuse of historical buildings through new functions fosters the preservation of cultural heritage and improves public space. Furthermore it strengthens the identity of the general public correlated to its past and provides a status symbol to its users. Preliminary evaluation and building survey are the first steps of each architectural project dealing with the conversion or renovation of existing buildings. As part of these activities aspects of the history of the objects are revealed, which reach beyond what lies within the focus of preservation organizations.

Public dissemination events for this cultural heritage can only be carried out with the participation or at the suggestion of historians, planning architects and their clients because of 2 reasons:

  • the low profile little-known aspects of cultural heritage stand out only in the course of building survey and are therefore known only to the parties involved in the conversion project.
  • the buildings are accessible only with the consent of the owner during the planning and construction ph After the conversion/reconstruction, even if they aren’t completely destroyed or removed, the elements of cultural heritage become mostly inaccessible for the general public.

Goal of the round table

The different approaches on cultural heritage within conversion projects leave seldom space for public dissemination. The result is that elements of cultural heritage which are accessible to the broad audience only during the development phase or through challenging integration in the development project never make it to the public. The goal of this round table is to identify the common ground of the parties involved in the survey and development process. Furthermore it will initiate a discussions on approaches, strategies and presentation technology which foster a win-win situation from which developers, planners and researchers as well as future users and the general public can profit.

Structure of the round table

To begin with, three impulse keynotes – one from each category of participants – will present the different points of view and approaches.

Further on the roundtable will discuss the following topics:

  • the meaning, relevance and value of cultural heritage for the different actors
  • the responsibility of public dissemination and who to address it
  • spatial and temporal restrictions: challenges for dissemination during ongoing construction sites
  • economical restrictions: ways of low cost and high impact presentation technologies
  • generating win-win situations

Participants group

  • researchers: historians, archaeologists
  • contractors: real estate developers, infrastructure providers
  • planners: architects

Submit your abstract via online-form.