The CHG | Activities 

Forthcoming

CALL FOR PAPERS (deadline 31th October, 2022)
16th-17th February, 2023 - Politecnico di Torino (Valentino Castle) 

Two Day Seminar by the Construction History Group (Politecnico di Torino, DAD)

The international seminar "Producing for Building" is organised by Maria Luisa Barelli and Mauro Volpiano (members of the Construction History Group Politecnico di Torino) with the partnership of the Department of Architecture and Design (DAD). The seminar will take place on 16th and 17th February 2023.

Please send your proposal no later than October 31, 2022, attaching:

- Abstract of up to 2,000 characters (it, fr or eng)

- Affiliation and contact information

- Brief CV (it or eng) for those who are not already members of CHG Research Center

to the following emails: valentina.burgassi@polito.it and chg@polito.it

Abstract acceptance will be communicated by November 10, 2022.

2nd WORKSHOP PRODUCING FOR BUILDING (26th Sept. - 1st Oct. 2022, Valentino Castle).

The WS organised by CHG Construction History Group Politecnico di Torino DAD (prof. Maria Luisa Barelli and Prof. Mauro Volpiano) will take place from Monday 26th Sept. to Saturday 1st October 2022. The WS will take place at the Valentino Clastle and in Via Morgari (Politecnico di Torino), with students presenting their work on Saturday morning 1st October, Valentino Castle, room 10V. Please, find attached the programme, with the corresponding rooms.

WORKSHOP APPIA REGINA VIARUM 2 ECTS - 15th-17th September 2022 (Rome)

We are please to inform you of the Workshop of the Joint Programme Politecnico di Milano - Politecnico di Torino, Construction History Group (programme Passion in Action) called "Appia Regina Viarum. Visit to the Archaeological Park of the Appia Antica". The WS is organised by Prof. Maria Cristina Loi (Politecnico di Milano), Prof. Cesare Tocci and Valentina Burgassi (Politecnico di Torino, Construction History Group DAD) from 15th to 17th September 2022, with 2 ECTS to be obtained by students. For applications please send an email to valentina.burgassi@polito.it and chg@polito.it

Exhibition "Un esordio in grande stile. Il Palazzo dell'Obelisco, 1954-1959" Torino (Valentino Castle)
The exhibition 'Un esordio in grande stile. Il Palazzo dell'Obelisco, 1954 - 1959' is opening on 16th June 2022 (Sala delle Colonne, Castello del Valentino). The exhibition is promoted by Open House Italia and the General Directorate for Contemporary Creativity of the Ministry of Culture as part of the 'Timeless Architects' project and it is organised by Maria Luisa Barelli and Davide Rolfo (DAD, Politecnico di Torino)
The exhibition traces the construction history of the Obelisk building, the first masterpiece by Sergio Jaretti and Elio Luzi. There are sketches, original drawings of the two project phases, photographs and documents. The aim is to guide the visitor in the understanding of the building by highlighting different point of views.
Here the website with the information details.

Ninth Annual Conference on Construction History, Cambridge (CHS)
The Ninth Annual Conference on Construction History (CHS) will take place on 1st-2nd April, 2022 at Queen's College, Cambridge. The theme will be Timber Construction. It will be followed by a one day conference on Sunday 3rd April on James Essex, the 18th century architect and builder. The conference will be in hybrid mode with a live audience in Queen's and live presentations but where necessary presentations online. All those delivering papers must register for the conference. The committee aim to produce the printed proceedings to be available on the first day of the conference.

Our CHG member Martina Motta is attending with a paper on "The Wood Sector and the King's Works. A Different Perspective for the Study of 18th Century Royal Construction Sites in the Kingdom of Sardinia".
Link to the programme here

18th-19th February, 2022 - Politecnico di Torino (Valentino Castle) 

The Second International Seminar of the Construction History Group (Politecnico di Torino, DAD)

The international seminar is organised by the members of the Construction History Group (Politecnico di Torino) with the partnership of the Department of Architecture and Design (DAD). The seminar will take place on 18th and 19th February 2022. Here you find the Programme and the Book of Abstracts (with links to join us on Microsoft Teams, 19th February LINK here).

The Art and Industry of Stucco Decoration
This international conference aims at examining the techniques and the artistic processes with which stucco decoration has been realized in different European countries from the 16th to the 17th Century, by foreign or by local masters. Stucco is very versatile and composite artwork, it can be executed using different materials and production methods according to what is available on site and the ability of the masters to manipulate the mortar. The conference will examine this and other related topics with an interdisciplinary approach, considering art and social history, technical art history, material science as subjects of enquiry.

Organisation committee: Giacinta Jean, Alberto Felici (Istituto materiali e costruzioni, Dipartimento ambiente costruzioni e design, Scuola universitaria professionale della Svizzera italiana, SUPSI), Letizia Tedeschi (Archivio del Moderno, Accademia di Architettura, Università della Svizzera italiana, USI).
Scientific committee: Giacinta Jean, Alberto Felici, Marta Caroselli (SUPSI-DACD-IMC), Letizia Tedeschi (USI-AAM-Archivio del Moderno), Serena Quagliaroli, Giulia Spoltore (Centro Studi per la storia dello stucco in Età Moderna e Contemporanea), Jana Zapletalová (Palacký University Olomouc).

The event will take place at Istituto Svizzero (Rome) and online. Presentations will be held in Italian, English and French.

CHG members are attending the conference:

03h30 pm-03h50 pm – Online: Valentina Burgassi (Politecnico di Torino – École Pratique des Hautes Études), Mauro Volpiano (Politecnico di Torino – Dipartimento di architettura e design), Plasterers at the Savoyard court: the construction of royal residences in 17th Century Piedmont

First Workshop of the Construction History Group (Politecnico di Torino - DAD) in partnership with: Collegio di Architettura (Politecnico di Torino)

October 4th-9th 2021, Torino: Lingotto (Room 300) and Valentino Castle (Room 7V)
The first workshop of the CHG "Salirò, salirò. Due architetture spericolate di scuola antonelliana" is organised by the members of the Construction History Group - Politecnico di Torino - (professors Carla Bartolozzi, Annalisa Dameri, Maurizio Gomez-Serito, Francesco Novelli, Edoardo Piccoli, Roberta Spallone, Cesare Tocci, Marco Vitali, Mauro Volpiano. Teaching assistants: Valentina Burgassi, Elena Campana, Daniele Dabbene) with the partnership of Collegio di Architettura. The workshop will take place from 4th to 9th October, 2021. 2 CFU (50 hours). 24 places available for students enrolled (or to be enrolled for the academic year 2021-2022) in PoliTo MACC, MASt, MAP. The informations for participation are here.
For interested applicants, please send an email with a copy of your identity card or Passport and CV in a unique pdf to chg@polito.it

The programme is now available here.

7ICCH Seventh International Congress on Construction History (Lisbon, School of Architecture)

July 12th-16th 2021
The 7ICCH - Seventh International Congress on Construction History will be broadcast live from Lisbon, on 12-16 July 2021. The final programme is available here and on the official website of 7ICCH.

The CHG members are participating with accepted papers:

Open Session: Building Actors I (18th-20th centuries)
Monday, 12 July, 12h30-15h30
Building the ephemeral in Turin, capital of the Savoyard States (Valentina Burgassi & Mauro Volpiano)

Open Session: Building Actors II (1900s-1920s)
Monday, 12 July, 12h30-15h30
Luigi Santarella: Reinforced concrete design culture through the technical literature (Alberto Bologna & Cinzia Gavello)

Open Session: Construction Processes VII (1950s-1960s)
Tuesday, 13 July, 16h00-16h00
Masonry and its role in the mid-20th century: G area houses in the Le Vallette district of Turin (Maria Luisa Barelli & Cesare Tocci)

Open Session: Knowledge transfer I (13th-18th centuries)
Tuesday, 15 July, 13h30-15h30
The roots of the 18th century turning point in earthquake-resistant building (Cesare Tocci, Caterina Felicita Carocci  & Valentina Macca)

PhD Dissertation (Sofia Nannini, Politecnico di Torino)

April 19th, 2021 - 3.00 pm (GMT+1) Politecnico di Torino (online, zoom platform)
Title: 'The Icelandic Concrete Saga: Architecture and Construction (1847-1958)' .

Thesis committee: Antonello Alici - Università Politecnica delle Marche, Michael Asgaard Andersen - Aarhus School of Architecture, Mario Bevilacqua - Università di Firenze, Guomundur Halfdanarson - University of Iceland, Thomas Leslie - Iowa State University

PhD supervistor: Sergio Pace - Politecnico di Torino, Co-Supervisor: Atli Magnus Seelow - FAU Erlangen-Nurnberg, Alberto Bologna - Politecnico di Milano

The PhD defence will be online on polito.it For information please send an email to chg@polito.it

Here you find the programme.

12th February, 2021 - Politecnico di Torino (Valentino Castle, room 1V)

The First Seminar of the Construction History Group (Politecnico di Torino, DAD)

12th February, 2021 - Politecnico di Torino (Valentino Castle, room 1V) and on Microsoft Teams
The seminar is organised by the members of the Construction History Group (Politecnico di Torino) with the partnership of the Department of Architecture and Design (DAD). The seminar will take place on 12th February 2021, on Microsoft Teams. Here you find the details (programme and book of abstracts). Here the link to the Microsoft Teams platform.

The proceedings of the Seventh Conference of the Construction History Society are now available.                             See on the CHS website here

Conferences and Symposiums

Seventh Conference of the Construction History Society (Cambridge)

Sofia Nannini, Politecnico di Torino
Icelandic Concrete Surfaces: Guðjón Samúelsson’s Steining (1930–50)
Online paper here
Conference on Saturday 04 April 2020, 2:00 pm (BST Time) (Cambridge, Queens' College).
The conference is moving to an online format. Presentation here

Edoardo Piccoli, Giulio Ventura, Politecnico di Torino
Construction History, Master of Science-level of the Bologna process in Architecture Construction City - Torino
March - July 2020 (Torino, Politecnico di Torino).                                                                                                             Link to the course here

Sixth Conference of the Construction History Society (Cambridge)

Edoardo Piccoli, Cesare Tocci, Elena Zanet, Roberto Caterino, Politecnico di Torino
Building on water and the Modern State. Eighteenth Century foundation techniques in the fortifications of Alessandria
Friday-Sunday 05-07 April 2019, 10:00 am-6:00 pm (BST Time) (Cambridge, Queens' College).                                   The proceedings are available to order online on the CHS website here

CHG meetings

Every six months, CHG meetings are organised in order to evaluate the progress made by the research group on the project