ICCH
9ICCH / Turin, Politecnico di Torino / June 28th-July 2nd, 2027
Construction History at the Crossroads
Abstract and Paper selection criteria
News / Call for abstracts
The 9th International Congress on Construction History will be held at the Politecnico di Torino in 2027, June 28th – July 2nd
The congress is chaired by the CHG Board and managed by a local organising committee. The CHG group as a whole is working towards the organization of an inclusive and lively conference. The Call for Sessions (Download) closed on December 8, 2025.
The Call for abstracts (Download) closed on July 4th. We are grateful for the current very strong response to the call!
The abstract review and selection process is approaching its conclusion, with over 90% of the double-blind reviews already in! Selection results will be communicated by August 31st.
We look forward to seeing you in Turin. Stay tuned!
Contacts: chg@polito.it
Construction History at the Crossroads
ICCH, celebrates its 9th edition and 27th anniversary in Turin, Italy. As it feels less the need to establish itself as a legitimate, vital sphere of research, Construction History must now look ahead, beyond the nodes that already connect it to well-recognized topics, spaces, and chronologies. ICCH9 in Turin will embrace the condition of being at the intersection of old and new geographies and of different research fields and disciplines, some of which are designing new perspectives across the research landscape.
We are surrounded by crisis, yet also by novelty and challenge, and we would like ICCH9 to explore this condition. Environmental History, microhistorical investigation, the evolution of construction languages; the role of new research tools; histories from places and countries where CH has rarely been to; the redefinition of chronological boundaries; the “invention” – from Latin invenio, “to find” – of new research themes. These are all directions we would like to embrace, without rejecting the more established ties to architectural history, to the histories of science and engineering, and to the diverse and engaging topics that have already given CH its multifaceted identity.
ICCH9 takes place for the first time in Italy, just as Italy is exploring its new position in academia and research within and beyond the European horizon, seeking new cultural partners, terms of reference, and opportunities for reflection on how European, or Western, construction histories should be reframed within the global cultures of our time.
Help us make this ICCH the most lively and international ICCH ever!
First time in Turin?
The city: Founded by the Romans in the 1st century BC, home to an exuberant Baroque court, first capital of Italy in the 19th century, modern company town, once headquarters to car conglomerate FIAT, and in view of Ivrea, hometown of Olivetti; and now, post-industrial cultural and technological hub. Turin is a lively, liveable, medium-sized city of 900.000 inhabitants. It will welcome you and treat you to not-yet-overpriced hotels, cafes, pizzerias and restaurants, and to museums, parks and visitor attractions, including Unesco World Heritage sites, not yet overwhelmed by selfie-shooting crowds. You seek refuge from the summer heat? Alas, there is no sea in Torino! However, the riverside parks and the hills are just a few minutes away from the city center. And a one-hour drive will take you to the Alps.
The ICCH9 technical tours will roam the city and parts of Piedmont, taking you to architecture and engineering marvels, starting from the two conference venues: “il Castello del Valentino”, the 17th-century Château, house to the Architecture school; and the severe 1950s-2000 Engineering school buildings, with their collections of engineering models and construction materials. Walking tours in Turin and bus tours will include: Sacra di San Michele, a medieval / 19th century “Mont St. Michel”; the masonry structures by Guarino Guarini; an urban geological walk throughout the city center; insight into the ambiguous construction techniques of architectural eclecticism; the bizarre part-prefab part poured-in-place structures of Jaretti and Luzi’s 1950s houses. Not enough? We are seeking to take selected groups to Lingotto, the former 1920s car factory with its upward-spiraling concrete ramps and Renzo Piano’s additions; Carlo Mollino’s Teatro Regio; Juvarra’s Dome at Superga; Alessandro Antonelli’s Cupola di San Gaudenzio; Pier Luigi Nervi; Ivrea and Olivetti day tour…
Preliminary program
Five days, or, 2+1+2: as in other recent ICCH conferences, the full week of the conference will be organized in 2+2 days of sessions, plenary and parallel, on each side of one full day (Wednesday) dedicated to specialized tours. We expect a packed program and 300+ participants, so plenty of time and space will be allowed for informal gatherings, chats, and networking.
The venues: the organizing committee is working on a detailed program that includes both main sites of the Politecnico di Torino: two full days at the Engineering School and two full days at the Castello del Valentino, seat of the Architecture School. Both sites are within easy reach of the city center and a few minutes from metro stops: we will make the most of what they have to offer!
The costs: we are not in a position to post the conference costs yet, as we are in the fundraising stage. The conference needs to address the rising costs of rental, catering, and technical support, and ensure that the proceedings, which are a significant investment, are available in Open Access at the conference opening. We suggest you refer to the last few conferences for a comparative cost (Bruxelles, Lisbon, Zurich), considering we will invest as much as possible of our time and efforts to keep the registration fee as low as possible. We are working, both in Turin and with the sister associations, to ensure that at least some grants – and a lower fee – are available for young scholars.
Timeline
While we will post the updated deadlines in the news, consider that:
- Full papers are due by October 30, 2026. Submissions will undergo a further review by members of the scientific committee.
- Inscriptions to the conference will open in early 2027.
Abstract and Paper Selection Criteria
Abstracts submitted to the international conference will undergo a double-blind peer review process. Abstracts will be sent anonymously to the members of the International Scientific Committee (whose list will be later published), who will assess them according to predetermined scholarly criteria on the EasyChair platform. The authors’ identities will not be disclosed to the reviewers, and the reviewers’ identities will not be disclosed to the authors.
Each abstract will be assessed by two independent reviewers, selected for their scholarly expertise, the thematic and methodological relevance of their expertise to the proposal, and the absence of conflicts of interest. The reviewers’ assessments constitute independent scholarly evaluations and are not subject to revision by the authors.
Reviewers will evaluate abstracts on the basis of the following criteria:
- relevance to the conference theme and coherence with the field of construction history;
- clarity of the research question, objectives, and argumentative structure;
- soundness and clarity of research methodology, with particular attention to the use of sources, historical-critical analysis, technical and constructional interpretation, and the integration of archival and bibliographical, material, graphic, or diagnostic evidence;
- originality of the topic, case study, methodological approach, and/or proposed interpretation;
- potential contribution to the advancement of research in construction history;
- clarity of expression
In case of substantial disagreement between the two reviewers, a third independent review will be requested. The third reviewer will be selected on the basis of specific expertise in the subject area of the abstract and will provide an additional assessment to support the final decision.
The choice of reviewers will take into account disciplinary relevance, reviewer availability, and balanced distribution of the review workload. All reviewers are required to guarantee the confidentiality of the submissions received and to decline the assignment if they recognize the author or if any potential conflict of interest exists. Final decisions on acceptance and assignment to specific sessions will be made by the Organizing Committee based on the reviews received and the overall coherence of the conference program.