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SAH Announces Public Programming at Glasgow Conference

by SAH News | Mar 15, 2017

The Society of Architectural Historians (SAH) will present a Mackintosh Symposium, public architecture tours and a seminar on heritage and sustainability as part of its 70th Annual International Conference to be held in Glasgow, June 7–11. These public programs are designed to provide a platform for conference delegates from around the world to celebrate and study the conference’s host city and engage with the local community. The conference marks SAH’s first time meeting outside North America in over 40 years and coincides with Scotland’s 2017 Year of History, Heritage and Archaeology. Registration is open to the public at sah.org/2017/public-programs

Mackintosh Symposium
“Mackintosh: Materials and Materiality”

Wednesday, June 7
Glasgow School of Art, Reid Building, 164 Renfew St, Glasgow
Tickets: $40 per person

mackintosh-library_15254864654_oOn June 7, the 149th birthday of Scotland’s renowned architect Charles Rennie Mackintosh (1866–1928), SAH will present the Mackintosh Symposium, “Mackintosh: Materials and Materiality,” with the Glasgow School of Art. Currently there are several major projects underway to restore and/or reconstruct Mackintosh’s architectural and design work, and the Charles Rennie Mackintosh Society has recently completed a condition survey of all extant Mackintosh sites. These projects have provided new opportunities to closely examine the material aspects of Mackintosh's work, and new discoveries have already come to light. This symposium will offer a forum for knowledge exchange between these projects, with particular emphasis on tangible material research and the more intangible ideas of materiality that can complicate conservation approaches. Pamela Robertson, professor emerita and Honorary Professorial Research Fellow, University of Glasgow, will deliver the keynote. Speakers will represent four major Mackintosh projects: Glasgow School of Art, The Willow Tea Rooms, the interiors from the Ingram Street Tea Rooms in the collection of Glasgow Museums, and the National Trust for Scotland – The Hill House. The closing will include an open discussion to offer an opportunity to explore this research with the wider architectural community. The symposium is chaired by Robyne Calvert, Mackintosh Research Fellow, Glasgow School of Art.

Speakers Include:

  • Alison Brown, Curator of European Decorative Art, Glasgow Museums
  • Elizabeth Davidson, Senior Project Manager, Glasgow School of Art
  • John Sanders, Willow Tea Rooms Project, Simpson & Brown Architects
  • TBC, The National Trust for Scotland – The Hill House

Architecture Tours

Wednesday, June 7 through Sunday, June 11
Glasgow and Environs
Tickets: $25–$90; plus a one-time administrative fee of $25

Thirty-three tours of architecture and landscapes in and around Glasgow are scheduled throughout the duration of the conference. Led by local historians, architects and other heritage experts, the tours will explore everything from Glasgow’s Victorian West End to Merchant City, from Scotland’s vernacular cottages to its famed castles, the works of Glasgow’s great architects Charles Rennie Mackintosh and Alexander ‘Greek’ Thomson, as well as the UNESCO World Heritage sites of New Lanark and Edinburgh’s Old and New Towns. Please note that some tours have already sold out during the SAH member presale. 

WEDNESDAY, JUNE 7
TR01 Stained Glass at the Burrell Collection (1:00 PM–4:30 PM)
TR02 Govan: Dark Age Origins and Industrial Apogee (1:00 PM–5:00 PM)
TR03 University of Glasgow Walking Tour (1:00 PM–5:00 PM)
TR04 Cottiers in Context: A Detailed Tour of a William Leiper Building & Daniel Cottier Interior (1:00 PM–5:00 PM)
TR05 Gillespie, Kidd & Coia: Architects of This City? (1:00 PM–5:00 PM)
TR06 West End Bus Tour (1:00 PM–5:00 PM)

THURSDAY, JUNE 8
TR07 George Square: A System of the World (1:30 PM–2:30 PM)
TR08 The Merchants House of Glasgow (SOLD OUT) 
TR09 Glasgow’s Historic Interiors (1:30 PM–2:30 PM)
TR10 The Glasgow Necropolis: Victorian Garden Cemetery 1833 (SOLD OUT) 

FRIDAY, JUNE 9
TR11 Trongate: The Heart of Glasgow (SOLD OUT)
TR12 The Glasgow Cathedral and the Necropolis ((SOLD OUT)
TR13 The Cuninghame Mansion (1:30 PM–2:30 PM)
TR14 Glasgow City Chambers (1:30 PM–2:30 PM)
TR15 The Merchant City: A Promenade and a Pint–(SOLD OUT) 

SATURDAY, JUNE 10
TR16 Stirlingshire (9:00 AM–4:00 PM)
TR17 Cove and Kilcreggan (9:00 AM–4:30 PM)
TR18 Castles of Lowland Scotland (SOLD OUT)
TR19 Park Circus (1:00 PM–4:00 PM)
TR20 Discovering Georgian Glasgow: Allan Dreghorn’s City (1:00 PM–4:30 PM)
TR21 Pollokshields: Victorian Garden Suburb Walking Tour (1:00 PM–5:00 PM)
TR22 Cumbernauld New Town: Celebrated, Neglected and Reviled (1:00 PM–5:00 PM)
TR23 Alexander Thomson in Glasgow (SOLD OUT)

SUNDAY, JUNE 11
TR24 Urban and Rural Vernaculars: Burgh, Village and Longhouse (8:30 AM–5:30 PM)
TR25 Gems of Glasgow’s Victorian West End (9:00 AM–12:00 PM)
TR26 The Treasures of South Lanarkshire: New Lanark, Chatelherault and Bothwell Castle (9:00 AM–4:00 PM)
TR27 Mount Stuart, Isle of Bute (8:30 AM–6:45 PM)
TR28 Charles Rennie Mackintosh and the New Glasgow Suburbs (SOLD OUT)
TR29 Tantallon Castle and Dirleton Castle, Lothian (9:00 AM–5:00 PM)
TR30 Architectural Restoration: A Tour with Glasgow Building Preservation Trust (9:30 AM–4:30 PM)
TR31 Edinburgh: The Old Town (SOLD OUT)
TR32 Edinburgh: The New Town and William Playfair (11:00 AM–7:30 PM)
TR33 Making Modern Edinburgh, 1945–1975 (11:00 AM–7:30 PM)

SAH Glasgow Seminar
“Making and Re-Making Glasgow: Heritage and Sustainability”

Saturday, June 10
Mackintosh Queen’s Cross, 870 Garscube Rd, Glasgow
Tickets: $20 per person

overlooking-kelvingrove-park_350This half-day seminar will explore ways in which advocacy for heritage and sustainability can work in concert with one another. The program will open with three case studies that discuss Glasgow as a city of innovative housing; a city of parks, gardens, and other open spaces; and a riverside city, taking its livelihood and identity from its use and imagining of the River Clyde. A screening of Chris Leslie’s short film (Re)Imagining Glasgow, commissioned for Scotland’s 2016 Festival of Architecture, will follow. The seminar will conclude with a panel discussion that addresses how conservation interests can be aligned with developmental pressures, how local identity can be cultivated around the city’s built heritage and influence future civic planning, and how Glasgow might benefit from a culture economy that looks to both the past and the future for inspiration.

Speakers include:
  • Lynn Abrams (University of Glasgow)
  • Hannah Victoria Connelly (University of Glasgow)
  • Martin Bellamy (Glasgow Museums)
  • Chris Leslie (Artist and Filmmaker)
  • Ranald MacInnes (Historic Environment Scotland)
  • Anne McChlery (Glasgow Building Preservation Trust)
  • Catherine Provan (The Tenement House, National Trust for Scotland)
  • Marina Moskowitz, Local SAH Conference Chair (University of Glasgow)
  • Sandy Isenstadt, SAH Conference Chair (University of Delaware)

About the SAH 2017 Annual International Conference
The Society of Architectural Historians will host its 70th Annual International Conference (#SAH2017) in Glasgow, Scotland, June 7–11, 2017. An estimated 600 historians, architects, preservationists, and museum professionals from around the world will convene at the University of Strathclyde’s Technology & Innovation Centre to present new research on the history of the built environment. The conference program includes 36 paper sessions, keynote talks, roundtables, social receptions, and more. Learn more at sah.org/2017

SAH thanks the following sponsors for their generous support of its 70th Annual International Conference: The Richard H. Driehaus Foundation (Lead Sponsor), Glasgow City Marketing Bureau, VisitScotland National Bid Fund and the European Regional Development Fund, Glasgow City Council, Graham Foundation for Advanced Studies in the Fine Arts, Gill Family Foundation, Historic Environment Scotland, and Abby Smith Rumsey.

About SAH
Founded in 1940, the Society of Architectural Historians is a nonprofit membership organization that promotes the study, interpretation and conservation of architecture, design, landscapes and urbanism worldwide. SAH serves a network of local, national and international institutions and individuals who, by profession or interest, focus on the built environment and its role in shaping contemporary life. SAH promotes meaningful public engagement with the history of the built environment through advocacy efforts, print and online publications, and local, national and international programs. Learn more at sah.org.

About 2017 Year of History, Heritage and Archaeology
  • 2017 is the year to delve into the past and discover Scotland’s fascinating stories through a wide-ranging variety of new and existing activity to drive the nation’s tourism and events sector, boosting tourism across Scotland.
  • The Year of History, Heritage and Archaeology begins on 1 January 2017 and will end on 31 December 2017.  It will build on the momentum generated by previous themed years in Scotland including the 2016 Year of Architecture, the 2015 Year of Food and Drink, Homecoming Scotland 2014, the Year of Creative and the Year of Natural.
  • The Year of History, Heritage and Archaeology is a Scottish Government initiative being led by VisitScotland, and supported by a variety of partners including Creative Scotland, Scottish Tourism Alliance, Scottish Enterprise, The National Trust for Scotland, Historic Environment Scotland, Highlands and Islands Enterprise, Built Environment Forum Scotland, Heritage Lottery Fund, Museums Galleries Scotland and Traditional Arts and Culture Scotland.
  • The Year of History, Heritage and Archaeology is supported by £570,000 of Scottish Government funding.
  • The Year of History, Heritage and Archaeology events fund is managed by EventScotland, part of VisitScotland’s Events Directorate. 
  • For more information visit visitscotland.com/HHA2017 or join the conversation at #HHA2017




Founded in 1940, the Society of Architectural Historians is an international nonprofit membership organization that promotes the study, interpretation and conservation of architecture, design, landscapes and urbanism worldwide. SAH serves a network of local, national and international institutions and individuals who, by profession or interest, focus on the built environment and its role in shaping contemporary life. SAH promotes meaningful public engagement with the history of the built environment through advocacy efforts, print and online publications, and local, national and international programs. 

Contact: Helena Dean, Director of Communications, hdean@sah.org, 312.543.7243
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SAH thanks The Richard H. Driehaus Foundation
for its operating support.
Society of Architectural Historians
1365 N. Astor Street
Chicago, Illinois 60610
312.573.1365