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Call for applications for the Editorial Board of Architectural Histories

Architectural Histories invites applications for membership on its general Editorial Board. Members of the Editorial Board work with the Editor-in-Chief to guide potential contributions, from submission through peer review and copy-editing stages of publication. Members thus carry considerable responsibility for the content and quality of the Journal. 

The Board, in keeping with the European Architectural History Network’s mission, also develops the strategy and vision of the Journal, maintaining its disciplinary, thematic and geographic diversity and outreach whilst upholding scholarly excellence and integrity.   

Members should be available and committed, and willing to devote considerable time to the Journal. They should be well connected in their field(s) of expertise and are expected to seek out and solicit contributions from their various academic networks.

The call for applications is open to all EAHN members regardless of background, discipline or seniority. Scholars working outside traditional centres of scholarship are strongly encouraged to apply. Moreover, we especially welcome applicants involved in research covering architecture, broadly conceived, in the Global South. Applications should consist of a CV (max. 3 pages) and a cover letter specifying the candidate’s skills and qualities.

Applications should be emailed to Samantha L. Martin-McAuliffe, Editor-in-Chief (editor-in-chief@journal.eahn.org) and received no later than Wednesday, June 30th, 2021. The new member will be appointed in early September 2021 for a four-year term. 

Call for applications for the pre-1800 Reviews Editor of Architectural Histories

The editorial board of Architectural Histories seeks to appoint a Reviews Editor for publications and other research-based outputs covering the history of architecture and the built environment before 1800. 

The Reviews Editor is responsible for commissioning, developing and editing reviews for the journal. Taking advantage of the rapid production cycle offered by an online open access publication, Architectural Histories publishes reviews that respond to the latest releases in the field, including book publications, exhibitions and conferences. 

Working closely with the Editor-in-Chief and Architectural Histories’ post-1800 Reviews Editor, the new Reviews Editor will identify publications, exhibitions and conferences of interest and solicit their review from scholars active in the field. For each review commissioned, the Editor will oversee the entirety of the editorial process, from preliminary line-edits to final typesetting. The Editor is expected to deliver 10-15 reviews per year. 

The ideal candidate will be well connected with scholars working on all aspects of architecture pre-1800. She/he will closely monitor the state of the field, seeking to commission reviews that call attention to lasting contributions to historical and historiographical debates. The Editor should be familiar with good practice in the commissioning and editing of reviews. 

This call is open to all scholars working on topics related to architectural history pre-1800, regardless of background, discipline or seniority. Applications from scholars working outside the traditional centers of scholarship are strongly encouraged. Applications should consist of a CV (max. 3 pages) and a cover letter (max. 2 pages), specifying the candidate’s appropriate skills and qualities. 

Applications should be emailed to Samantha L. Martin-McAuliffe, Editor-in-Chief (editor-in-chief@eahn.org), received no later than Wednesday, June 30th, 2021. The new member will be appointed in early September 2021 for a four-year term, and will work in tandem with the outgoing editor for the remainder of 2021.

Jury – Mark Crinson, Kenny Cupers, Helena Mattsson

The jury was unanimous in awarding this to –

Sheila Crane for ‘Algerian Socialism and the Architecture of Autogestion’

 This is a brilliant analysis of a particular aspect of architecture in post-revolutionary Algeria, one in which the government policy of autogestion (self-management) was transferred and re-imagined in architectural terms. Crane offers a nuanced and carefully argued discussion of this fascinating if brief moment when architectural projects, debates and writing worked in synchrony with the politics of independence in order to un-shackle Algeria from the practices of the colonial era and its economic dependence on France. The article focuses on the theory of Abderrahman Bouchama, relating it to the work of a number of other Algerian architects who were doing (necessarily) experimental and ephemeral work galvanising users in active participation with architectural design. Of particular interest here is the way that Crane brings her arguments to bear in relation to the theoretical framework of provincializing Marxist architectural theory. Crane attends to the shifting alliances as well as the contradiction between architectural production and political ideology. Carefully contextualised and lucidly expounded, this is by any measure a substantial contribution to architectural histories of the post-colonial world.

We also want to make two honourable mentions.

One for runner-up to –

Andreas W. Putz for ‘Housing Paul and Paula: Building Repair and Urban Renewal in the German Democratic Republic’

Andreas Putz’s article considerably advances our understanding of architecture and reconstruction in post-war East Germany. Focussing on the repair of buildings, and the re-direction of the construction industry and its technologies to this end, Putz shows how through these techniques architects not only advanced urban renewal but also how they brought historic forms back into circulation in new economic circumstances. The article adroitly juggles fascinating details and many relevant contexts, helping us understand better how repair and re-appropriation were also a part of making the socialist world.

 And one for best article by a young scholar to –

Rixt Woudstra for ‘Exhibiting Reform: MoMA and the Display of Public Housing (1932-1939)’

Still a PhD student at the time of the publication of this article, Rixt Woudstra has produced a substantial new account of MoMA’s commitment to housing reform in the New Deal era of the 1930s. We can now understand much better how this social project of architecture, supposedly marginalised by MoMA’s International Style interests, was interwoven with formal interests, even as it was subsequently treated as separate. Not only was it closely aligned with the policies of government and housing organisations, but it also, Woudstra argues, continued to offer a different set of architectural values, if shorn of their implications for architecture more generally. 

Mark Crinson, Kenny Cupers, Helena Mattsson