History as (a Praxis of) Knowledge: New Topics, Methods and Challenges
6-7 May 2025
Armstrong Building, Keeton Lomas Lecture Theatre (ARMB.G.09 KLLT)
International Partnership
In 2024, the School of Architecture, Planning and Landscape at Newcastle University and Southeast University China signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU). This allows teaching staff to offer lectures to students in both countries and enables global knowledge sharing and networking through in-person events. Find out more about the MoU.
They organised a first symposium on ‘History as (an Enabling) Knowledge’ in March 2024 in Nanjing, China. Presentations there examined the enabling agency of historical knowledge for design or heritage practice, engaging multiple concerns.
This second event will focus on frontier thinking and novel investigation in architectural history. In both symposia, the aim is for a multicultural presence of topics. Newcastle and Southeast will seek to continue this series of annual international symposia on ‘Knowledge and Architecture for the 21st Century’ from the theme of ‘history’ to those of ‘geography’ and ‘visuality’, with each theme being studied over two symposia.
Event details
Dates: Tuesday 6 – Wednesday 7 May 2025
Times: 09:00 – 17:30 (Tue); 09:00 – 13:30 (Wed)
Organisers: Jianfei Zhu and Adam Sharr
In a new world where generative AI and global uncertainties are becoming increasingly prominent, this symposium will consider new ideas about nature and technology.
Some fifteen invited speakers from China, the United Kingdom and the United States will present their studies on topics such as: architecture and its histories being challenged (and reshaped) by new ways of knowing and acting; case studies on the use of new tools; and relations between digital and non-digital methods.
Programme
See the full programme here:International Symposium programme (PDF 54KB)
Conference Fees
This symposium is free to attend. Lunch will also be provided on both dates.
Travel and Accommodation
Internationally, Newcastle can be reached by train. Eurostar trains from Paris, Amsterdam and Brussels arrive at London St. Pancras. Trains to Newcastle Central station run from London Kings Cross, directly adjacent to St Pancras (3 mins walk), every half hour during the day (taking between 2h 50 and 3h 10).
Newcastle International Airport is served at least daily by flights from international hubs including Dubai International, Amsterdam Schiphol, Paris Charles de Gaulle, Frankfurt International, and London Heathrow. Newcastle Airport is connected to the city by Metro (every 12 mins during the day, taking 25 mins, tickets available at the station), and also by taxi.
Travelling within the UK, Newcastle is on the East Coast Main Line rail route connecting Edinburgh and London (train operator: LNER). Frequent services also run from Manchester (train operator: TransPennine Express), Birmingham and Bristol (train operator: Cross Country).
Newcastle has a wide range of good short-stay accommodation.