Our Living Heritage: Industrial Buildings and Sites of Asia

Initiated in the United Kingdom in the later part of the 18th century, spread throughout Europe and the United States in the following era, and finally dispersed to Asia and Africa during the 20th century, the Industrial Revolution left numerous industrial heritage sites around the world. Formed under different historical, social, and economic situations, industrial facilities are often marked with distinct traits from country to country, and, subsequently, the issue of industrial heritage can only be approached from different social contexts in cases of, for example, a post-industrial European nation and an emerging country undergoing a rapid process of industrialization.

The mAAN conference of 2011, to be held in Seoul, aims to shed light on the various conditions which industrial heritage sites now face. Along with architecture of power, religious buildings, and residential architecture, industrial buildings constitute an important part of our architectural past, but neither their value as a cultural heritage, nor their appropriate position in the historiography of architecture, have been fully illuminated. Especially in Asia, where industrial sites were long neglected since the changes in industrial structure, it is only recent that their economic and cultural significance is recognized.

In recent years we witnessed various efforts to preserve and revitalize these industrial heritages, and some of them led to meaningful achievements. However, there can be no universal solution to this issue, since industrial remnants of each country are under different political, economic, and practical conditions. Because the process of industrialization followed a different path in a different time and place, the European experience in dealing with modern cultural and industrial heritage cannot be directly applied to Asian countries.

In many cases industrial facilities abandoned in industrialized nations are reemployed as core industrial facilities in developing countries. We may call these “living fossils,” and the situation they face is now more complicated than the early modern’s since they concern not only industrialization but also contemporary global issues such as information technology, sustainability, and green building.

With industrial heritage as the main subject, the 2011 mAAN Seoul Conference will focus on the distinct contexts and conditions of Asian countries’ various industrial sites. It will also search for what unites them beyond individual differences, to outline an Asian value of industrial heritage, which can in turn guide us in seeking appropriate ways to preserve and use them.

Call For Abstracts
Session2: General Topic on Modern Architecture and Urbanism
(Paper/Video Presentation)

Session3: Industrial Heritage
(Paper/Video Presentation)

Session4: Student Design Competition

Special Section: User-Generated Video Competition

Submission Details
Session 2 and 3(Paper/Video Presentaion)

30 March 2011 deadline for abstract submission in paper/video presentaions
30 April 2011 announcement of accepted abstract and invitation for full paper
30 Jun 2011 deadline for full paper submission
31 July 2011 announcement of paper/video presentation list and schedule

Session4 and Special Section (Student design & User-Generated Video Competition)

– Schedules about Session 4 and Special Section will be announced

All abstracts are to be submitted digitally according to the following guidelines. The dateline for abstract submissions is 30 March 2011 at 5.00pm Korea Time (GMT+09:00). Abstract submissions should be sent to the following e-mail address: admin@maankorea.org

A) Paper Presentaion
Abstract of paper is to be submitted as a 2-page PDF document in English in no more than 350 words. The first page should have complete author contact and affiliation information, and the abstract title. The second page should contain only the abstract title, keywords and body of the abstract. The full paper, in English, should be about 3,000 – 4,000 words.

A Microsoft Word Template is available at the conference website.

The filename of the PDF should be formatted as follows:
Lastname_first name_MAANSEOUL_PAPER_ABSTRACT.pdf

B) Video Presentation
Abstract of video include a written piece of not more than 350 words in pdf format and a 1-minute video clip, both of which must be in English. The final video submitted should not be longer than 10mins. Portions that are not in English should be accompanied by subtitles. A written synopsis (not more than 200 words) should accompany the video. The authors are required to be present at the conference screening to participate in the discussions and presentations. Videos are to be in Quicktime MOV format and in a resolution of 640*480 pixels or higher.

The filename of the PDF and video file should be formatted as follows:
Lastname_first name_MAANSEOUL_VIDEO_ABSTRACT.pdf
Lastname_first namel_MAANSEOUL_VIDEO_ABSTRACT.mov