Paris, 1st and 2nd June 2023
Académie d’Architecture & École nationale supérieure d’architecture Paris-La Villette
Deadline for submission of proposals: 1st March 2023
Date of response to candidates: 31 March 2023
The organisation of these study days opens a cycle of several international meetings, entitled:
— Les voyages de l’architecte. En Europe, par l’Europe, au-delà de l’Europe: les architectes français et les autres dans la Méditerranée, de la période moderne à la période contemporaine.
— The architect’s journeys. In Europe, through Europe, beyond Europe: French architects and others in the Mediterranean, from the modern to the contemporary age.
— I viaggi dell’architetto. In Europa, attraverso l’Europa, al di là dell’Europa: gli architetti francesi e gli altri nel Mediterraneo, dall’età moderna all’età contemporanea.
— Los viajes del arquitecto. En Europa, a través de Europa, más allá de Europa: arquitectos franceses y otros por el Mediterráneo, de la edad moderna a la edad contemporánea.
Preamble
The project we are setting up (2023-26) attempts to put the question of the architects’s journeys around the Mediterranean into perspective by means of transversal questions that first of all wish to position the French specificity in a wider context, in Europe and beyond. The focus of the series of seminars will therefore be the study of both French and other European architects travelling around the Mediterranean world in a comparative perspective.
Furthermore, the project wishes to explore the evolution of the importance of European travel, particularly in the period between the 18th and 20th centuries. We also encourage the investigation of transversal themes such as the reception of the Mediterranean world, the construction of its representations, and its spatial and temporal transfers, in Europe and beyond.
The universities and cultural institutions involved in the organization of the cycle of seminars:
- École nationale supérieure d’architecture Paris-La Villette / Académie d’Architecture, Paris
- Università di Napoli Federico II
- Universidad de Granada
- Università di Pavia / Politecnico di Torino
- Université de Poitiers
- Karlsruher Institut für Technologie
- Università di Catania
- École nationale supérieure d’architecture de Normandie
- Université de Séville
Under the direction and scientific coordination of
Antonio Brucculeri, AHTTEP/AUSser, ENSA Paris-La Villette HESAM Université (FR)
Massimiliano Savorra, Università di Pavia (IT)
Scientific Committee
Paola Barbera, Università di Catania (IT)
Juan Calatrava, Universidad de Granada (ES)
Vassilis Colonas, University of Thessaly (GR)
Cristina Cuneo, Politecnico di Torino (IT)
Marie Gaimard, ATE, ENSA de Normandie (FR)
Marilena Kourniati, AHTTEP/AUSser, ENSA Paris-La Villette HESAM Université (FR)
Fabio Mangone, Università di Napoli Federico II (IT)
Caroline Maniaque, ATE, ENSA de Normandie (FR)
Joaquín Medina Warmburg, Karlsruher Institut für Technologie (D)
Nabila Oulebsir, Université de Poitiers (FR)
Sergio Pace, Politecnico di Torino (IT)
Carlos Plaza, Universidad de Sevilla (ES)
After the first meeting in Paris (June 2023) on the theme From educational to professional travel in France and Europe, a second meeting will be held in Naples (October 2023), on the theme: Exploring the Mediterranean: architects and nature.
The following meetings – to be held in Granada and Pavia/Turin – will focus respectively on the themes: The idea of the Orient. Travelling from Spain to the Mediterranean and beyond and Travelling in search of the Middle Ages in Italy and Europe. The dates and themes for the meetings that will take place between 2024 and 2026, in Catania, Karlsruhe, Poitiers, Rouen and Seville, will be defined later. Each seminar will result in the publication of a volume within a same collection.
The languages of the seminar will be French, Italian, English and Spanish.
From the training journey to the professional journey in France and in Europe
We have chosen to organise the Parisian seminar in two days, one at ENSA Paris-La Villette and the other at the Académie d’Architecture. The latter cultural institution, which arose in 1953 from the Société centrale des architectes founded in 1840, holds the largest private collection of architectural drawings in France, and possesses significant documentation for understanding the educational and professional dynamics of architecture in France in the 19th and 20th centuries. As a place that is still representative of the architectural profession today, its association with the project of this meeting seemed to us to be an asset.
Travelling for architects has always been an essential and widespread practice, both for their education and for their professional updating. Whether they are young apprentices or experienced practitioners, architects travel to study monuments and landscapes, discover the building methods of the past, keep abreast of the latest innovations in construction technology and observe other cultures, other places and other ways of living. Travelling has long been a form of practical learning, especially when it comes to refining projects and theories for their realization. There are many known cases of architects who have travelled to enrich their experiences in order to complete an ongoing project. Likewise, well-known architects have often travelled to inspire or complete an editorial project.
The seminar targets France and Europe in two distinct and complementary ways: on the one hand, it focuses French architects but also more widely European architects on educational and/or professional journeys around the Mediterranean; on the other hand, it will observe the viewpoint on France and Europe, and in particular on the Mediterranean world of the non-European young architectural students or experienced architects.
The main concern of the seminar will be to assess the state of the art and, at the same time, to consider unexplored case studies, over an extended period (18th-20th centuries) and in a broad geographical context. Proposals for contributions should be sent by 1st March 2023 at the latest to the following address: voyages.archi@gmail.com. They should be written in French or English.
Each proposal should include a title, an abstract of no more than 2500 characters including spaces, and a very short scientific biography of the author.