for the 2023 Biennial Meeting on Construction History
Held at the Illinois School of Architecture, at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
June 22-24, 2023
We invite researchers and practitioners from all aspects of the history of construction to submit paper abstracts on subjects for the 2023 Meeting on Construction History, to be held in Urbana-Champaign, Illinois. The meeting will be hosted by the Construction History Society of America and the Illinois School of Architecture at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and follows successful meetings of the CHSA held in Marrietta, GA (2022), Seattle, WA (10th Anniversary Members’ Meeting 2017), Austin, TX (2016), Minneapolis MN (2014), Cambridge MA (2012), Philadelphia PA (2010), and Atlanta GA (2008).
The Program Committee wishes to encourage a broad range of papers dealing with construction history. This includes not only the physical results (infrastructure and building) but also the materials, processes and systems used in their development. While we seek a broad range of eras and geographies, topics focusing on the Americas, and particularly the Midwest, are encouraged.
Abstracts for Presentation
Abstracts will be compiled in a hard-copy catalogue to be distributed at the meeting. Presenters will be asked to give their talks within 20-minute time slots. A curated Proceedings, including completed papers of 4000-6000 words, will be assembled and edited by the Scientific Committee following the conference.
Additionally, CHSA encourages authors to also submit full papers to ConstructionHistory according to their publication schedules. The submission of an abstract for the CHSA Meeting does not exempt papers from the Journal’s review process.
Each abstract must include:
● authors’ names and institutional affiliations
● an abstract of 300 words.
● key words (selected, if possible, from the list of topics and subjects),
● a one-page curriculum vitae indicating contact information, status, laboratory affiliation if relevant, and publications or other relevant work for each author.
● All presentations must be in English.
● 4-5 learning objectives, for use in AIA CES documentation.
Abstract topics may include but are not limited to:
• Construction and engineering in Chicago and other regional cities
• Rural and agricultural construction, particularly in the Midwest
• The role of education in the building professions, especially in the region
• History and construction of specific projects
• History of the building trades or specific builders
• Organization of construction work
• Wages and the economics of construction
• The development of building codes and regulations
• Trade unions and guilds
• Military or Army Corps of Engineers
• Structural analysis and the development of structural forms
• Development of construction tools, cranes, scaffolding, etc.
• Building techniques in response to their environments
• Building materials, their history, production and use
• History of services (heating, lighting etc.) in buildings
• The changing role of the professions in construction
• Building archaeology
• Computer simulation, experimentation and reconstruction
• Use of construction history for dating of historic fabric
