Call for Papers: VERNACULAR ARCHITECTURE as a Frame of Life in Historic and Ancient Communities. Berlin, 4–6 April 2019
The German Archaeological Institute in Cairo (DAIK), in cooperation with the Chair for History of Architecture at the Technical University of Berlin (TU Berlin), is delighted to invite you to present your research at the international workshop funded by the German Research Foundation (DFG) entitled: VERNACULAR ARCHITECTURE as a Frame of Life in Historic and Ancient Communities that is scheduled to take place from 4–6 of April 2019 in Berlin, Germany.
The erection and following heightenings of the two Aswan Dams caused the destruction of the vast majority of civil architecture of Nubia by flooding. Only few rural settlements around Aswan survived. Among them, the two abandoned villages on the island of Bigeh deserve special attention. They were inhabited until the late 1980s, allowing for an in-depth study of developments in vernacular architecture and living culture induced by changes in the natural habitat. A project entitled “Nubian Architecture” carried out by an interdisciplinary team from the German Archaeological Institute in Cairo and the Berlin Institute of Technology aims to study the relationship between the built environment still constructed in an ancient tradition and the reality of life on the verge of modernity. The objective is the documentation and analysis of the principles of organisation and use of space and constructive characteristics of Nubian vernacular architecture in order to preserve a record of this lost cultural heritage. The case study into recent architectural and cultural transition processes in the traditional rural community of Bigeh aims to deliver instructive ethnoarchaeological reference material for the study of more ancient and recent settlements in the region.
The purpose of the workshop is to bring together scholars working on similar projects with regard to research questions or methods and to create synergies between the ongoing projects and experts.
The full call for papers is available here.
Please send your abstract by 1 September 2018 to Ms. Fatma Keshk (fatma.keshk@gmail.com) who will be also happy to answer your further enquiries.