25th International SAHANZ Conference

Faculty of Science and Technology

The School of Architecture and Building recently hosted the 25th International Society of Architectural Historians, Australia and New Zealand (SAHANZ) Conference at the Geelong Waterfront Campus. Delegates from Australia, New Zealand and around the globe attended this milestone conference.

Co-convenors Dr Ursula de Jong and Dr David Beynon, from the School of Architecture and Building, said it was a privilege for Deakin to host this year’s conference, History in Practice, which explored the connections between architectural history and architectural practice.

Dr de Jong, also one of the founding members of SAHANZ, said that speakers considered the relationship between critique and intervention, and the links between analysis and creation that lie at the complex intersections of architecture and the writing about architecture.

‘They critiqued the practices of architectural history and theory, analysing the gaps, connections and contentions between them and the ongoing history of architectural practice,’ Dr de Jong said.

‘These relationships were further framed in terms of exchanges between old and new; local and global; history and technology; conceptual and visual; centre and periphery; memory and evidence.’

SAHANZ provides a forum for the open discussion of architectural history and historiography of the region and setting, from which to reflect on the status of the architecture, landscape and cities of Australia and New Zealand in the wider world. Throughout the last quarter century there has been an evolution of the discipline reflected within the Society.

‘When we started, our work was “simple”. We focused on gathering information, documenting our architectural history, establishing an archive of architectural knowledge. Over time, that has evolved, as we reflect on and interpret that information, as we begin to explore who we are and how we connect to place – how we understand our place, and consider it within the wider regional context of the Pacific and South East Asia,’ Dr de Jong said.

Conference convenors Dr David Beynon and Dr Ursula de Jong, School of Architecture and Building.