Working Group 17: Historical Spatial Structures

Mission

The mission of the WG on "Historical Spatial Structures" is the documentation and preservation of the built heritage of the modern era for future generations.

Current Objectives

The current objective of WG17 is to raise awareness and develop identification, rehabilitation and restoration strategies for the 20th C. Heritage of Spatial Structures.

As one step toward meeting this objective, WG17 organizes special sessions in IASS Symposia. In addition, documentation on reinforced-concrete shell and folded-plate structures in various countries has been started. Later, other types of spatial structures may be considered.

Recent Activities

• The WG17 continues to work on documentation of Reinforced Concrete Shell and Folded Plate Structures as 20th century heritage.  A website (www.iasswg17.com) has been developed to collect information on these structures and it is open to all IASS members who register to use the website (sharing of this page has now been temporarily suspended).
• Invited Session for the IASS Symposium 2022, in Beijing, China: Sustainable Heritage: Challenges and strategies in the preservation and conservation of 20th Century historic concrete shells.  Organised in collaboration with WG5.
• Organized session for IASS Surrey 2020/21 Symposium, in Guildford, UK – S24 Historical structures.
• Organized three meetings during IASS2016 Symposium in Tokyo, Japan.
• Organized the international conference on "Re-Evaluating Contemporary Designs in Historical Context (RE-ConD’15)" in Istanbul, Turkey, on 22-24 July 2015.
  
• Organized two sessions, each with six papers, at the IASS-SLTE Symposium 2014 in Brasilia, Brazil.

Publications

IASS Publications (most of the co-editors and co-authors are IASS WG17 members)

• Special Double Issue of J. IASS on Structural Art in Design and Education: The Billington Legacy
  J. IASS, Vol. 61 (2020) No. 1 March n. 203
  
• Special Issue of JIASS on Frei Otto
  J. IASS, Vol. 59 (2018) No. 1 March n. 195
  
• Special Double Issue of JIASS on Pier Luigi Nervi: Art and Technology in Building
  J. IASS, Vol. 54 (2013) Nos. 2 & 3 September n. 176 & 177
  
• Special Issue of JIASS on Heinz Isler: 50 Years of "New Shapes for Shells"
  J. IASS, Vol. 52 (2011) No. 3 September n. 169
  
• Special Issue of JIASS for the Centenary of the Birth of Félix Candela
  J. IASS, Vol. 51 (2010) No. 1 March n. 163
  
• The IASS 50th Jubilee Book. Fifty Years of Progress for Shell and Spatial Structures (book)
  available in the IASS Bookshop
  
• Mamoru Kawaguchi. Innovation and Tradition in Structural Design (book)
  available in the IASS Bookshop
  

Other Publications (most of the co-editors and co-authors are IASS members)

• Candela Isler Müther: Positions on Shell Construction. Positionen zum Schalenbau. Posturas sobre la construcción de cascarone..Edited by Matthias Beckh, Juan Ignacio del Cueto, Matthias Ludwig, Andreas Schätzke and Rainer Schützeichel, Birkhäuser 2020.
  available on the publisher's website
  

Useful Archives

Felix Candela Archives

• Princeton University
• Avery Library Columbia University
• Archivo de Arquitectos Mexicanos, Facultad de Arquitectura, Universidad National Autónoma de Mexico

Heinz Isler Archives

• ETH, Zurich

Current Membership

All current members of the Working Group, listed below, are members of the IASS.  The Working Group welcomes additional members; those interested should please contact the Chair of the Working Group.

Further Information for IASS Members