IHBC’s new issue of its celebrated membership journal, Context, is now out, and covers diverse topics from Hong Kong renaissance to Richard Norman Shaw and Energy Improvements, as well as a feature by the Urban Design Group’s Director, Robert Huxford, on the the lessons to be learned from Medieval Settlements.
IHBC Director Seán O’Reilly said: ‘Context remains our most important contribution to learning and practice across the sector. With the wide-ranging content in this issue, we can be sure we’re offering value to all our members, helping in practice, career progress and responding to our fast-changing working environments.’
‘To make this issue more accessible to all prospective users, we’ll be featuring individual articles both on our social media and on our new Conservation Wiki service, ensuring even wider reach and impact.’
Fiona Newton, current chair of the IHBC’s Editorial Board for Context, said: ‘This new issue of Context examines the origins of building types across the world from Hong Kong, China and Singapore to medieval British villages and the beginnings of flat dwelling in London.’
Context features in this issue include:
- Barrister Charles Mynors looks at new uses for churches and church halls and argues that a parish that welcomes the local community into the church every day of the week is widening its ministry and offering a valuable service to the community.
- Why study the origins of fields, villages and towns? Because 21st-century development is influenced by decisions that were taken perhaps 200 or 2,000 years ago, or even more. Settlement Research Group, Robert Huxford argues that good planning depends on understanding how those fields developed, and how they relate to historic settlements and highways.
- Three articles in this issue highlight some distinctive buildings in China and Singapore. Ho-Yin Lee and Lynne D Distefano trace the development of the Hong Kong shophouse which for 100 years has been leaving a legacy of distinctive buildings from each period.
- Structural engineer Brian Morton advised the Singapore Government on a new approach to restoring Singapore’s shophouses, which has since been incorporated into the regulation
- Lee and Distefano also introduce the Chinese renaissance style of architecture that was introduced first to China in the 1920’s and to Hong Kong after 1949.
- Paul Latham looks at Richard Norman Shaw’s hidden legacy which helped increase social acceptance of flat-dwelling in London.
- Architect-planner Dennis Rodwell, Carsten Hermann from Historic Environment & Spanish researcher Aitziber Egusquiza Scotland describe progress on the European research project EFFESUS (the acronym for ‘Energy Efficiency for EU Historic Districts’ Sustainability’) which has investigated measures and tools to make significant improvements to the energy efficiency of European historic urban districts.
- In this anniversary year Carol Fry writes in praise of Capability Brown
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See the new issue of Context online in full
