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An alphabetical list of links to various non profit organisations and projects.
See foot of page for contact details if you'd like us to list your charity, non-profit or public project.
Ancient Monuments Society
Not a society of ancient monuments, but a venerable UK based Charity dedicated to the preservation of historic buildings and structures. Publishes extremely useful and informative series of books and runs an annual Autumn Lecture Series in the UK.
Architecture Web Sites
Basic site of links to other architecture web sites, run by the Boston College Fine Arts department. Does what it says on the tin, I guess, though it doesn't link to INTBAU or other organisations as far as I can see.
Architecture Centres Network (UK)
British organisation linking the country's series of Architecture Centres. Says that it "coordinates, supports and advances the work of architecture and related centres" and seeks "to secure greater knowledge, access, participation and influence, at all levels, in the creation of an excellent built environment for all." This includes traditional architecture, apparently.
Archives d'Architecture Moderne
Belgian organisation and archive whose collections include modern traditional design. Runs exhibitions, talks and conferences.
Barn Journal
A small US-based organisation dedicated to the appreciation and preservation of traditional US farm architecture. Lovely pictures.
Le Café d'Urbanité
Interesting site, basically a discussion board, but with links to UrbanPhoto (qv). Start a discussion or respond to one in progress.
Center for World Indigneous Studies
US based organisation. "Promoting access to knowledge and peoples' ideas reduces the possibility of conflict and increases the possibility of cooperation on the basis of mutual consent. By democratising relations between peoples, between nations and states, the diversity of nations and their cultures will continue to enrich the world". Hear, hear.
CharetteCenter.net/Hakim
Professor Besim Hakim runs a section of the US-based CharetteCenter website that publishes his excellent work on urban coding in traditional Islamic and other Mediterranean societies. "The goal of this web site is to provide information for understanding and learning from the history and theory of traditional urbanism of major cultures which have built cities, towns, and villages around the Mediterranean basin since antiquity to the early decades of the 20th century."
The main CharetteCenter site is an excellent online compendium of free information for the community-based urban design process. INTBAU's Design Workshops are based on the Charrette model.
Culture.Info
The aim of Culture.Info is to be the first port-of-call for users seeking cultural information on a particular topic. Each Culture.Info sub-portal will provide a carefully researched set of listings of links to information that is more focused and useful than can usually be obtained from the vast majority of existing listings or search engines. Cultural areas will be added in due course in key areas including Heritage, Media, Performing, Pursuits, Sport, Visual and Words. Culture.Info welcomes submissions of entries to any Culture.Info sub-portal and also welcomes ideas and suggestions for new sub-portals.
Cyburbia
Cyburbia is one of the oldest (founded 1994) and busiest planning and architecture forums on the web. Recently updated and looking fresh despite its years, this is a one-stop-shop for the (English-speaking) planning and architecture community online. Cyburbia Forum members include planners, students and others from around the world who are interested in the built environment. Most users are from the US, Australasia and South Africa, with a growing number of UK and European members.
Earth, Hands & Houses
A small British charitable organisation, which teaches people how to build their own comfortable, affordable houses using traditional earth construction techniques. Opportunity to join live projects in Poland for those who like to get their hands dirty!
European Databank, Sustainable Development
A semi-official listing of organisations. Rather technical/bureaucratic approach perhaps reduces its use as a communication tool.
GrandTradition.net
"This site is designed as a resource for visitors with an interest in classical architecture.". New site being built up by Gregory F. Shue to support the continuity of architectural heritage. Includes bulletin boards devoted to Ancient Classicism, Beaux-Arts Architecture, Classical Education & Training, Classical Interiors, Contemporary Practice, Vernacular Architecture, News & Events, Preservation and New Urbanism. One to watch.
Great Buildings
"This gateway to architecture around the world and across history documents a thousand buildings and hundreds of leading architects, with 3D models, photographic images and architectural drawings, commentaries, bibliographies, web links, and more, for famous designers and structures of all kinds". Interesting and fun site with good images and some 3D virtual models.
Friends of Friendless Churches
As the name suggests, this UK based Charity (a sister organisation to the Ancient Monuments Society) takes elderly and lonely old churches into its care and "preserves them as they are, encourages visitors, occasional concerts etc. and
sometimes has artists using them for workshops (when they haven't got any
fixtures and fittings)". Recommended.
Heritage Trust Of Nova Scotia
The Heritage Trust of Nova Scotia has been in existence since 1959. The recent ex-president Elizabeth Pacey has just been awarded the Order of Canada for her work in heritage preservation in Nova Scotia. Parts of the website are still under construction, but there are images and articles showing the diversity of built heritage in this watery part of the world. Images of grand and apparently well-preserved buildings under threat remind us that only by continuous struggle can people save the buildings they love.
Ian Evans's World of Old Houses
Comprehensive Australian-based international commercial website with useful pay-for-view essays on various aspects of renovation, especially of houses. Cost is $A12 per essay of around 1200-1500 words. Good page of links to other organisations and sites around the world. Evans is the author of a number of popular books on the subject.
International Association for the Study of Traditional Environments (IASTE)
International organisation which runs the most important biennial academic conference in this area. Recently the papers seem to have been captured by postmodern academic discourse to the detriment of useful study of traditional environments. Publishes the useful Traditional Dwellings and Settlements Review (TDSR). Join IASTE and swing the balance back to traditional architecture where it should be!
International Centre for the Study of the Preservation and Restoration of Cultural Property (ICCROM)
Established by treaty in Rome in 1959, ICCROM has a world-wide mandate to promote the conservation of all types of cultural heritage, both movable and immovable. It currently comprises103 Member States, as well as 103 Associate Members from among the world's leading conservation institutions. Seems to have had little impact despite large bureaucracy in Rome. Maybe they do great work behind the scenes.
International Council on Monuments and Sites (ICOMOS)
Huge international non-governmental organisation, "of professionals dedicated to the conservation of the world's historic monuments and sites... [which] provides a forum for
professional dialogue and a vehicle for the collection, evaluation, and dissemination of information on conservation principles, techniques, and policies". ICOMOS produced the Venice Charter of 1964, in its time an important document adopted around the world to guide conservation practice.
However, the Charter fossilises the dated view that additions to historic monuments must be in a deliberately "contemporary" style (in practice, Modernism by any other name). This has given authority to Modernist chancers leading to destroy sympathetic later additions and introduce clashing new structures into historic buildings around the world. INTBAU ran a conference on the Venice Charter in 2006. ICOMOS recently produced the Krakow Charter, a development of the Venice Charter, which frowns on the reconstruction of historical monuments destroyed by war. Great organisation, shame about the Charters.
International Professional Body of Destination Design and Coastal Architects
Landscape Architecture & Design, Planning, Architecture, Waterfront, Environmental Studies and Design, Coastal Engineering, Themepark Design, Resort Architecture, Development
Indigenous People's Survival Foundation
Small US based organisation which aims to support the struggles of indigenous people and traditional cultures around the world.
International Making Cities Livable
US based interdisciplinary, international network of individuals and cities dedicated to making cities and communities more liveable, by addressing issues ranging from balanced transport planning to community participation, from historic preservation to new ecological housing and development plans. Worth a look (if their site actually loads). Holds two conferences a year, in US and Europe.
London Destruction
Not proposing the destruction of the capital of the world, but celebrating (is this the right word?) the day by day destruction of the things which make London distinctive. An engagingly indiosyncratic - no, individual - website in a sea of mediocrity. Learn why they couldn't film Harry Potter in the right location and find to your horror that even the red buses - yes, the RED BUSES - are under threat. Highly recommended!
Larnes
Imagine a city sucessfully preserved as a work of art from modernism, drabness and banality in architecture, and you have Larnes, a fictional European metropolis. French artist Valentin Fiume-Freddo has created a wonderful dreamland. We want to live there NOW!!!
Low Impact Living Initiative
This is a lovely organisation that runs a great number of courses in sustainable building, including working with lime, building with cob, re-use of materials and so on. Highly recommended.
Mateusz Madelski
Mateusz Madelski is a Polish photographer now based in London. He and his fiancé Anna Czywczynska recently travelled to the Xinjiang province of China and on their return produced this elegaic website with beautiful photographs and limpid prose celebrating the traditional Kazakh way of life in two forgotten corners of the world. Highly recommended!
Nikos Salingaros
A mathematician by training, Nikos Salingaros is a long time supporter of traditional architecture and urbanism. He maintains a number of sites supportive of efforts in these spheres.
Leon Krier is a site with many of his key articles on line and accessible to students for the first time.
Christopher Alexander is a site established before patternlanguage.com was put up.
Charles is a site created in appreciation of the architectural efforts of HRH The Prince of Wales.
Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development, Territorial Development Service
The OECD is an international organisation established by treaty with 23 member states around the world. The TDS is a division which interests itself in all things related to the sustainability of cities.
Poundbury
Famous UK New Urbanist development with traditional architecture. Léon Krier masterplanned this compact town extension for the Duchy of Cornwall, spearheded by HRH The Prince of Wales. Currently only 30% built.
Slow Cities/Cittá Slow
Italian organisation, offshoot from Slow Food, which promotes quality of life issues in small cities with close links to local food production. Now expanding into other countries. Seems not to have a New Urbanist agenda, but rather concentrates on banishing cars from lovely historic towns. Unthreatening, a popular favourite with journalists.
Slow Food International Movement
Italian organisation, now expanding into other countries. Argues for holistic approach to agriculture and the production and distribution of food in cities. Site has links to Italian cheese society (yum!). Holds regular "Convivia" in a number of cities.
Society of Architectural Historians
US based peak academic organisation, publishes quarterly Journal of the Society of Architectual Historians.
The Golden Book (of Frankfurt)
This site is an electronic picture book, a "Golden Book" of images of the beautiful Old City of Frankfurt am Main in Germany, once Europe's largest preserved medieval city, now a wilderness of unattractive skyscrapers and windy desolate streets. Another one to chalk up to Bomber Harris.
Urban Design Alliance
UK based lobby organisation, seems dormant.
UrbanPhoto
Part of a group of sites including Le Café d'Urbanité (qv). The site, founded in March 2000, claims to be "devoted to urbanity, the realm our favourite places: the cities". there are discussion boards and galleries of photos of favourite cities around the world, including less well known ones such as Adelaide, South Australia and St John's, Newfoundland. Thoroughly recommended. .
United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO)
The grandest and most significant international cultural organisation. Founded after the Second World War with a great mandate for action to protect global cultures. Administers World Heritage listings. Best starting point for this vast web site is probably here.
Vintage Malaya
New site organised by enthusiastic supporter of Malaysian heritage, Tengku Reza Affendi, who writes that the aim of the Vintage Malaya web site "is purely about my passion with the built heritage and I dont intend to make any profit out of it. The contents are free to be used by anyone". We suggest that anyone wanting to use these beautiful photographs should contact the site owner and make a contribution to its upkeep! A nice site to spend some time looking at.
Further Information
If you would like to suggest a link, please contact INTBAU.
All rights reserved
INTBAU UK is a registered Charity no. 1103068
© INTBAU 2001-8
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