2015 marks forty years since the Open University launched its pioneering course A305 History of architecture and design 1890-1939 in 1975.  The course has been widely acknowledged as a landmark in the study of modern architecture and design both in the UK and internationally.  This conference will take A305 as its starting point to trace some central themes in the history of the discipline in this country from the 1970s onwards.  Key figures involved in the writing and broadcasting of the course will discuss its making and impact.  Other developments in the spread of the subject in the 1970s and 1980s will also be considered; notably the first design history and architectural history degrees.  Later sessions will focus on the dissemination of the discipline through exhibitions and in the contexts of the crafts and architectural conservation.  The conference will end with a series of reflections on the discipline today in the UK and globally by noted scholars in the field.

Conference programme [PDF]

Conference abstracts [PDF]

Session 1: Teaching Architectural and Design History 1

Session 2: Teaching Architectural and Design History 2

Sessions 3 and 4: Disseminating and Exhibiting Modern Architecture and Design

Session 5: National and International Perspectives