You can help us stay in touch with you by making sure your mailing and email addresses are complete and up to date in our membership database.  If you have moved recently, please go to the VAF website, log into your membership account, and make those changes. We want to make certain you receive all the benefits of membership, including Buildings & Landscapes. If you need help or have questions, please email Paula Mohr at secretary@vafweb.org.

Paula Mohr

“Inca Architecture in Two Empires: History, Identity, and the Challenges for Historic Preservation in the Andean Built Environment.” In in-discipline: dialoghi sul patrimonio culturale, (2023): 169-188. Edited by Michele Beccu, Elisabetta Pallottino, Paola Poretta, and Francesca Romana Stabile. Rome, Italy: Universitá Roma Tre Press, Rome. 

“La plaza inca: arquitectura, paisaje, y teatro en Chinchero," in Actas del I Congreso Internacional de Arquitectura Andina: arquitectos y arqueología, en homenaje a Emilio Harth-Terré, (2022): 159-172. Edited by Miguel Guzmán. Lima, Perú: Editorial Universitaria Universidad Ricardo Palma.  

“La tierra sagrada y la arquitectura inka,” in Los Incas, más allá de un imperio. Edited by Julio Rucabado and Cecilia Pardo. Lima: Museo de Arte de Lima (MALI) 2023 101-111. 

This spring Thomas Jefferson's Poplar Forest celebrated three things: the 40th anniversary of its rescue; the completion of the architectural restoration after 34 years; and the retirement of Travis McDonald who has led the restoration team. Travis's book, Poplar Forest: Thomas Jefferson's Villa Retreat, was published in April by the University Press of Virginia. Recently the restoration project has been honored with the John Russell Pope Award from the Institute of Classical Art and Architecture, and the Founder's Award from Preservation Virginia. Recent articles have appeared in the Decorative Arts Trust Magazine, the Washington Post, Virginia Living Magazine, and Period Homes Magazine. Well-known VAF members who served on the Architectural Advisory Panel (1988-2022) include Edward Chappell, Orlando Ridout, John Larson, Bob Self, and Al Chambers.

Summer 2023 Field School Bangladesh- “Stories of Jamdani People and Places” July 10 to July 19, 2023

Dilruba Shuvra, a Ph.D. student at the School of Architecture and Urban Planning (SARUP), University of Wisconsin Milwaukee, led a 10-day Field School in Bangladesh's Sonargaon area of Narayanganj District to document the local history and the cultural landscape of endangered Jamdani textile weaver’s community by collaborating with weavers from two villages, Borogaon and Kazipara capturing oral histories, mapping their homesteads and hosting hands-on workshops. On the banks of the Shitalakhwa River in Narayanganj district of Bangladesh, artisans have been producing the beautiful figured muslin fabric known as Jamdani for centuries. Jamdani is the last form of Dhakai Muslin that survived. The production of Dhakai muslin and later Jamdani has always been one of the major factors that influenced the lives and the settlement pattern of this area. The work of Field School Bangladesh has been showcased at the "Wearable Art, Jamdani Festival” from July 19 to July 29, 2023, at Chitrashala Gallery of Bangladesh Shilpakala Academy contributing to Dhakai Jamdani's legacy revitalization and cultural preservation.

Partners | Participants | Collaborators

Dilruba Ferdous Shuvra (University of Wisconsin Milwaukee, USA), Grammo, Revival, Ethos, Tashnuva Rahman, Rehana Kawsher Trisha, Jannatul Fardous Meghla, Israt Jahan Ananna, Fatima Nujhat, Quaderi, ReeshamShahab, Tirtho, Moofer, Context.bd, Haal.Fashion, SHEVA, Daffodil International University, BRAC University, Bangladesh Open Source Network – BdOSN

 

Please consider submitting your research to Buildings & Landscapes: Journal of the Vernacular Architecture Forum! We gladly accept manuscripts on a rolling basis for scholarly articles, object lessons, viewpoints, and research notes. Here are the kinds of manuscripts we welcome: 

Scholarly Articles integrate fieldwork and archival/primary source research into an original argument about the history of everyday buildings and/or landscapes. Approx. 25 pages double spaced (endnotes are additional), with 15-20 images.

Object Lessons address how we engage others by highlighting places that have a distinct public history component or preservation or public engagement story. Topics have included a building at Colonial Williamsburg that was recreated as an interpreted craft shop then demolished and rebuilt after new information surfaced; a public artwork erected at a public housing complex in New York City to create a shared, lived environment celebrating Antonio Gramsci and his ideals; and the contested efforts to  preserve the Freedom Tower in Miami as a landmark memorializing the Cuban American experience. Approx. 10-20 pages double spaced, with up to 10 images.

Viewpoints are geared toward provoking conversation about the interpretation, representation, and preservation of vernacular architecture and cultural landscapes. This series is intended to keep us thinking about why we do what we do. Less than 20 pages double spaced, with up to 10 images.

Research Notes are an author’s investigation of an extraordinary primary document(s) or fieldwork example(s) that has potential to add significantly to our field. The Research Notes series is intended to complement the Viewpoint series by helping us think about how we do what we do. Less than 20 pages double spaced, with up to 10 images.

Buildings & Landscapes is the leading source for peer-reviewed, scholarly work on the vernacular architecture of North America and beyond. The journal continues VAF's tradition of scholarly publication going back to the first Perspectives in Vernacular Architecture in 1982. Published through the University of Minnesota Press since 2007, the journal publishes two issues per year.

The editors encourage rolling submissions of scholarly articles that integrate fieldwork and archival/primary source research into original arguments about the history of everyday buildings and/or landscapes. The editors particularly welcome submission of articles on topics related to the study of North American vernacular architecture or which otherwise broaden the context of North American architecture and cultural landscapes. Authors are urged to draw linkages between the physical aspects of the built environment they study and the people who create, consume, use, and inhabit it. If an author is unsure about a manuscript’s fit for the journal, they are encouraged to contact the editors in advance of a formal submission: co-editor Michael Chiarappa (mchiarappa2@washcoll.edu) and incoming co-editor Margaret Grubiak (margaret.grubiak@villanova.edu). To find out more about submitting to B&L, please visit the VAF website.