IRHA Annual Activities Report 2006

The compilation of a Chronology of Activities over the past fifteen years (See Events, Research and Publications links at left), which was completed in 2005, prompted the IRHA to revisit the context of its foundation.

1.General Meeting
On 3 May 2006, a general meeting gathered together sixteen of its members to address the orientation of the IRHA. Attendees agreed that the IRHA should seek the membership of other Montreal Universities in order to achieve greater interdisciplinarity and stronger local impact. The affiliated members from Concordia University and Université du Québec à Montréal, who participated in this meeting, were enthusiastic at this prospect knowing that faculty at both universities have been developing architectural research interests. As a result of this discussion, Concordia University and Université du Québec à Montréal were invited formally to join as institutional members of the IRHA.

In view of the anticipated expansion of its membership, the IRHA Liaison Committee has been reviewing and redefining its protocol and its mandate.

2. Research
The IRHA-funded project by Pierre-Edouard Latouche (CCA), Artisans du bâtiment à Montréal aux XVII^e et XVIII^e s. is now complete. Latouche anticipates developing an exhibition and publication based on this research.

The IRHA-funded project by Alberto Pérez-Gómez (McGill), Architects on Love, was published by The MIT Press.

The IRHA approved seed funding for an international conference, Reconciling Poetics and Ethics in Architecture, to be held at McGill and the CCA on 14-15 September 2007.

3. Publications
Contributions presented at the 2002 IRHA international colloquium Limits of Place in Architectural Discourse is to be published in the 2007 issue of CHORA, by the McGill-Queen's University Press.

Proceedings of the 2004 IRHA international colloquium Architectural Periodicals in the 1960s and 1970s are be published by IRHA in 2007.

4. Membership
The CCA's tenure of the IRHA three-year directorship comes to an end in 2006. The next director will be appointed in 2007.

5. IRHA on the Internet (www.irhanet.org)
Renata Guttman, Head of Reader Services, CCA Library, continues to update the IRHA web site at the request of the IRHA Director and Coordinator on a volunteer basis.

Alexis Sornin
Director, IRHA
23 December 2006