About the Center for Heritage Conservation

The Center for Heritage Conservation (CHC) at Texas A&M University supports research into planned and built cultural heritage, as well as landscape and cultural landscapes, through its active preservation and resilient-based approaches aiming at an integrated management. Investigations are performed through sponsored projects and professional and academic studies.  

The CHC was authorized in 2005 as a professional center for interdisciplinary research and service projects  covering all aspects of built and natural heritage. Since 1977, Texas A&M University has been recognized for academic and research programs dedicated to the better understanding of our historic legacy.

Our Mission

We seek to:

  • Promote an awareness of cultural heritage by reconnecting its tangible and intangible components, using place-related and community-based approaches, and combining the different disciplines into an active integrated management supporting resilient-oriented solutions
  • Promoting an integrated, inclusive, and sustainable approach to cultural heritage.
  • Building knowledge and support research for managing change and continuity in a co-evolutive way.
  • Develop, maintain, and administer cross-disciplinary academic programs and student organizations
  • Provide opportunities for students from around the university to engage in center academic and research activities involving:
    • Documentation, investigation, and analysis of historic structures, sites, and landscapes 
    • Conservation of both tangible and intangible cultural heritage

    • Our Research

    The CHC explores innovative approaches to preservation issues. We use cross-disciplinary teams of faculty and students to support historic and cultural resources.

    Learn about our research

    Our People

    Our members, fellows and affiliates come from across Texas A&M University and other institutions. Participants include architects, planners, sociologists, policy analysts, economists, landscape architects and engineers.

    Meet our people

    Our Publications

    The fellows and students contribute to professional and scholarly journals, create research reports, submit drawings to the Library of Congress, and develop case studies.

    Monograph

    • Aimar, F. (2024). The Resilience of Cultural Landscapes. Perspectives from UNESCO World Heritage Sites. Cham: Springer Geography. ISBN: 978-3-031-55860-3 https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-55861-0
    • Geva, A. (2023). The Architecture of Modern American Synagogues, 1950s–1960s. Texas A&M University Press. ISBN: 9781648431357

    Collected Books

    • Geva, A. (2023). Water and Sacred Architecture. Routledge. ISBN: 9781032415901 
    • A. Gillette, A., & Stewart, Z. (2023). The Baptismal Font Canopy of St. Peter Mancroft, Norwich. Studies of a Medieval Monument over Four Centuries.  Brill. ISBN: 978-90-04-41883-7
    • Gitler, I. B.-A., & Geva, A. (2021). Israel as a Modern Architectural Experimental Lab, 1948-1978. Intellect. ISBN 978-1-78938-064-4
    • Geva, A. (2019). Modernism and American Mid-20th Century Sacred Architecture. Routledge. https://doi.org/10.4324_9781315161433
    • Day, L.P., Dierckx, H., Flint-Hamilton, K., Gesell, G.C., Glowacki, K.T., Klein, N.L., Reese, D.S, & Snyder, L. (2016). Kavousi IIC: The LM IIIC Settlement at Vronda. The Specialist Reports (Prehistory Monographs 52). Philadelphia: INSTAP Academic Press. ISBN 9781931534840. (Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/j.ctt1kk66f2).

    Articles

    • Aimar, F. (2024). Reconstructing the unknown: an integrated and multisource description of Albanian landscape transformations since the 1850s. Landscape Research, 1-21. https://doi.org/10.1080/01426397.2024.2308685
    • Aimar, F. (2023). The Touristification and Compromise of Italy’s UNESCO Rural Landscapes. GeoProgress Journal 10 (2), 58-74. https://doi.org/10.20373/2384-9398/28
    • Venkatraj, V., Dixit, M. K., Yan, W., Caffey, S., Sideris, P., & Aryal, A. (2023).  Toward the application of a machine learning framework for building life cycle energy assessment. Energy and Buildings, 297, 113444. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.enbuild.2023.113444
    • Jain, P. (2022). Clean, Cool Air: Health and Air-Conditioning in India (1920s–1960s). Journal of Architectural Education,76(1), 133–137. https://doi.org/10.1080/10464883.2022.2017715
    • Jain, P. (2022). Prefabrication and Transnational Building Materials in Modern India. Architectural Theory Review, 26(3), 519-546. https://doi.org/10.1080/13264826.2023.2195192
    • Aidoo, F., Barber, D., Morris, J., Morganti, M., Cianfarani, F., Siry, J., Kei, J., Woolner-Pratt, K., Jain, P., & Ross, S. (2021). Roundtable Discussion: Retrofitting Research. A Global Conversation on Challenges and Opportunities. Future Anterior, 18(1), 117-146.
    • Stewart, Z. (2021). Brotherly Rivals: Templars, Hospitallers and The Architectural Expansion of The Temple Church in London. The Antiquaries Journal, 101, 235 – 268. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0003581520000451
    • Jain, P. (2021). Selling Comfort: Volkart Brothers and Origins of Air Conditioning in India (1923–1954). Future Anterior: Journal of Historic Preservation History, Theory, and Criticism, 18(1), 96-115. https://www.muse.jhu.edu/article/861679. 
    • Maghreby, S., Hosseini Yazdi, S., Ghalehnoee, M., Motalebi, G., & Caffey, S. (2021). Urban spatial structure in central Iran: introduction & analysis of sahe-ja. Journal of Urbanism: International Research on Placemaking and Urban Sustainability, 14(1), 75–96. https://doi.org/10.1080/17549175.2020.1762708
    • Jain, P. (2020). A Splendorous Burden. Journal of Architectural Education, 74(1), 123–125. https://doi.org/10.1080/10464883.2020.1693837
    • Jain, P. (2020). Between College and Town: Envisioning the First Indian MIT and the Planning of the Indian Institute of Technology (1951) in Kharagpur. Arris, 31, 46-66. https://doi.org/10.1353/arr.2020.0006. 
    • Stewart, Z. (2020). One and Many: Parish Church Planning in Late Medieval England. Journal of the Society of Architectural Historians, 79(3): 264–285. https://doi.org/10.1525/jsah.2020.79.3.264
    • Stewart, Z. (2020). Other Spaces: Medieval Architectural History between Theory and Practice. Different Visions, 6(3), 1-15. https://doi.org/10.61302/GAEP4987
    • Jain, P. (2020). A Splendorous Burden. Journal of Architectural Education, 74(1), 123–125. https://doi.org/10.1080/10464883.2020.1693837
    • O’Brien, M. J. (2019). “Federalized Prefabrication” Southeast Missouri Farms Self-help Housing in the 1930s. Construction History, 34(1), 43–58. https://www.jstor.org/stable/27081135
    • De Smet, T.S., Everett, M.E., Warden, R., Komas, T., Hagin, J.N., Gavette, P., Martini, J.A., & Barker, L. (2019). The fate of the historic fortifications at Alcatraz Island based on terrestrial laser scans and ground‐penetrating radar interpretations from the recreation yard. Near Surface Geophysics, 17(2), 151-168. https://doi.org/10.1002/nsg.12031
    • Stewart, Z. (2019). A Lesson in Patronage: King Henry III, the Knights Templar, and a Royal Mausoleum at the Temple Church in London. Speculum, 94(2). https://doi.org/10.1086/702246
    • Stewart, Z. (2018). Tending the Architectural Corpus: A Prehistory. Journal of Architectural Education, 72(2), 290–293.https://doi.org/10.1080/10464883.2018.1496736
    • Nichols, J.M., Glowacki, K.T., & Feigenbaum, L.H. (2018). A Precision and Bias Study for the Measurement of Flexural Strength of Masonry Prisms. Masonry International, 30, 71–80. ISSN: 09502289.
    • Campagnol, G. (2017). The Place of the Industrial Past: The Adaptive Reuse of the Industrial Heritage in the Engenho Central de Piracicaba, Brazil. Built Environment, 43, 107–129.
    • Campagnol, G., Caffey, S., Clayton, M., Glowacki, K., Klein, N., Kang, J., & Booth, G. (2017). Immersive Visualization and Industrial Heritage. TICCIH Bulletin, 76 (2nd quarter 2017), 14, 20. http://ticcih.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/04/TICCIH-Bulletin-76-FINAL.pdf
    • Nichols, J.M., Mashadi, A., Feigenbaum, L.H., & Glowacki, K.T. (2017). Differences in Flexural Strength Measurements between an Australian Standard Bond Wrench and ASTM E518 Beam Test. Masonry International, 29, 93–100. ISSN: 09502289.
    • Glowacki, K.T. (2016). New Insights into Bronze Age Eleusis and the Formative Stages of the Eleusinian Cults. American Journal of Archaeology, 120, 673–677. (Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/10.3764/aja.120.4.0673; https://doi.org/10.3764/aja.120.4.0673
    • Caffey, S., & Campagnol, G. (2015). Dis/Solution: Lina Bo Bardi’s Museu de Arte de São Paulo. Journal of Conservation and Museum Studies, 13(1), Art. 5, 1-13. http://dx.doi.org/10.5334/jcms.1021221
    • Watrous, L.V., Buell, D.M., McEnroe, J.C., Younger, J.G., Turner, L.A., Kunkel, B.S., Glowacki, K.T., Gallimore, S., Smith, A., Pantou, P.A., Chapin, A., & Margaritis, E. (2015). Excavations at Gournia, 2010–2012. Hesperia, 84, 397–465. (Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/10.2972/hesperia.84.3.0397).
    • O’Brien, M. (2015). John Nolen and Raymond Unwin: Garden City Collaborators. Athens Journal of Architecture, 1(1), 9-24. https://doi.org/10.30958/aja.1-1-1  
    • Geva, A. (2015). Revisiting a Graduate Design Studio on Sacred Architecture: A Mosque Design in Yazd, Iran. International Journal of Islamic Architecture, 4(1), 161-187. https://doi.org/10.1386/ijia.4.1.163_1
    • Warden, R., Komas, T., Everett, M., DeSmet, T., Billingsley, A., & Hagin, J. (2013). Recording and Analysis of the Rec Yard at Alcatraz Island. International Archives of the Photogrammetry, Remote Sensing and Spatial Information Sciences, Volume XL-5/W2, 679–684. http://dx.doi.org/10.5194/isprsarchives-XL-5-W2-679-2013.
    • Warden. R., & Guderjan, T.H. (2012). Practical Recording Issues at Large and Small Scales in Maya Archaeology. The SAA Archaeological Record: The Magazine of the Society for American Archaeology, 12(4), 22–26, 60. ISSN: 1532-7299. http://onlinedigeditions.com/publication/?i=127481   http://www.saa.org/Portals/0/SAA/Publications/thesaaarchrec/Sept2012_final.pdf

    Book Chapters

    • Stewart, Z. (2023). The Plague, the Parish, and the Perpendicular Style. Theories of Change in Late Medieval English Architecture from John Aubrey to John Harvey. In A. I. Sullivan, & K. G. Sweeney (Eds.), Lateness and Modernity in Medieval Architecture (131–152). https://doi.org/10.1163/9789004538467_006
    • Campagnol, G. (2022). Architecture and Urban Form Derived from Sugar Production: Company Towns in Brazil from the Nineteenth to the Twenty-First Century. In N. Gernalzick, & J. Imorde (Eds.), The Mediality of Sugar. Leiden, The Netherlands: Brill. https://doi.org/10.1163/9789004513686_008
    • Gernalzick, N., Campagnol, G., & Karnik, J. (2022). Geography of World Sugar Production and History of Labor in Sugar: Maps and Graphs. In N. Gernalzick, & J. Imorde (Eds.), The Mediality of Sugar. Leiden, The Netherlands: Brill. https://doi.org/10.1163/9789004513686_013
    • Stewart, Z. (2022). An architecture of incumbency? Burwell and beyond. In G. Byng, & H. Lunnon (Eds.), Medieval Art, Architecture and Archaeology in Cambridge. New York: Routledge. https://doi.org/10.4324/9781003244981-9
    • Jain, P. (2021). India’s Modern Heritage: Conservation Challenges and Opportunities. In M. Chalana, & A. Krishna (Eds.), Heritage Conservation in Postcolonial India: Approaches and Challenges (pp. 126-137). New York: Routledge. ISBN: 9780367619947.
    • Campagnol, G., Caffey, S, Clayton, M. J., Glowacki, K., Klein, N., Kang, J., and Booth, G. (2020). In M. Forte, & H. Murteira (Eds.), Using Immersive Visualization to Learn about Distant and Historical Locales. Digital Cities: Between History and Archaeology (279-298). Oxford University Press. https://doi.org/10.1093/oso/9780190498900.003.0014
    • Mansour, N., & Geva, A. (2019). Djerbian Culture and Climate as Expressed in A Historic Landmark: The Case of El-Ghriba Synagogue in Djerba, Tunisia. In Gharipour, M. (Ed.), Synagogues in the Islamic World (226-247). Edinburgh University Press. ISBN: 978-1-4744-1171-4
    • Campagnol, G. (2018). The Rehabilitation of the Industrial Heritage in the Waterfronts of Piracicaba, Brazil. In D. Babalis, & T.G. Townshend (Eds.), Urban Waterfronts and Cultural Heritage. New Perspectives and Opportunities (pp. 64–78). Florence, Italy: Altralinea Edizioni. ISBN: 9788894869255.
    • Manrique, C., Jamal, T., & Warden, R. (2016). Heritage Tourism and Conservation: A Cultural Resilience Bridge. In A.M. Munar, & T. Jamal (Eds.), Tourism Research Paradigms: Critical and Emergent Knowledges (Tourism Social Science Series, Volume 22), 17–33. Emerald Group Publishing Limited. ISBN: 978-1-78350-929-4, eISBN: 978-1-78350-930-0
    • Geva, A. (2015). Symbolism and Myth of Mountains, Stone, and Light as Expressed in Sacred Architecture. In T. Barrie, J. Bermudez, & P. J. Tabb (Eds.), Architecture, Culture, and Spirituality. Routledge. ISBN: 9781315567778

    Conference Proceedings

    • Pariafsai, F., Dixit, M. K., Pariafsai, S., Caffey, S.M., Escamilla, E.F., & Fields, S. (2023). Competencies Critical to Create and Implement Construction Projects’ Health and Safety Plan: Perception of the Global Academia. In 2023 IEEE Learning with MOOCS (LWMOOCS), Cambridge, MA, USA, October 11-13, 2023. https://doi.org/10.1109/LWMOOCS58322.2023.10306002
    • Jain, P. (2022). Colonial Trade and Thermal Comfort as Commodity in 20th C. India. Hybrid Workshop, Cooling Asia: Technology, Environment and Society in Hot Climates. Asia Research Institute, National University of Singapore. November 17-18, 2022. Peer-reviewed.
    • Everett, M., de Smet, T., Warden, R., Ruiz-Guzman, H., Gavette, P., & Hagin, J. (2021). Ground penetrating radar curvelet analysis at the Citadel of Alcatraz. In AGU Fall Meeting 2021, New Orleans, LA, December 13-17, 2021.
    • Jain, P. (2019). Building Biographies: Chronicling Time in Architectural Representation. In Proceedings of the Association of Collegiate Schools of Architecture (ACSA) 107th Annual Meeting, Pittsburgh, PA, eds. Amy Kulper, Grace La and Jeremy Ficca (2019): 610-613. ISBN: 978-1-944214-21-0
    • Jain, P. (2018). The ‘Iconic’ and ‘Everyday’ Mid-Century Modern: Shifting Attitudes Towards Repair and Preservation. Proceedings of the 106th Annual Meeting of the Association of Collegiate Schools of Architecture, Denver, CO.
    • Mansour, N., & Geva, A. (2018). Displacement in the era of digital religion and virtual sacred architecture. In Architecture, Culture and Spirituality Symposium (ACSF10), Coral Gables, Florida, May 23–25, 2018.
    • Kerne, A., Lupfer, N., Linder, R., Qu, Y., Valdez, A., Jain, A., Keith, K., Carrasco, M., Vanegas, J., Billingsley, A. (2017, June). Strategies of free-form web curation: Processes of creative engagement with prior work. Proceedings of the 2017 ACM SIGCHI Conference on Creativity and Cognition, Singapore, Singapore, June 22, 2017. https://doi.org/10.1145/3059454.3059471
    • O’Brien, M. J. (2015, November). Success and Failure in Prefabricated Housing. Proceedings of the 8th International ISEC Conference, Sydney, Australia, November 23-28, 2015. https://doi.org/10.14455/ISEC.res.2015.194 
    • O’Brien, M. J. (2015, November). Boxed Houses: A Simple Method For Housing. Proceedings of the 8th International ISEC Conference, Sydney, Australia, November 23-28, 2015. https://doi.org/10.14455/ISEC.res.2015.195
    • Safarova, B., Ledesma, E., Luhan, G., Caffey, S., & Giusti, C. (2015, September). Learning from collaborative integration: the hackathon as design charrette. In the 33rd International Conference on Education and Research in Computer Aided Architectural Design in Europe (ECAADE), Vienna, Austria, September 16-18t, 2015.

    Presentations (peer-reviewed or invited)

    • Billingsley, Andrew. “Documenting Historic Sites, Structures, and … stuff” TAMU ANTH 489 Applied Archaeology, Terrestrial and Underwater. 13 February 2023. Invited. 
    • Jain, Priya. “Asian American and Pacific Islander Architects and Designers: Findings and Next Steps” SAH Connects. 10 March 2023. Invited.
    • Warden, Robert. “Beyond Today: Preservation’s Reach Across Time” TAMU Preservation and Conservation Student Society Meeting, 11 April 2023. Invited.
    • Campagnol, G. (2018, May). Urban Dialogues from Sugar Communities: Planning, Architecture, and Identity. Paper presented at the Latin American Studies Association (LASA) 2018 Congress, Barcelona, Spain, May 23-26, 2018.
    • Jain, P. (2018, May). The Superintendent’s Annual Report: Chronicling the Construction of America’s Mental Asylums. Paper presented at the Construction History Society of America (CHSA) Biennial Meeting, College Park, MD, May 24–26, 2018.
    • O’Brien, M. & Billingsley, A. (2018, May). Pleasant Hill Baptist Church: an Emancipation Era Example of Institutional Single-Wall Construction. Paper presented at the Construction History Society of America (CHSA) Biennial Meeting, College Park, MD, May 24–26, 2018.
    • Fortenberry, B.F. (2018, May). Shelter on the River: the Storm Towers of the Santee Delta. Paper presented at the Vernacular Architecture Forum Conference 2018, Alexandria, VA, May 2–8, 2018.
    • Jain, P. (2018, April). Making Preservation Relevant: Culture as a Tool for Urban Revival. Paper presented at the Society of Architectural Historians (SAH) 71st Annual International Conference, St. Paul, MN, April 18–22, 2018.
    • Jain, P. (2018, April). Every Little Thing: Documenting and Repairing Historic Facades in the Digital Age. Paper presented at the Decay, Repair and Maintenance Symposium. School of Architecture, Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta, GA, April 13, 2018
    • Campagnol, G. (2018, March). Lina Bo Bardi’s Adaptive Reuse Approach: Popular Soul, Heritage, and Sustainability. Paper presented at the 4th INTEGRO Annual Meeting: Heritage Open Space in Transformation, University of Florence, Florence, Italy, March 15-17, 2018.
    • Jain, P. (2018, March). The ‘Iconic’ and ‘Everyday’ Mid-Century Modern: Shifting Attitudes Towards Repair and Preservation. Paper presented at the Association of Collegiate Schools of Architecture (ACSA) 106th Annual Meeting, Denver, CO, March 15–17, 2018.
    • Klein, N.L., & Glowacki, K.T. (2018, March). A Methodological and Theoretical Framework for Studying Vernacular Architecture in the Prehistoric Aegean. Paper presented at Power and Place in the Prehistoric Aegean and Beyond: A Symposium to Honor James. C. Wright, Bryn Mawr College, Bryn Mawr, Pennsylvania, March 3, 2018.
    • Buell, D.M., & Glowacki, K.T. (co-organizers). (2018, January). What’s New at Gournia? The Gournia Excavation Project 2010-Present. Colloquium at the 119th Annual Meeting of the Archaeological Institute of America, Boston, Massachusetts, January 4–7, 2018.
    • Gallimore, S., & Glowacki, K.T. (2018, January). Stratigraphic Excavations within the Gournia Palace 2011-2014. Paper presented at the 119th Annual Meeting of the Archaeological Institute of America, Boston, Massachusetts, January 4–7, 2018.
    • Fortenberry, B.F. (2018, January). From Bridgetown to Charles Town: Urban Landscapes in the Greater Caribbean. Paper presented at the Society for Historical Archaeology 2018 Conference on Historical and Underwater Archaeology, New Orleans, LA. January 3–7, 2018.
    • Glowacki, K.T., & Day, L.P. (2017, September). Cooking Vessels, Volumes, and Venues: Evidence from LM IIIC Kavousi Vronda and Karphi. Paper presented at the Διατροφικές συνήθειες και πρακτικές στην Κρήτη διαχρονικά[Dietary Habits and Practices in Crete over Time], Museum of Cretan Ethnology, Voroi, Crete, Greece, September 9–10, 2017.
    • Campagnol, G. (2017, June). The Rehabilitation of the Industrial Heritage in the Waterfronts of Piracicaba, Brazil. Paper presented at the 3rd International Conference on “Changing Cities”: Spatial, Design, Landscape & Socio-economic Dimensions, Syros, Greece, June 26-30, 2017.
    • Campagnol, G. (2016, March). Urban Revitalization, Heritage, and Adaptive Reuse: The Work of Lina Bo Bardi and Lelé in Salvador’s Historical Center, Brazil. Paper presented at the Urban Affairs Association Conference, San Diego, CA, March 16-19, 2016. 
    • Campagnol, G. (2015 September). Industrial Heritage, Urban Regeneration, and Architecture: Lessons from Brazil and USA. Paper presented at the 16th International Conference of the International Committee for the Conservation of the Industrial Heritage (TICCIH), Lille, France, September 6-11, 2015.
    • Campagnol, G., Caffey, S., Clayton, M., Kang, J., Booth, G., Glowacki, K., & Klein, N. (2015, September). Immersive Visualization and Industrial Heritage in Texas. Paper presented at the 16th International Conference of the International Committee for the Conservation of the Industrial Heritage (TICCIH), Lille, France, September 6-11, 2018.
    • Manrique, C., & Warden, R. (2014, October). Resilience in Heritage Conservation and Heritage Tourism. Paper presented at the at the Association for Preservation Technology International (APT). Quebec City, Canada, October 26–20, 2014. https://apti.confex.com/apti/2014/webprogram/Paper2854.html
    • Warden, R. 2014. (2014, October). The Alamo Database: Resilience in Heritage Conservation and Heritage Tourism. Association of Preservation Technology International Annual Conference, Quebec City, Canada, Quebec City, Canada, October 26–20, 2014. https://apti.confex.com/apti/2014/webprogram/Paper2670.html
    • Manrique, C., & Warden, R. (2014, July). Technology Education, Preservation and Managing Change at the Alamo. Paper presented at the Annual Meeting of the National Council for Preservation Education (NCPE), Natchitoches, Louisiana, United States, July 15–16, 2014. https://www.nps.gov/media/video/view.htm?id=B9933346-1DD8-B71B-0B5D4955C7BE578C https://www.ncptt.nps.gov/blog/technology-preservation-education-and-managing-change-in-the-alamo/
    • Warden, R., Komas, T., Everett, M., DeSmet, T., Billingsley, A., & Hagin, J. (2013, September). Recording and Analysis of the Rec Yard at Alcatraz Island. XXIV International CIPA Symposium, 2–6 September 2013, Strasbourg, France.
    • Warden, R.B., & Bernhardt, M.L. (2013, March). Existential Resonance of Engineering and Historic Preservation. American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE) Texas Section 2013 Centennial Conference, Corpus Christi, TX.