Public defence doctoral thesis: Naveed Iqbal

Industrial Legacy of Pakistan and its Identification, Potential, and Recognition

The thesis, titled “Industrial Legacy of Pakistan and its Identification, Potential, and Recognition,” delves into the recognition and management of Pakistan’s industrial heritage.

It is divided into three main parts:

Part 1, ”The Concept of Industrial Heritage” discusses international perspectives, industrial heritage charters, and case studies, laying the foundation for the thesis. It also explores adaptive reuse in preserving industrial landscapes.

Part 2, “Industrial Legacy of Pakistan,” focuses on Pakistan’s industrial history, heritage policies, and proposed methods for identifying industrial sites.

Part 3, “Critical Analysis,” is the synthesis of the thesis and explains the significance of the research. It underscores the need for a thorough inventory system, building on effective heritage listing approaches. The value of repurposing industrial sites to tackle urban challenges, especially in dense cities like Karachi, is emphasized.

Additionally, it outlines a course/syllabus to enhance understanding of industrial heritage and adaptive reuse. The section concludes by highlighting community engagement and collaborative initiatives for preserving and reusing industrial heritage.

The thesis aims to raise awareness, promote recognition, and provide guidelines for managing and preserving industrial heritage in Pakistan, emphasizing its cultural and economic significance.

About the jury

• Dr. Ayça Özmen, Assistant professor at Çankaya University Turkey
  
  Dr. Ayça Özmen received her B.Sc. from Istanbul Technical University (2002-2007) and her M.Sc. in Architecture from Politecnico di Milano (2007-2009). She earned her PhD degree in Architectural Restoration at Yıldız Technical University (2017). Since 2020, she has been working as an assistant professor at Çankaya University (TR) and was a visiting postdoctoral researcher at Hasselt University (BE) for a year, in 2022-23. Her major research interests include architectural conservation, adaptive reuse, twentieth century architectural heritage, Industrial heritage, and Cittaslow Movement.
  
  
• Dr. Bie Plevoets, Assistant professor at Hasselt University Belgium
  
  Bie Plevoets studied Interior Architecture in Hasselt and Conservation of Monuments and Sites at the Raymond Lemaire International Center for Conservation in Leuven. She obtained a PhD on adaptive reuse, approximated from an interior perspective. Her research focuses on adaptive reuse theory. She has worked on the concept of genius loci in relation to adaptive reuse, and on various conceptual strategies to intervene in the existing fabric such as aemulatio , vernacular adaptation, and façadism. She is currently an assistant professor in the research group Trace and a senior postdoctoral fellow of the FWO Flanders, working on a project entitled “Reusing the Ruin: Building upon the fragmentary fabric”.
  
  She is the author of the book “Adaptive Reuse of the Built Heritage: Concepts and Cases of an Emerging Discipline”, co-authored by Koenraad Van Cleempoel (Routledge, 2019). She is one of the curators of the exhibition “As Found. Experiments in Preservation” by the Flanders Architecture Institute (De Singel, 2023-24) and conference chair of ”As Found - international colloquium on adaptive reuse” (Antwerp & Hasselt, 5-7 Sept 2023).
  
  

• Dr. Koenraad Van Cleempoel, Professor & Vice Dean Architecture and Arts Department Hasselt University Belgium
  
  Prof. Dr. Koenraad Van Cleempoel is a professor of cultural history at Hasselt University. He conducts research into the tension between heritage and retail in historic cities, and coordinates the international master’s program “Adaptive Reuse, Exploring Spatial Potentials and Poetics of the Existing” which focuses on the repurposing of historical heritage. As a specialist in the field of astrolabes and other scientific instruments, Van Cleempoel is also a member of the National Center for the History of Sciences. He is also a board member of Watererfgoed Vlaanderen.

• Dr. Karen Lens, Practice Assistant Hasselt University Belgium
  
  Karen studied architecture at Saint-Lucas Brussels and MaMa Architectural Sciences at KULeuven. She holds a PhD, titled: “Adaptive Reuse of monastic heritage - Cloth maker’s moulage as alternative thread to an architectural master plan”. This dissertation is an interdisciplinary work based on research (by design), (interior) architecture, adaptive reuse, fashion and tailoring. As a member of Trace, she employs the same interdisciplinary approach when she teaches design and theoretical studios/courses to (interior) architecture students in both bachelor and master. In her work as an architect she also focuses on adaptive reuse and interior architecture.

• Prof. Nikolaas Vande Keere, Associate Professor Hasselt University Belgium
  
  Nikolaas graduated as a Civil Engineer Architect at the University of Ghent (BE) in 1994. He has worked for ten years in architectural offices in Belgium and the Netherlands and is co- director of UR architects since 2001. The office has realized various projects with different scales and programs and specialized in research by design on adaptive reuse. As Guest Professor he taught at Delft University of Technology (NL) in the chair of Interiors Buildings Cities between 2007 and 2013. Since 2014, he has been teaching design studio and became an Associate Professor in 2016 at the Faculty of Architecture and Arts at Hasselt University. He is currently coordinating the International Master programme on Adaptive Reuse and is a member of the research unit Trace. In the Spring of 2022, he taught a seminar on contentious heritage at the Department of Architecture of UC Berkeley (US) as holder of the PP Rubens Chair. His main interests are research-by-design, theory, and history in the field of adaptive reuse with a focus on ecclesiastical architecture and contentious heritage.

Date and location:

• Wednesday November 15 2023
• 14h00 - 16h00: defence Naveed Iqbal
  
  
• On campus: Oude gevangenis, Aula Roppe Martelarenlaan 42, 3500 Hasselt
• Online: via Google Meet

Registration

You can register for this PhD defence via this Google Form. Please fill in the form - before November 10 - to let us know if you will attend on campus or online.