Portsmouth School of Architecture (ARCH)

Profile

Karen joined the School of Architecture in September 2012, and is co-ordinator of the MSc in Historic Building Conservation. She also contributes sessions on heritage, conservation and architectural history to other units within the undergraduate and postgraduate programmes, as well as acting as a studio tutor. Karen has wide-ranging experience as a heritage professional and in academic research in architectural history.

She has worked as a curator for an outstanding metropolitan museum, the Museum of London, exploring the life of the city through its material culture. She has also worked as a historic buildings advisor for a large local authority and for the National Trust. Recently, Karen completed a collaborative doctoral research project with the National Trust, researching one of their properties in Oxfordshire. Her particular research interests include the cultural landscape in relation to heritage conservation, the history of conservation theory and practice, and past approaches to altering architecture.

Selected Exhibitions

Curator, ‘Festival City’ (August 2011), South Bank and other London venues. Part of the Greater London Authority’s annual Story of London Festival. Series of panel exhibitions marking the 60^th anniversary of the Festival of Britain. Co-ordinated by the Museum of London in partnership with the South Bank Centre. Funded by the Greater London Authority.

Co-curator, ‘Urban Grime: the state of London’s environment’ (September 2003-January 2004), Museum of London. Exhibition on the city’s polluted past to coincide with the Mayor of London’s introduction of five new environmental policies. Constructed using innovative recycled materials from Remarkable plastics. Funded by the Museum of London. Associated public debate in partnership with the Mayor of London, funded by Shanks First.

Co-curator, ‘World City’ (from 2001), Museum of London. Gallery re-display exploring London history between 1789 and 1914. Joint winner of the international Dibner Award for Excellence in Museum Exhibits, Society for the History of Technology, 2002.

Curator, ‘Walls of Fame’ (August-October 1998), Museum of London. Exhibition reassembling a series of autographed linoleum wall panels from private collections around the world originally from a celebrated London Swiss-Italian restaurant. Developed in collaboration with the city’s Ticinese community with the support of Swissair, the Embassy of Switzerland and Switzerland Tourism.

Publications

‘’X’ Marks the Spot: Narratives of a Lost Country House’, in Stobart, Jon and Hann, Andrew (eds), Consuming the Country House, English Heritage, forthcoming.

‘Lord Burlington and the Leaning Stacks of Coleshill House’, National Trust Historic Houses and Collections Annual, in association with Apollo, 2012, pp. 56-59.

‘Lost Splendour’, National Trust Historic Houses and Collections Annual, in association with Apollo, 2010, pp. 62-66.

Contributor to Clark, J. and Ross, C. (eds), London: The Illustrated History, London: Allen Lane, 2008.

Contributor to Werner, A. (ed.), London Bodies, London: Museum of London, 1998.

Selected Conference Papers and Talks

‘X’ Marks the Spot: Narratives of a Lost Country House’, Consuming the Country House: From Acquisition to Presentation, 18-19 April 2012, University of Northampton.

‘Re-Imagining a Lost Country House: Coleshill and the Canon of Architectural History’, Architectural History Between Cultures: Theories and Methodologies, 2 November 2011, Middle East Technical University, Ankara, Turkey.

‘Acoustic Gardening in the Eighteenth Century: A New Perspective’, Rural Landlords and Landscapes, 16 April 2011, Wessex Centre for Archaeology and History.

‘The Starchitect in History’, 9 March 2011, Artsway Gallery, Sway, Hampshire.

‘X Marks the Spot: The End of Coleshill House’, National Trust Research Seminar, 14 December 2010, National Trust, London.

‘Alterations to Coleshill House in the Long Eighteenth Century’, National Trust Research Seminar, 24 November 2009, National Trust, London.

Professional Membership

Affiliate Member, Institute of Historic Building Conservation.

Associate Member, Museums Association.