Student profiles
Adis Kovačević
Email: a.kovacevic1@lancaster.ac.uk
Thesis Title
Institution
Supervisors
Professor Richard Brook (Lancaster University)
Professor Luca Csepely-Knorr (University of Liverpool)
Erika Diaz Petersen (Historic England)
Matthew Bristow (Historic England)
Research Summary
Water impounding systems have been a cornerstone of technological development throughout the past millennia, and have become a distinct marker of infrastructural landscapes in the UK since the onset of the Industrial revolution. Spanning economic, social, and even recreational purposes, reservoirs and the associated landscapes have come to embody a range of socio-spatial dynamics in the period between the late 18th and the late 20th centuries as complexes that emerged alongside major currents of urban and landscape development. The analysis of the impact of reservoirs on their local setting as well as the requirements of their design calls for an understanding of the evolving relationship between societies and water supply systems, manifested in the construction of dams, water towers, pump stations, as well as in the accompanying infrastructure across the British countryside and urban areas alike.
Reservoirs have represented as extensive a design domain as other comparable types of built complexes appearing over respective time periods – from the familiar images of utilitarian, mass concrete dams of post-war decades to the turrets and crenelated structures of the Victorian age, these systems still do not feature prominently as heritage assets, with protection designated in the case of aesthetically most representative examples of ancillary structures, and often in disconnection from the landscape setting. Reservoir sites were, however, designed and sustained as integrated spatial sets, operating as supply systems for industrial and urban centres, feeding canal networks, or existing within cities as part of schemes in direct relation with the surrounding townscapes. Understanding the built layouts that reflect the evolving environments of infrastructure, landscapes and cities represents a significant step towards defining the underlying values of reservoirs that have led to their continued use, and appreciation, into the present period.
Research Interests
Coming soon
Publications
Kovacevic, A. (2020). Methodologies for the study of a vernacular built environment within a historic residential complex: The case of the village of Gornji Stoliv, Montenegro. Journal of Traditional Building, Architecture and Urbanism, (1), 463–473.