Christian Frost

• Qualified architect
• Time, space and movement in architecture
• Medieval architecture and urban planning
• Hermeneutic philosophy and architecture
• Heritage and history

• University of Cambridge BA (Hons) Architecture, 1987
• University of Cambridge Diploma in Architecture (ARB Part II), 1989
• University of Cambridge ARB Part III, 1990
• University of Cambridge, M.Phil History and Philosophy of Architecture, 1993

• ARB Registered Architect
• Member of the RIBA
• Member of ASHCB (Association for Studies in the Conservation of Historic Buildings)

• Lecturing on history, theory and cultural context at all levels of the Birmingham School of Architecture.
• Masters dissertation supervision
• Teaching postgraduate design

The Festive Order of Late Medieval Florence

This research is centred on how the festive structure of Florence was manifested in the development of the key spatial order of the city during the late medieval period. It appears that although many changes occurred in the ruling hierarchies of the city from the late classical period to the early Renaissance, many aspects of the festive order of the city, and the places in which they occurred, remained relatively constant. In contextualising these festivals at various stages of the city’s growth, a picture emerges of a classical tradition which constantly adapted to accommodate changing civic requirements, rather than a series of radical innovations looking back to the classical world, bypassing more recent developments. In light of this recognition, the familiar conception that the Renaissance was a radical shift in focus away from the concerns of medieval Florence perhaps needs to be reconsidered.

The Role of Ornament and Utility in Contemporary Conservation Practice

Since the foundation of the Society for the Protection of Ancient Buildings by Morris and Webb in 1877, many buildings have been saved but are now redundant, empty and untouchable. This research questions current methods which objectify our material history and suggests, through historical analysis, alternative ways in which new uses could be linked more clearly with contemporary needs. It also questions the various ways that ornament and style are being cited in support of renovation and preservation proposals.

Mike Dring: Infrastructural Narratives: An enquiry into the philosophical and practical motivations behind the physical and conceptual transformation of the West Midlands during the twentieth century, drawing on archival material, cross-disciplinary texts and the visual language of the city itself.

Frost, Christian (2016) Festival and tradition in contemporary Florence. Journal of Urban Cultural Studies, 3 (2). pp. 239-254. ISSN 20509790

‘Architecture, Liturgy and Processions: Bishop Grosseteste’s Lincoln and Bishop Poore’s Salisbury’ in Bishop Robert Grosseteste and Lincoln Cathedral: Tracing Relationships between Medieval Concepts of Order and Built Form (Ashgate, 2014).

‘Gothic Art and Architecture’, ‘Anglo Saxon Art and Architecture’ entry in the revised edition of the Oxford Dictionary of Christian Art and Architecture (OUP, 2013)

‘Reclaiming Architectural History: The Baptistery of San Giovanni in Florence’, Art History Supplement Vol 3, No.5, September 2013 (Online Journal ISSN 2046-9225) p. 5-32

‘Changing Salisbury: an argument for a return to poetic ordering of urban space following three hundred years of objectification’. International Journal of Heritage and Sustainable Development, issue 1, 2011.

Time Space and Order: The making of medieval Salisbury (Peter Lang, November 2009)

‘The Symbolic Move to New Sarum – An investigation into the move from Old Sarum to New Sarum using Two Contemporary Sources.’ The Wiltshire Archaeological and Natural History Magazine, Volume 98, 2005. p.155 – 164

• External Examiner on MA Architectural Design at De Montfort University 2009-13
• RIBA visiting panel member 2009-present
• RIBA Visiting Panel Chair 2012-ongoing
• ARB/RIBA Part III Professional Examiner at Kingston University