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Presented by The Architecture Centre | The fire that destroyed the spire and roof of Notre Dame shocked the world… it also triggered a furious debate.

How do we address this complex and iconic building? Should the spire be restored to its last visual state? Or should the design and construction reflect the times we live in and the technology available?

Join architect Piers Taylor, stone mason Andrew Ziminski and conservation architect Jo Hibbert for a lively discussion on the future of Notre Dame. Chaired by Dezeen editor Tom Ravenscroft.


About the speakers

Piers Taylor is an Architect and founder of Invisible Studio. He was the inaugural Studio Master at the Architectural Association for the Design & Make Programme at Hooke Park, a former Design Fellow at the University of Cambridge, and was awarded the anniversary PhD scholarship in 2017.

Award-winning Invisible Studio operate from a self built studio located in a working woodland which they also manage as an ongoing forest enterprise alongside practice. They have a particular interest in how material practice can address social and political questions.

Andrew Ziminski trained as a stonemason at the Weald and Downland open-air museum in Sussex and then later in architectural conservation.

He worked on the tower, spire and cloisters of Salisbury Cathedral before establishing Minerva Stone Conservation Ltd in 1993. Since there he has worked mainly on medieval bridges, churches and cathedrals, including St Pauls, Rochester, Wells and Bristol.

Andrew is a Fellow of the Society of Antiquaries of London and consultant to the Salisbury Diocesan Advisory Committee for the conservation of stone and monuments.

Jo Hibbert is an Architect who specialises in conservation and restoration of historical buildings. She is the retained church architect for a number of significant churches in the South West, and sits on the Exeter Diocesan Advisory Committee.

She has worked on many important historical buildings, including the refurbishment of the Grade 1 listed Whitestaunton Manor in Somerset, and the conservation and repair of its hammer beam roof. She is a studio tutor for the final year of Diploma at Bath University.

Chair: Tom Ravenscroft, Editor of Dezeen