Monthly Archives: June 2018

Assessing Competencies in Architecture and Architectural History Studies

Architecture, Conferences, Meetings, Studio

Alan Michelson
Head, Built Environments Library, University of Washington, Seattle

This February at the 2018 ARLIS/NA Conference in New York, James Sobczak and I presented our information competencies for the fields of architecture and architectural history. We received some excellent feedback there from the discussion group that was convened. Interested in expanding some of the ideas brought up there, we attended the annual conference of the Association of Architecture School Librarians in Denver, to discuss the idea of coordinating a nationwide effort to study the goals of educators in these two fields and to survey recent graduates to see if they felt they were getting skills that they needed in the workplace. With this perspective on what educators are seeking to teach and what students say that they need, we are hoping to develop data that can assist architecture school librarians with developing effective information literacy strategies. At the very least, we are hoping to understand what key courses should be targeted with greater levels of cooperative teaching from librarians. In this way, our limited time could be spent most efficiently.

Drafting Class at Armstrong Technical HS, Washington, D.C., 1942, Marjory Collins, photographer. Library of Congress Collections (Digital ID fsa 8d20247 //hdl.loc.gov/loc.pnp/fsa.8d20247)

Since that time, we have been in contact with a small group of volunteers to consider next steps in this long-term project. We have discussed implementing several features in our research methodology. These steps would include initial collection of data–syllabi, departmental outlines of curricula, accreditation reports, and other written statements of purpose by departmental leaders–about the courses currently taught in architecture and architectural history. An initial study period of this departmental data seems fundamental to familiarizing ourselves about the overall curricular structure, areas of pedagogical focus, and the approaches of individual instructors.

James Sobczak has developed a survey instrument for students who’ve graduated, either at the undergraduate or graduate levels. This survey focuses on skills that young professionals got while in school, and to ask if they saw any deficiencies in their training. Additionally, surveys could be prepared to query incoming graduate students about skills that they hoped to obtain while earning their degrees.

Contact me (alanmich@u.washington.edu) if you’re interested in participating.

New Research Guide for Getty Research Library’s Architecture and Design Collections

Architecture, Archives, Books, Drawings, Plans, Special Collections
Model of Walt Disney Concert Hall, Los Angeles, California, Frank Gehry, 2003. Frank Gehry Papers. The Getty Research Institute. © Frank O. Gehry
Model of Walt Disney Concert Hall, Los Angeles, California, Frank Gehry, 2003. Frank Gehry Papers. The Getty Research Institute. © Frank O. Gehry

By Aimee Lind, Getty Research Library

For scholars, researchers, and fans of architecture and design, a new research guide is available that provides an introduction to the Getty Research Library’s substantial archival holdings on this topic.

The architecture and design collections of the Getty Research Library include a vast array of materials related to architecture and design. These diverse resources reveal the complex dimensions of the design process, from initial sketches and study models to evocative final renderings, detailed construction drawings, and published promotional photographs. The collection’s extensive archival materials include letters, notebooks, audiovisual materials and ephemera that outline the evolving themes and issues of architectural discourse. International holdings date from 1500 to the present, with concentrations in 19th- and 20th-century avant-garde movements and mid-20th-century modernism.

Highlights of the collection include the archives of progressive Southern California architects Frank Gehry, Pierre Koenig, John Lautner, Ray Kappe, Frank Israel, and William Krisel; international projects by Coop Himmelb(l)au, Peter Eisenman, Yona Friedman, Zaha Hadid, Philip Johnson, Daniel Libeskind, Aldo Rossi, Bernard Rudofsky, Lebbeus Woods, and Frank Lloyd Wright; the influential architectural photography of Julius Shulman and Lucien Hervé; and the papers of Reyner Banham, Ada Louise Huxtable, and Nikolaus Pevsner.

The Architecture & Design Collections Research Guide was created with the aim of assembling these resources in one place, making the breadth and depth of the GRI’s holdings in these subject areas easier to grasp and research simpler to undertake. The Research Guide is a work in progress. Though it is not designed to be comprehensive, an attempt has been made to include all major archival collections as well as individual materials connected to important figures.

The Architecture & Design Collections Research Guide is divided into the following sections:

Welcome & Getting Started serves as an introduction to our library, our holdings, as well as key points regarding access.

Papers of Architects & Designers is an alphabetical list of architects and designers represented in our archival collections, complete with holdings summaries and links to the Primo record.

Papers of Architectural Critics & Historians is an alphabetical list of architectural critics and historians represented in our archival collections, complete with holdings summaries and links to the Primo record.

Architectural Photography Archives is an alphabetical list of photographers of the built environment represented in our archival collections, complete with holdings summaries and links to the Primo record.

Notable Southern California Modernism Collections gathers the Getty’s notable holdings in Southern California Modernism into one page, with links to both the Primo record and the full collection Finding Aids.

California Architecture Collections Search Portal is a custom search that only returns records with the terms “architect*” (architecture, architect, architectural, etc.) and “ca*” (California, Calif., CA, etc.) in subject headings, thereby streamlining the search process and bringing back only results that are highly relevant to the architects and architecture of California.

Bauhaus Resources gathers the Getty’s important Bauhaus holdings into one page, complete with holdings summaries and links to the Primo record. As 2019 marks the centenary of the founding of the school, these resources are sure to be in great demand.

Other Collections of Note include papers representing significant schools, movements, meetings, exhibitions, and competitions.

Related Past Exhibitions provides links to past Getty exhibitions that focused on architecture and design themes.

Researching an Architect and Researching a Building contain links to online guides, directories, encyclopedias, and databases that can be accessed from anywhere without a subscription as well as links to key Getty subscription databases that are particularly useful for those researching the built environment.

We hope you will make use of this Research Guide and we welcome suggestions for how we can make it better!