This SoA-VRC website is moving to the Resources section of the new SoA website, which is launching in beta April 2013.  Most content available on this page has been transferred to the new SoA website.  Recordings will be located with events, instead of in a list (for example, visit: http://soa.princeton.edu/zone/lectureseries).

Please note that the new SoA site does not work with Internet Explorer 8 at present.  Those who are running Windows XP can use Firefox, Chrome, Safari, or Opera.

Assistant Professor Spyros Papapetros, Visual Resources Curator Dan Claro, and School of Architecture Librarian Hannah Bennett have received a grant from the David A. Gardner '69 Fund in the Humanities Council to transform faculty and student access to the SoA Student Work Archive.  

The generous grant provides the resources necessary to process and rehouse archival materials, to create an online catalog/finding aid, and to begin digitization.  Central to the project is a redesign of the space itself that prioritizes and facilitates scholarly research.  For more information, and for progress updates, please visit the SoA Student Work Archive page.  

This film from the Princeton University Archives shows the groundwork being laid for Firestone Library in 1946.

A graduate student symposium dedicated to new research on the history of architectural education in the 20th century.  For more information, visit the TAPP Conference Website.

Drawing / Sculpture / Photography / Fashion / Video / Product Design by MArch and PhD Students at Princeton University School of Architecture.

An exhibition of experimental art practices by architecture students that challenge conventions of imagining, representing, and constructing space.

January 30 - February 8, 2011. School of Architecture Gallery

This fall, the School of Architecture presents a selection of historic photographs from the SoA Archive.  These photographs from the Jean Labatut Collection (pictured above), feature faculty and students working in the School's Architecture Laboratory in the 1950s.  The Arch Lab has been a vibrant resource for model making, research into building systems and construction, and the testing and analysis of materials and structural models since the 50s.

Princeton University School of Architecture alumni and friends celebrated 2010 Topaz Medallion winner Michael Graves, Robert Schirmer Professor of Architecture, Emeritus, during Reunions weekend.  Colleagues and former students filled Betts Auditorium and traded stories about their favorite professor. The gallery featured an exhibition of alumni student work, historic photos, and congratulatory remarks by colleagues and former students.

Michael Graves is one of only three architects to receive both the Topaz Medallion AND the AIA Gold Medal. The Topaz was awarded mainly in recognition of Michael’s 40 years of teaching at Princeton, and provides a fitting recognition of his accomplishments as an architect and an educator.  See news article about the celebration in Rumor vol.1 no.2

Synthescape Art Imaging offers amazing ultra-high-resolution zoomable 360-degree views of interior spaces (museums, mostly) such as the Diego Rivera murals in the Detroit Institute of Arts and the Tate Modern's Rothko Exhibit.  This is a must see. Click "Installations" for views.

The VIsual Resources Collection in the Department of Art and Archaeology has recently purchased Archvision’s Module Four, containing 6,000 architectural images.  This collection is now available campus-wide on ARTstor.   From the Archivision website:

“Module four features Russia as a highlight (over 2000 images photographed in summer 2005 including the major palaces and gardens around St Petersburg and coverage in Moscow.) The module also holds more material from Paris, including several important hôtels, and London--extensive coverage of Chiswick House and grounds, plus many of Wren's churches. For Classics we offer all of our ancient Roman drawings scanned directly from original 19th century volumes (348 plans, sections and elevations) and coverage of the Elgin marbles. Art from the Victoria and Albert Museum, including their amazing cast collection, provides survey support. Our collection from Mexico is also included (Mexico City, Cuernavaca, Puebla and Taxco.) For contemporary, there is new architecture in London and in LA, including Gehry's Disney Concert Hall and complete coverage of the Franklin D Murphy Sculpture Garden at UCLA. And finally two important works by Mackintosh, the Glasgow School of Art and the House of an Art Lover, round out this module.”

To view large sample images and for the full content list please visit: http://www.archivision.com/educational/overview.html

Licensed Archivision content is currently accessible to Princeton University users through both Almagest and ARTstor. Take a look!

Comments about Archivision?   Email the Curator

The VIsual Resources Collection in the Department of Art and Archaeology has recently purchased the Saskia image collection.  It is available on ARTstor and in Almagest.  From the Saskia website.

Since 1966, Saskia continues to expand one of the largest and most important image archives for teaching art history: some 32,000 digital images encompass Western—and now Eastern—civilization. Our core art history images include works from over one hundred museums, including the Louvre, the Musée d’Orsay, the Uffizi, the Prado, the Kunsthistorisches Museum, the National Museums in Athens, Rome and Stockholm, museums in Berlin, the Metropolitan Museum in New York, Cleveland Museum and the San Francisco museum.

The Saskia archive has been photographed by Dr. Ronald V. Wiedenhoeft (Ph.D. Columbia University). His areas of specialization include Italian Baroque, Northern Flemish Baroque, Modern Architecture and Urban Design. His catholic interests enable Ron to capture records of paintings, sculpture and architecture uniquely suited to teaching art history.

Licensed Saskia content is currently accessible to Princeton University users through both Almagest and ARTstor. Take a look!

Comments about Saskia?   Email the Curator

Architecture Librarian Hannah Bennett has posted several new library databases under “Featured Resources” on the Architecture Library homepage.  Check back for updates.

Princeton University launched its iTunes U page on Apple's iTunes Store just before Christmas, offering free downloads of academic content.  Now, there’s a School of Architecture section with videos from the Fall 09 lecture series, "Down the Garden Path," curated by Stan Allen and Ed Eigen.  (Note: If you would rather stream these videos, they are also available on Princeton's Webmedia site).

Stay tuned for more content, such as the Spring Lecture Series “Envelope Conversations.”

Suggestions welcome – Email the Curator.

VRAssistant April Lee scanned 122 Kodachrome slides featuring the Architecture Laboratory in the 1950s and 60s from the Jean Labatut Collection. 

SAHARA - Approximately 9,000 images of architecture, landscape design, and the built environment from the Society of Architectural Historians' SAHARA project are now available.  Learn more.

OIV now compatible with Mac OS 10.6 - A new version of the Offline Image Viewer (OIV) for Macs is now available for download in the ARTstor Digital Library.  To download the OIV for your Mac:

1. Log in to your ARTstor account
2. Click Tools / Download offline presentation tool / click to "accept" the Terms and Conditions of Use
3. Select "OIV for Mac" and click "Download"

To learn more, click here.  For more info about ARTstor and/or OIV, Email the Curator

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