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ARS285: Introduction to Architecture
Spring 2005 - Gretchen Schneider + Kirin Makker
Reference Contact: Barbara Polowy x2941

Getting Started | Finding Books | Finding Periodicals | Internet & Image Resources

GETTING STARTED

Art & Architecture Library Subject Page
Provides links to resources covering a wide variety of art and architecture topics (some resources are available only to members of the Smith College community).

Hillyer Art Library
Website provides information about art library collections and services. Includes a guide to the the subject arrangement of the books, catalogs, and other resources in the art library stacks to aid browsing.

Reference Sources

Art Reference N31.D5 1996 and the online edition, Groveart.com
The Dictionary of Art. New York: Grove's Dictionaries, 1996.
Excellent survey articles on major art and architecture movements, the art and architecture of countries and regions, and the life and work of individual artists and architects (e.g., Andrea Palladio, Francesco Borromini, Walter Gropius). Artist/architect entries include biographical, critical, and contextual information. Each article is supplemented by a bibliography of major sources and usually includes links to illustrations available on the Internet.


Art Reference NA40 .I48 1993
International Dictionary of Architects and Architecture, edited by Randall J. Van Vynckt. 2 vols. Detroit: St. James Press, 1993.

"Features 523 architects and 467 buildings and sites that have figured prominently in Western architectural history."

Art Reference NA680 .C625 1994
Contemporary Architects. 3rd ed. New York: St. James Press, 1994.
Entries for 585 architects provide basic biographical information, lists of major commissions, bibliographies of publications by and about architects, and brief critical and description essays on major architects and their works.

Art Reference NA40 .M25 1982
Macmillan Encyclopedia of Architects
. 4 vols. New York: Free Press; London: Collier Macmillan, 1982.
2,400 critical biographies of architects born before 1931. Each entry includes a chronology of major works and a bibliography of publications by and about the architect profiled.

FINDING BOOKS, CATALOGS & OTHER MONGRAPHS

Five College Library Catalog
The online catalog provides access to the combined library holdings of Smith, Amherst, Hampshire, and Mount Holyoke Colleges, and the University of Massachusetts Amherst.
Useful Library of Congress subject headings for finding information about architecture include:

  • [architect's name]
    Mies van der Rohe, Ludwig, 1886-1969 | Bernini, Gian Lorenzo, 1598-1680
    Zumthor, Peter | Koolhaas, Rem | Jones, Euine Fay, 1921-
  • [architecture firm name]
    I.M. Pei & Partners | Polshek Partnership Architects | Weiss/Manfredi Architects
  • [building name]
    Fallingwater (Pa.) | Robie House (Chicago, Ill.)
    Trinity Church (Boston, Mass.) | Cemetery Brion-Vega
    National Gallery of Art (U.S.). East Building
  • [building type]
    Skyscrapers | Museum buildings | Dwellings | Church buildings

FINDING ARTICLES IN JOURNALS & OTHER PERIODICALS

Indexing & Abstracting Services

Art Abstracts and Art Index Retrospective
These two databases cover all aspects of the visual arts including architecture, planning, interior design, and furnishings providing cover to cover indexing of over 400 periodicals published throughout the world. Art Abstracts covers 1984 to the present, Art Index Retrospective covers 1929 to 1984. Updated monthly.

Avery Index to Architectural Periodicals
Covering architecture and related fields such as planning, landscape architecture, and interior design Avery Index provides regular access to approximately 1,000 periodicals from the 1930s (with selective coverage dating back to the 1860s) to the present. Updated daily.

Library Catalogue, Royal Institute of British Architects British Architectural
More than 215,000 records describing articles in 300 journals and books, drawings, photographs, manuscript and archival materials in the library collection. Covers all aspects of architecture. Abstracts for most records.

Browsing: Selected Architecture Periodicals
Recent issues are available in the Current Magazines area on the first floor of the art library. Back issues are housed on the cellar level of the art library at the call numbers listed

Practice
A + U: Architecture and Urbanism. 1980-present. Art Periodical NA9000 .A2
American Architect [various title variations]. 1876-1936. Art Periodical NA1 .A43

Architectural Design: A.D.
1959-present. Art Periodical NA1 .A563
Architectural Forum. 1920-1973. Art Periodical NA1 .B2
Architectural Record. 1891-present. Art Periodical NA1 .A6
Architectural Review. 1911-present. Art Periodical NA1 .A69
Architecture Boston [Boston Society of Architects/AIA]. Current Year Only
L'Architecture d'aujourd'hui. 1937-present. Art Periodical NA2 .A7
Architecture: The AIA Journal. 1920-present. Art Periodical NA1 .A326
Blueprint. 2005-present. Art Periodical NA968 .B58
Casabella: Rivista di Urbanistica Architettura e Disegno.
1960-present. Art Periodical NA4 .C3
El Croquis. 1994-present. Art Periodical NA5 .C7
Domus. 1966-present. Art Periodical N4 .D6
Harvard Design Magazine. 2000-present. Art Periodical NA2300.H352 G72
Metropolis. 2005-present. Art Periodical N6535.N5 M47
Pencil Points / Progressive Architecture. 1920-1995. Art Periodical NA1 .P7


History, Theory & Criticism
AA Files: Annals of the Architectural Association School of Architecture.
1981-present. Art Periodical NA1.A1 A22
Architectura: Journal of the History of Architecture. 1971-present. Art Periodical NA3 .A54
Grey Room. 2000-present. Art Periodical NA100 .G74 and online
Journal of Architectural Education: JAE. 1984-present. Art Periodical NA1 .J77
Journal of the Society of Architectural Historians. 1941-present.
Art Periodical NA1 .A327 and online.
Lotus International. 1964-present. Art Periodical NA9 .L6
Perspecta. 1952-present. Art Periodical NA1 .P46
Praxis: Journal of Writing + Building. 2005-present. Art Periodical NA1 .P674

INTERNET & IMAGE RESOURCES

Brown, Jeanne. "Architecture and Building Internet Resource Guide." Established 1993, last updated March 8, 2005. Online. University of Nevada, Las Vegas Architecture Studies Library. March 22, 2005. Available: http://library.nevada.edu/arch/rsrce/webrsrce/contents.html.

ARTstor
ARTstor is a library of nearly 300,000 digital images of works of art and other cultural material images ranging from standard art history survey material to specialized collections including the design and architecture collections of New York's Museum of Modern Art and the Hartill Archive of Architecture and Allied Arts.

"Great Buildings Online." Established 1997. Online. Artifice, Inc. March 22, 2005. Available: http://www.greatbuildings.com
"documents a thousand buildings and hundreds of leading architects, with 3D models, photographic images and architectural drawings, commentaries, bibliographies, web links, and more, for famous designers and structures of all kinds."

"SPIRO, Architecture Image Library." Online. University of California, Berkeley.
Architecture Visual Resources Library. March 22, 2005. Available: http://shanana.berkeley.edu/spiro/
Provides over 55,000 digital images (thumbnail size). "Topical areas include: architecture, landscape architecture, urbanism and city views ... Searchable by architect and building name, building types, building materials, building components." Provides good leads to reproductions in printed sources.

CONTACT THE REFERENCE LIBRARIAN

Contact Barbara Polowy, the art librarian and instructor for your library session: bpolowy@email.smith.edu,
121 Hillyer Art Library, X2941.

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