Course Research Guide

48-200: Architecture Design Studio: Composition

Project 2: Observation / Structure
Project 3: Building Analysis (house or museum)
Project 4: Single-Artist Annex

Site / Landscape / Schenley Park Reference Resources Investigating a Site Sources for climate data, demographic data, history, maps, zoning, and community planning and development. Landscape Selected books and periodicals on landscape and the urban landscape. Pittsburgh Parks Conservancy: Schenley Park Pittsburgh Regional Parks Master Plan Look for the sections on Schenley Park, especially beginning page 97. Buildings and Architects Research Tips Know what you are looking for. Many architects, buildings, and locations are known by multiple names. Terms like house / residence / villa / casa may be used inconsistantly. Be certain that you are spelling your search terms correctly in the most-appropriate language. Try name variations. Choose your search terms carefully, and try different combinations. Search using the most distinctive words and leave out common words. Try connecting words with <and>. Expand your search strategy. For example, try searching by the name of a building. Then try searching for broader or related topics such as the name of the architect, the building's city or country, its building type, its time period, etc. For additional insight research a building's client, its setting, its materials, etc. This information will help you to better understand a building within its context. Look for clues to additional sources. As you find and use each source, look for additional keywords that you might not have thought of, examine lists of projects and back-of-the-book indexes, and look for citations in bibliographies and footnotes. Carefully record all of your sources (see Citations). Use Library Catalogs to look for books. See especially Cameo. Note that not many buildings have entire books written about them, and a library catalog may or may not mention a building if it is part of a book with a broader topic. Use Article Databases to look for articles. Articles often provide the best information about individual buildings. See especially the Avery Index to Architectural Periodicals. Use Reference Resources to look for basic information about prominent architects and buildings . See especially Encyclopedias and Collections. Many architects and buildings are readily searchable on the free Web. Note, however, that information on the Web can be limited and unreliable, and must be evaluated carefully. Many web sites are compiled by students or fans, and architects' own sites are self-promotional. You may have to look elsewhere for in-depth information, critical evaluation, and specific drawings and images. Drawings and other images may be found in all of the sources mentioned above. Try also books and databases that specialize in Drawings and Images of Buildings. Houses Research Tips Use Cameo to look for books using the following search terms and the Subject search button: house houses domestic architecture Browse books with call numbers NA7100-NA7599 in the STACKS-4 and OVRSZQ-4 locations. Reference Resources Davies, Colin. Key Houses of the Twentieth Century: Plans, Sections and Elevations. New York: W.W. Norton & Co., 2006. HUNT FA-REF-4 NA7126 .D38 2006 MUS-OFC-4 NA7126 .D38 2006 DISC Plans, section, and elevation drawings of key twentieth-century houses. Book is accompanied by a CD-ROM with the drawings as .eps and .dxf files. Dunster, David. Key Buildings of the Twentieth Century. 2 vols. New York: Rizzoli, 1985; London: Butterworth Architecture, 1990. HUNT FA-REF-4 NA680 .D86 1985 Documents major 20th-century buildings in plans drawn to the same scale (1:250). The two volumes are: Houses, 1900-1944, and Houses, 1945-1989. Houses Key books about houses and house design. Museums Research Tips Use Cameo to look for books using the following search terms and the Subject search button: museums museum architecture Browse books with call numbers NA6690-NA6700 in the STACKS-4 and OVRSZQ-4 locations. Reference Resources Naredi-Rainer, Paul v. Museum Buildings: A Design Manual. Basel; Boston: Birkhäuser, 2004. HUNT FA-REF-4 NA6690 .N37 2004 Rosenblatt, Arthur. Building Type Basics for Museums. New York: J. Wiley, 2001. HUNT FA-REF-4 NA6690 .R67 2001 Contemporary Artists Research Tips Use Cameo to look for books. Use Article Databases to look for articles. Art Abstracts Art Index Retrospective ARTbibliographies Modern Use ARTstor to look for images of artwork.

Research Specialist

Martin Aurand Architecture Librarian and Archivist Hunt Library 410 (412) 268-8165 ma1f@andrew.cmu.edu Feel free to contact me with questions or make an appointment for a research consultation.

	COURSE RESOURCES

Design and Composition
Key books about the design and composition of buildings.

Drawing and Representation
Key books about the representation of design projects.

Sketchbooks
A selection of sketchbooks by noted architects, designers, and artists.

	FEATURE

	LINKS

University Libraries Home Page

Architecture Research Guide

48-200: Architecture Design Studio: Composition