Collection Spotlight: The a+t online Library
by Barbara Opar, Librarian for Architecture and French Language and Literature
Schools of Architecture, including ours at Syracuse University, prepare students for practice through the study of building typologies. Perhaps no building typology is more fundamental than housing. The study of housing helps students to develop basic design skills, teaching them to understand societal needs while providing a myriad of opportunities to explore new and traditional building materials. Housing studies require the application of theoretical concepts like spatial relationships, an understanding of cultural values, the need to be cognizant of accessibility as well as the ability to address affordability. Recognizing that, providing robust resources on housing is paramount to the mission of Syracuse University Libraries’ architecture collection development policy. The a+t online library is one tool for doing so.
a+t architecture publishers was founded in 1992 in Vitoria- Gasteiz, Spain and is an editorial company on architecture, independent from any institution or professional group. Publications are bilingual (English/Spanish) and distributed worldwide. a+t research group was founded in 2011 to help disseminate its research on housing. According to its own manifesto, projects are analyzed not criticized.
Syracuse University Libraries’ holdings include the print journal, with bound volumes beginning with v. 16, from 2000 located on the 4th floor of Bird Library under NA 1.A1 A637. Currents issues are housed in the King+King Architecture Library, 302 Slocum Hall. Other resources include certain print books as well as the a+t online library.
The a+t online library with select holdings from journal issue # 12 can be accessed through the databases list under “A” or from the databases subject tab under “Architecture”. What follows is a rich and diverse full-text collection of international examples of housing forms like the collective or hybrid. Recent discourse has addressed the “rural” or introduced the researcher to concerns with “frugality” where matters like hunting, mining or bio sourcing have been discussed. Topics important to housing like privacy and public space have been included within the journal’s pages. The digitized content comprises full color highly detailed drawings with unique examples selected for inclusion within its pages. The theme of public space, for instance, makes use of strategies like activators to describe new approaches to this topic.
To simulate the physical journal, the online content here is designed as a flipbook, to read page by page from left to right. a+t content can also be searched through the Avery Index to Architectural Periodicals.
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