Louis Laybourne Smith School Architecture Museum

The Desmond Tan Scholarship in Architectural History

The Desmond Tan Scholarship in Architectural History is open to a student enrolled in the Master of Architecture Program in the courses Architectural Research 1 and 2. The scholarship supports research into a topic in architectural history focussing on the collections of the Architecture Museum, Louis Laybourne Smith School of Architecture and Design, as the primary resource. Applicants will be required to select a topic from a list provided by the Architecture Museum staff.

The scholarship is valued at $1000 and will be awarded at the UniSA Scholarships and Grants Ceremony 2008 (date to be advised but normally May/June).

Further information about the Scholarship, application process and research topics can be downloaded from the following links:

ARCHITECTURE MUSEUM MONOGRAPH SERIES

The collections of the Architecture Museum in the Louis Laybourne Smith School of Architecture and Design provide a rich and unparalleled resource for research into the state’s social and cultural history through the lens of architecture and the built environment. The Museum is delighted therefore to have the generous support of the South Australian Department for Environment and Heritage through the SA Built Heritage Research Fellowship at the Architecture Museum. The annual Fellowship provides the opportunity for an in-depth investigation into an aspect of the state’s built history.

Russell S Ellis Publication Louise Bird, the inaugural awardee of the Fellowship, focused her research on the domestic architecture of Adelaide-based architect Russell Ellis (1912-1988). Her monograph, Russell S Ellis: Pioneer Modernist Architect (Louis Laybourne Smith School of Architecture and Design, University of South Australia, 2007), draws from the three-volume report on her investigations. The publication is an addition to the literature on modernism in South Australia and profiles Ellis’ distinctive contribution to the introduction and promotion of the modernist idiom in this state. It is the first in the Architecture Museum Monograph Series which will include publications derived from the DEH SA Built Heritage Research Fellowship program.

Copies of the publication are available from the Architecture Museum (open Mondays and Tuesdays, 9am-5pm) and through the ORDER FORM (pdf 20kb)

The Architecture Museum is a facility for the acquisition, preservation and management of South Australian produced architectural and related records, and for promoting intellectual enquiry into, and producing scholarly information about, the state’s built heritage.

The extensive and unique collection of over 200,000 items is housed in archival conditions in a purpose-designed space in the Kaurna building, Fenn Place, Adelaide. The Museum is publicly accessible and is open Monday and Tuesday, 9am-5pm. Intending visitors should arrange an appointment through the Collections Manager, Dr Julie Collins (email: julie.collins@unisa.edu.au; ph. 08 8302 9235)

History

In the mid-1970s, in the absence of a local repository to preserve documents related to the history and practice of architecture and the related professions in South Australia, architectural historian Donald Leslie Johnson initiated a private collection. In 1990 he donated it to the School of the Built Environment of the South Australian Institute of Technology (a predecessor institution of the University of South Australia). The acquisition included drawings, practice records, personal papers, photos, slides, books and periodicals. It was originally known as the Architecture Archive and formed the basis for the present-day collections of the Architecture Museum which opened in 2005.

Holdings

The Architecture Museum holds more than 200,000 items including approximately 20,000 drawings and a 2000-volume library. The holdings relate to the work of private practitioners (State Records of South Australia holds Government architects’ records). The focus is on materials produced in the 20th century and particularly in the period c.1910-1980. The University of South Australia’s Collections and Museums Policy and the Architecture Museum’s General Policy and Collection Policy documents guide decisions regarding acquisitions.

The collection includes:

Drawings

Drawings – plans, sections, elevations and perspectives – by architects, engineers, and consultants including both built and unbuilt works primarily of the twentieth century.

Specifications

Specifications relating directly to the architectural drawings and providing written documentation stipulating materials, quality of finishes, and the manner of construction.

Correspondence

Professional and personal correspondence relating to specific buildings, professional affairs and architects’ overseas travels.

Photographs

Photographic items including slides and photographic prints of architects’ built works and overseas travels.

Notebooks and Diaries

Business and personal notebooks and diaries containing sketches and newspaper clippings as well as notes relating to built projects.

Library

Books, monographs, periodicals, trade catalogues and brochures donated from architects’ personal collections.

Special Holdings

Chamberlain collection
Predominantly 18th and 19th century British and European architectural prints and engravings.

Crocker collection

Predominantly books on South Australian history and Italian architecture.

Artefacts

Artefacts of a limited range, including drawing equipment, awards and nameplates.

Ephemera

Pamphlets, brochures and posters relating to architecture, interior design and planning.

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