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RIBA British Architectural Library: free public access from 2 January 2008

 

Members of the public can now access the RIBA Library at 66 Portland Place, London free of charge for reference purposes.

Since its establishment with the RIBA in 1834, the Library has been almost wholly funded by members. In October 2005 it was recognised as having outstanding national and international importance under the Designation Scheme by The Museums, Libraries and Archives Council (MLA). The scheme recognises that organisations with designated collections care for a significant part of England's cultural heritage.

Access to non RIBA members is now free on production of proof of identity e.g. driving licence, passport, student ID card.

Access| the library visiting hours.

 

Basil Spence: Out of the Archives

To complement the outstanding exhibition  'Basil Spence: Back to the Future' in Gallery One, the RIBA British Architectural Library has assembled some of its own treasures relating to Spence, for all to enjoy.

Spence enjoyed a long relationship with the RIBA, holding the office of President between 1958-1960. Unsurprisingly, the RIBA Library has rich material on his career: articles, books, reports, letters, drawings and even Christmas cards can be found in the collections. But perhaps most stunning of all is the extensive photographic archive of Henk Snoek, who worked closely with Spence, surveying his successful practice throughout the 1950s and 1960s. Snoek dramatically captured Spence's sense of colour and light, plus his vision for the sculptural, as can be seen above with this photograph of the infamous 'Queenies' in the Gorbals, Glasgow.

So why not visit the RIBA Library on the third floor and find out about Spence's housing and educational architectural projects, plus his progression from the jungle of private practice to a presidential safari. The displays can be found inside and outside the RIBA Library, so please be aware of opening times. And, afterwards, browse more material relating to Spence on www.ribapix.com|.

 

New survey for users

The RIBA Library Education Programmes are designed to introduce students and tutors to the incredible wealth of the RIBA Library collections. Since July, more than 500 students have been given inductions to the collections, and enjoyed workshops and seminars led by library staff.

Now have your say by giving us some feedback.

Visit: Feedback on visits to the V&A and RIBA Architecture Partnership collections |

Find out about education programmes| run by the RIBA British Architectural Library.

 

New acquisition

Philibert de l'Orme 'Architecture' (1603)

The British Architectural Library has acquired a fourth issue of the first edition of Le premier tome d'architecture by the great French architect Philibert de l'Orme (1514-1570), one of the three identified architectural titles from the personal library of the British diplomat, scholar and man of letters, Sir Henry Wotton (1568-1639).

De l'Orme's book is one of the five comprehensive treatises on the subject of architecture published in Europe before 1600 (together with Vitruvius, Alberti, Serlio and Palladio). This copy is important as it is busily annotated by Wotton, revealing his reference to de l'Orme's text in the composition of his own 'The Elements of Architecture' (1642), the first English book of architectural theory. It is thus an exciting addition to the library's outstanding collection of early printed books and manuscripts. The copy was acquired with the generous support of the RIBA British Architectural Library Trust (BALT).

CETLD Bene Education Room

The new academic year has just begun, and bookings for the CETLD Bene Education Room| are now being taken. Inductions to the collections of the British Architectural Library for tutors and students are now available.

How We Built Britain online exhibition

Explore a thousand years of British architecture with this online exhibition, How We Built Britain, brought to you by the Royal Institute of British Architects in association with the BBC.

This exhibition of photographs, drawings, books, models and manuscripts are all from the RIBA British Architectural Library. Assembled since 1834, this is one of the world's finest collections relating to architecture and our built heritage, totalling some four million items. So why not join us for a tour around a fascinating cross-section of Britain's buildings?
How We Built Britain|.