Digital Architectural Archives project
This page gives you an overview of the publications that the VAi realized on the basis of the research project Digital Architectural Archives.
Publication: SketchUp in digital archives
The 3D drawing software SketchUp can be found in many architectural firms. Architects use it to test their first design ideas, but also to support the further elaboration and execution of an architectural project. Moreover, 3D models are very accessible and readable for a non-architectural audience.
The Flanders Architecture Institute therefore wants to focus on preserving this valuable digital heritage of the future.
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10 years of digital architectural archives: state of play (2018)
On 29 November 2018, the Stichting Archiefpublicaties presented its nineteenth yearbook, entitled Preserveren. Stappen zetten in een nieuw vakgebied (Preserving: Taking steps in a new field). The Flanders Architecture Institute, together with their Dutch colleagues of Het Nieuwe Instituut, released an article on the preservation of digital architectural archives. On the basis of four themes, the article discussed in some depth the steps that both institutions have taken in order to meet the challenges of digital architectural archives. You can consult the yearbook online and order it from Stichting Archiefpublicaties.
In 2017 an overview of eight years of research was also published in META issue 20171.
CEST case study | Digital archive Christian Kieckens, a case study (2017)
The case study examined the pre-ingest of the digital archive of architect Christian Kieckens, as found on seven hard disks of the office’s workstations. The case study is described in two reports. A first report outlines the procedure used to replicate the data. The second report describes the procedure by which the files were identified and the way in which the findings were stored in a PREMIS XML. Both reports contain an extensive research section.
Project The archives @ the architects (2017)
The archives @ the architects was a project of the VAi and the Province of Antwerp that wanted to investigate the feasibility of a model in which a heritage institution offers services to archive creators, mainly with regard to digital archives. The research is motivated by the fact that information in digital form requires quicker interventions for its archiving.
The digital archive of Maarten Van Severen (2016)
Phase 4 of the Digital Architectural Archives project investigated how the archiving of a digital architectural archive should be approached in concrete terms. More specifically, we looked at how the necessary processes of transfer, organization, description, cleaning, selection, ingest, preservation and accessibility of an archive could be carried out in practice.
As in phase 3, the decision was made to work on the basis of a practical case. The choice fell on the digital archive of designer and architect Maarten Van Severen, whose archive is kept in the Ghent City Archives – The Black Box.
Case study digital file management at architectural firm MDMA (2015)
During their work, architects create or receive large quantities of digital documents. Which of these are important to preserve? And how do you later find these important documents as quickly as possible? The VAi, together with the Brussels architectural firm Martine De Maeseneer Architecten (MDMA), researched how digital document management could be improved within the architectural firm. This project was carried out in collaboration with TRACKS.
Research: Preserving CAD (2013)
Using the digital archive of three architectural offices, an overview was made of the most frequently used CAD programmes in these offices. We then subjected the digital files to a preservation test. Is it possible to migrate MiniCAD, AutoCAD and SketchUp to open, free file formats without loss of information?
Survey 'The memory of the architect' (2011)
In 2011 the VAi/CVAa conducted research into analogue and digital archiving in eight modern architectural offices. What implications does the computer have for the archive of today’s architect? How do architects store their digital data and can they ensure its long-term readability? How do they link their digital and analogue archives? What problems can be foreseen for the long-term preservation of a digital architectural archive?
The findings form an initial basis for further policy development on digital architectural archives.
A Fedora depot for architectural archives (2010)
We tested the development of an e-depot based on Fedora software. As a test case, the material generated within the framework of the Flanders Architectural Review was loaded into the depot. This concerned a not too extensive collection of a few thousand objects and a limited range of file formats. This kept the project manageable, but the CVAa was still able to gain practical experience regarding the operation of e-depots. The results can be found in the report Een Fedora-depot voor architectuurarchieven (A Fedora depot for architectural archives).