Hanley Wood and North Carolina Modernist Houses Announce Digital Archive Project

The collaboration will establish the largest digital resource of modern architectural magazines and provide access to titles that are no longer in print.

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Mies van der Rohe's Seagram Building, located in New York, featured in the April 1984 issue of "Architecture Magazine," which is now ARCHITECT, for its AIA Honor Award. If you look to the right, you can see the picture is by Ezra Stoller, founder of commercial photography firm ESTO.

Hanley Wood

Mies van der Rohe's Seagram Building, located in New York, featured in the April 1984 issue of "Architecture Magazine," which is now ARCHITECT, for its AIA Honor Award. If you look to the right, you can see the picture is by Ezra Stoller, founder of commercial photography firm ESTO.

During the annual AIA Convention in Philadelphia last week, Washington, D.C.-based publishing firm Hanley Wood (ARCHITECT’s parent company), and North Carolina Modernist Houses (NCMH), in Durham, N.C., announced a joint agreement that will lend a hand to the preservation of midcentury architecture. The North Carolina nonprofit organization, established in 2007, is known for its work documenting, preserving, and promoting modernist residential design around the country. The group also possesses a very large digital archive of architectural publications. With NCMH’s new agreement with Hanley Wood, an incredible number of titles and issues that have historical significance to midcentury modern design in the Hanley Wood collection will be digitized in NCMH’s Colossus Architecture Magazine Archive. The new titles will be available July 1.

Once complete, “Colossus” will be largest digital archive of modern architectural magazines available to the general public, with more than 1.3 million pages of content. The digital archive was originally launched in 2013 and currently includes the publications AIA North Carolina, House + Home, Architectural Forum, Metro Magazine, and others. Titles to be added to those include The Octagon: A Journal of the American Institute of Architects (1929-43), The Journal of the American Institute of Architects (1944-64), Architecture: The AIA Journal (1983-85), Architecture (1985-2006), and Progressive Architecture (1945-96).

George Smart, founder of NCMH, was awarded with this year’s AIA Collaborative Achievement Award, which recognized his efforts in promoting knowledge of modernist architecture. Some of the things Smart has done to promote modernist architecture include single- and multifamily public home tours; an architecture movie series; an annual dinner for modernist designers; summer-long networking events; and a podcast.

“As modernist buildings are being threatened or destroyed, access to historical information has never been more critical for preservation,” said Smart in a press release. “Colossus makes it easier for anyone to research midcentury design. We’re thrilled to have Hanley Wood on board with Colossus as it becomes the largest repository in the world.”

Two pieces, designed by Skidmore, Owings & Merrill and Wuesthoffe & Klokke, featured in the July 1965 issue of "Progressive Architecture/Pencil Points," to illustrate how wood can provide warmth for an environment.

Hanley Wood

Two pieces, designed by Skidmore, Owings & Merrill and Wuesthoffe & Klokke, featured in the July 1965 issue of "Progressive Architecture/Pencil Points," to illustrate how wood can provide warmth for an environment.

Elizabeth Diller and Ricardo Scofidio on the 2000 cover of "Architecture Magazine" for their Progressive Architecture Award win.

Hanley Wood

Elizabeth Diller and Ricardo Scofidio on the 2000 cover of "Architecture Magazine" for their Progressive Architecture Award win.

Details and photographs depicting St. Luke's Medical Tower in Houston, Texas, designed by Pelli Clarke Pelli Architects (then Cesar Pelli & Associates), in the 1991 edition of "Architecture Magazine."

Hanley Wood

Details and photographs depicting St. Luke's Medical Tower in Houston, Texas, designed by Pelli Clarke Pelli Architects (then Cesar Pelli & Associates), in the 1991 edition of "Architecture Magazine."

The Hundertwasser haus in Vienna, by Austrian painter Friedensreich Hundertwasser, was described by Andera Oppenheimer Deane, former editor in charge for the "World" edition of "Architecture Magazine," as "a commingling of Chagall, Gaudi, and Erich Mendelsohn in Venturi duck feathers," in 1986.

Hanley Wood

The Hundertwasser haus in Vienna, by Austrian painter Friedensreich Hundertwasser, was described by Andera Oppenheimer Deane, former editor in charge for the "World" edition of "Architecture Magazine," as "a commingling of Chagall, Gaudi, and Erich Mendelsohn in Venturi duck feathers," in 1986.

About the Author

Chelsea Blahut

Chelsea Blahut is a former engagement editor at Hanley Wood. She holds a bachelor's degree in English and a minor in Journalism and Fine Arts from the University of North Carolina, Wilmington. Follow her on Twitter at @chelseablahut.

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