All posts by Martha González Palacios

Libraries Introduce Limited Campus Delivery

The University of Texas Libraries has launched a new service that will help bring the Libraries’ resources to users.

Materials Retrieval allows patrons to request eligible resources to be retrieved from their regular location and delivered to the Libraries branch checkout desk of their choice for pickup.

The free service is available to all patrons with current checkout privileges — including courtesy borrowers — and there is no limit to the number of items patrons may request.

Most items will be available for pickup within three to five business days. Libraries materials that check out from participating libraries for 14 or more days are eligible for request (some restrictions apply), along with audiovisual materials from the Fine Arts Library, which check out for 7 days.

Retrieval requests are made from through the library catalog record of the resources, with eligible items displaying a “Request” button.

More information about the service is available on the Materials Retrieval FAQ page.

CURTAINS: Call for Proposals

The Center for American Architecture and Design at The University of Texas at Austin is pleased to announce a call for proposal for Curtains.

CURTAINS is a multi-site installation, exhibition, and publication event designed to explore the use of fabrics in contemporary art and architecture—not in the form of rigid tensile structures, nor in the form of cladding or upholstery, but in their more relaxed, natural forms: curtains associated with windows, yes, but also defining and activating spaces indoors and out, billowing overhead as canopies, catching and using wind like sails, creating shade, diffusing light, holding color in their folds, filtering views, absorbing sound, showing the wind, and making theater of the everyday.

The organizers will invite up to four artists/architects who choose a UT location to fabricate and install their proposals. A larger selection of the proposals received, considered solely on their artistic merits, will be published in the 19th volume of the award-winning book series CENTER: Architecture and Design in America as well as exhibited at the Mebane Gallery of Goldsmith Hall on the University of Texas campus entitled “Curtains.” The launch of CENTER 19: Curtains and the opening of the Curtains exhibition, with a keynote address by the artist Christo and an address by Petra Blaisse, is scheduled for October 18, 2013.

Round One of Proposals are due no later than March 14, 2013.

Battle Hall Centennial T-Shirts!

BATTLE HALL CENTENNIAL Celebration comes to a close…   in style!

On 11-11-11 the School of Architecture and the University of Texas Libraries marked the beginning of a year-long celebration of Battle Hall’s 100th anniversary with a grand party and lecture.  The exhibit Our Landmark Library: Battle Hall at 100 and a self-guided tour offered continued enjoyment throughout the year.

From now until the end of the semester, your Architecture & Planning Library will be holding a daily drawing for commemorative Battle Hall Centennial t-shirts.

When you check out your books, ask your friendly library staff how YOU can earn a chance to win!

Happy Holidays-
From your friends at the Architecture & Planning Library


Designed by Cass Gilbert as the University of Texas’ first library building, Battle Hall was completed in 1911 at a cost of approximately $280,000.  Throughout its history it also served as the Office of the President, the home of UT’s first rare book collection and archive, the home of the newly created Fine Arts department, and a U.S. Post Office.  Today, it is home to the Architecture & Planning Library and its Alexander Architectural Archive.  To learn more, check out Our Landmark Library Battle Hall at 100

Georgian Architecture for Blake

Professor Emeritus Blake Alexander was a great admirer of classical architecture.  His personal library, which he donated to the Architecture & Planning Library and is currently being processed, contains many important titles that focus on British architecture, including many of Nikolaus Pevsner’s The Buildings of England.Shortly after he passed away last December, I was asked by Fred Heath, vice-provost to UT Libraries to select a book that would be purchased in Blake’s memory.  I believe he would have enjoyed my selection: Georgian Architecture in the British Isles 1714-1830.  Published last year by English Heritage, this is revised and expanded edition for the original 1993 Georgian Architecture also by James Stevens Curl.  The book includes extensive illustrations including plans, sections and elevations as well as renderings and contemporary photos.  The select bibliography spans 12 dense pages that will clear offer a wealth of options for further readings.  More information about this title can be found on the author’s website. Georgian Architecture in the British Isles 1714-1830

Celebrate the Tower’s 75th Anniversary

UT Tower

Learn about its great story in How to build a Tower

Monday, Feb. 27

11:30 a.m. – 1 p.m.
Birthday Cake
Tower birthday cake and anniversary stickers will be available on the West Mall.

10 a.m. – 4 p.m.
A Special Architectural Drawings Exhibit
The Alexander Architectural Archive (ground floor of Battle Hall) will sponsor an open house with a display of original Main Building and Tower drawings by architect Paul Cret.

5:30 p.m.
A Main Building Historical Tour
Explore the history, architecture and symbolism of the Main Building and Tower.
Tour lasts about one hour. Meet in front of the Main Building.
Tour does not include the Tower observation deck. Contact Jim Nicar for more information.

Sponsored by Texas Exes UT Heritage Society

Blake Alexander (February 4, 1924 – December 11, 2011)

Blake Alexander

It is with great sadness that we announce the passing of our namesake, Drury Blakeley Alexander. Blake was a champion for the education, documentation, and preservation of Texas’ architectural heritage. He was also a pioneer in recognizing the importance of archiving architectural records. The Alexander Architectural Archive grew out of his personal collection and stewardship. The resources he collected continue to play an important role in the restoration of many of Texas’ most important buildings and continues to support the education and scholarship of American architectural history.

To learn more about Blake’s life and legacy, please see:

Our Landmark Library: Battle Hall at 100

EVENT: The Centennial Celebration for historic Battle Hall on the campus of The University of Texas at Austin. The event is free and open to the public.

WHEN: 5-8 p.m., Friday, Nov. 11, 2011.

WHERE: The University of Texas at Austin. Opening remarks by Lawrence Speck in Jessen Auditorium, Homer Rainey Hall (map) at 5 p.m., followed by a reception in the Architecture & Planning Library, Battle Hall (map).

Our Landmark Library: Battle Hall at 100

BACKGROUND: Battle Hall, a building that was part of the original Forty Acres at The University of Texas at Austin, will be celebrated this week upon the 100th anniversary of its completion.

The School of Architecture, the Texas Exes and the University of Texas Libraries will host the Centennial Celebration.

“Battle Hall is special to this campus not only because of its prominent location and detailed facade, but because of its long history of housing varied programs and people from the UT community,” says Frederick Steiner, dean of the School of Architecture. “A comprehensive restoration plan is in the making, and it is our hope to retain the building’s history as we focus on the future.”

Renowned architect and W.L. Moody, Jr. Centennial Professor in Architecture Lawrence W. Speck will provide opening remarks in Jessen Auditorium in Homer Rainey Hall. Attendees are then invited to an open house and reception after the talk in the Architecture & Planning Library and its Alexander Architectural Archive in Battle Hall. This will include self-guided tours of the building, light refreshments and a cake-cutting to commemorate the anniversary.

Designed by newly appointed University Architect Cass Gilbert in 1910, Battle Hall was completed in 1911 for approximately $280,000. Beyond serving as the university’s first independent library building (later known as “the Old Library”), it was also the first home to the new College of Fine Arts (1938) and later to the new Barker Texas History Center (1950), bringing together for the first time the University Library’s archives and rare books collections. In 1973, when the Barker Center vacated the building, it became home to the Architecture Library and was renamed for former university president Professor William J. Battle.

The building was the first designed for the campus in the now-familiar Spanish-Mediterranean Revival style, and in 1970 it was listed in the National Register of Historic Places. In 2007, Battle Hall was listed by the American Institute of Architects as one of the top 150 architecture projects in the organization’s “America’s Favorite Architecture” poll.

Today, Battle Hall is home to the Architecture & Planning Library, the Alexander Architectural Archive and the School of Architecture’s Center for American Architecture and Design.

“A century ago, Battle Hall opened its doors as the first independent library building on the campus of The University of Texas at Austin, and since then it has provided the space and resources needed to fuel creativity, research and innovation at the university and beyond,” says Fred Heath, director of the University of Texas Libraries. “With the past as prologue, this grand historic building and its service to the students, faculty, researchers and appreciative public will continue for another century and more.”

The Centennial Celebration will be accompanied by the exhibit “Our Landmark Library: Battle Hall at 100,” featured in the Architecture & Planning Library’s reading room. The exhibit revisits the history of the university’s first dedicated library space on campus through imagery drawn from sources including the Dolph Briscoe Center for American History, the Alexander Architecture Archive, the New-York Historical Society and the Library of Congress.  An accompanying online exhibit offers additional images and information conveying the story of the building from conception to completion.

The exhibit will be on display in the Architecture & Planning Library in Battle Hall through May 2012.