The University of South Australia's Architecture Museum is a unique repository of architects’ and allied professionals’ records and a dynamic hub of research into South Australia’s architectural and built environment history.
The Architecture Museum is a facility for the acquisition, preservation and management of architectural and related records produced by private practitioners based in South Australia. It aims to:
- promote scholarly enquiry into South Australia’s built environment history
- secure funding to conduct research projects based on its collections
- publish research outcomes from Museum-centred projects
- arrange public exhibitions of its holdings.
Current research
Archiving Digital Architectural Records: Towards a National Framework
One of the current research projects being undertaken by the Architecture Museum aims to develop a framework for archiving born digital architectural records. The key challenges associated with archiving these records include establishing the rationale for collecting records produced in a digital environment, which records to archive and how to archive them, and how to achieve digital continuity in rapidly evolving and changing electronic environments.
This research is funded by NATSPEC, a national not-for-profit organisation whose objective is to improve the construction quality and productivity of the built environment through leadership of information.
Architecture Museum, Kaurna Building, photographer Sam Noonan 2012
Using the Museum collections
The Architecture Museum is an invaluable resource for researchers, students, and practitioners from a range of disciplines, architects, planners, engineers, heritage consultants, historians and all those interested in the State’s built history and heritage.
Housed in a purpose-built facility, our research collection is comprised of more than 200,000 items including architectural drawings, correspondence, photographs and architects’ personal papers, as well as a library of books, research reports, journals, and trade literature. These items have been donated by architects working in private practice in South Australia during the twentieth century, particularly in the period circa 1910 to 1980.
Search collection and catalogue
Opening hours
Monday to Wednesday - 10.00 am-4.00 pm (by appointment only)
COVID-19 Update
NOTE: In line with public health advice and social distancing measures, the Architecture Museum Reading Room is open by appointment for a limited number of people at a time. Please contact us to make an appointment.
Future Exhibition
May 2021
Modern Living: at home in South Australia, 1890-1960
This exhibition will examine some of the houses designed for modern living in South Australia, ranging from model cottages to architect-designed modernist houses. Architectural drawings, books, posters and pamphlets from the collections of the Architecture Museum will illustrate the emergence of modern ideas of home and their expression in our houses.
Research degree opportunities
The Architecture Museum offers a diverse and rich array of sources for research degree (both PhD and Masters) projects in fields including: architecture, planning, built environment history and theory, interior architecture, visual art and design, social and cultural history. Get in touch with Architecture Museum staff to discuss options for your research degree.
Architects of South Australia Database
Search this selection of South Australian architects' biographies and works from 1836 to the present day. This database contains historical information on individuals, architectural practices, built works and lists of sources.
Our history
In the 1970s, in the absence of a repository in South Australia for retired private architectural practitioners to deposit their records, architectural historian Donald Leslie Johnson began collecting their archives. In 1990 he donated the collection to the School of the Built Environment at the South Australian Institute of Technology, a predecessor institution of the University of South Australia. This collection of architectural drawings, ephemera and books was renamed the Architecture Museum in 2005.
Our people
The Architecture Museum is managed by the University of South Australia's academic staff. It has an Advisory Group comprised of members external to the University as well as key internal personnel. The Museum is a member of the International Confederation of Architecture Museums (ICAM).
Contact Us
Telephone: 08 8302 9235
Email: architecturemuseum@unisa.edu.au
Opening hours: Monday to Wednesday - 10.00 am-4.00 pm (by appointment only)
Where to find us
Building K - Level 2
University of South Australia's
City West Campus
2 Fenn Place
Adelaide
South Australia 5000
