The Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA) has announced that it will receive the support of the Bloomberg Philanthropies Digital Accelerator Program to enable the storage, preservation, and accessibility of digital items within its world-class architectural collections.
The RIBA collections - one of the largest and most wide-ranging architectural collections in the world – represent a unique body of knowledge spanning thousands of architects, hundreds of years and dozens of nations.
It includes everything from 15th century books, manuscripts and drawings to models and photographs documenting architecture around the world today. However new items received into the collections are increasingly in born-digital formats, in particular Computer-aided design (CAD) drawings and digital photographs—reflecting the pervasiveness of digital technology and design within today’s architecture profession.
Image: Higher Secondary School, Sector 23, Chandigarh: children climbing a concrete sunscreen (1956) Architect, Dame Jane Drew - RIBA Collections
With Bloomberg Philanthropies’ support, RIBA will develop and implement a state-of-the-art Digital Archive Management System, allowing RIBA to significantly advance its capacity to securely store, manage and protect its growing collection of born-digital items. The project will also support the transfer of existing born-digital materials currently held in unsuitable storage conditions, safeguarding their integrity and ensuring they remain accessible for future generations.
This initiative will aid RIBA’s ambitious long-term plans, as part of its House of Architecture transformation programme, to digitise and catalogue its physical collections to make them more widely accessible online. Digitisation will also contribute to preserving the content of vulnerable physical items that are at risk of deterioration.
As well as enhancing its own organisational expertise and knowledge of best practices in digital preservation, RIBA has pledged to share the insights and learnings it gathers with the broader UK cultural sector and the architectural profession in order to drive digital innovation and collaboration.
Oliver-Urquhart Irvine, Executive Director of Architecture Programmes & Collections at RIBA, said: "This transformative support from Bloomberg Philanthropies will future proof our architectural collections, ensuring they remain accessible and relevant in an increasingly digital age. By investing in cutting-edge technology and expertise, we are safeguarding our invaluable records of architectural heritage for generations to come while contributing to the broader digital preservation community.
“The RIBA Collections house some of the world's most significant records of architectural design and history, spanning centuries of global innovation. This project represents a critical step in modernising how RIBA manages its collections and enhances their accessibility for diverse audiences.”
