As the architectural and engineering fields rapidly embraced the application of information technology in all aspects of their activity, museums and archives are faced with the challenge of ensuring the preservations and future accessibility of the rapidly growing digital Architectural artifacts, grappling with the need for technological tools, technical and archival expertise, and repositories that can preserve and disseminate the archived digital data. Building for Tomorrow aims to frame a collaborative infrastructure to support long-term preservation of digital design data.

About the Project

In 2017, The Frances Loeb Library at the Harvard University Graduate School of Design received an Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS) National Forum Grant under the National Digital Platform funding priority to support two meetings of engaged stakeholders – architects, architectural historians, archivists, librarians, technologists, digital preservationists, and others who will frame a national/international collaborative infrastructure to support long-term preservation of digital design data.

“Infrastructure” includes the technologies and tools required for digital archiving, preservation repositories, addressing intellectual property issues, and engaging the stakeholder communities – software vendors, designers, architects, architectural historians, archivists, librarians, technologists, and digital preservationists – in working towards shared understanding and agreement on how to best preserve and ensure accessibility to digital design records into the future.

The Forum was held in April 2018 with a resulting extensive plan of action for work to move forward. The work continued in 2018-2019, engaging the CAD software vendor community, providing useful information about shifts in the software industry that impact the work in the design professions. During 2019-2022, the focus is given to developing preservation recommendations, and investigation into the intellectual property issues in collections of design records, and the impact on eventual collecting institutions.

The White Paper

Please see the Building for Tomorrow White Paper that documents the entire project, and includes recommendations for designers, architectural archivists, digital preservationists, and software vendors for effective long-term preservation of digital design files and the ability to experience them appropriately in the future, all responding to intellectual property issues in collecting and archiving design records.

Building for Tomorrow White Paper v.1.0 by Ann Whiteside (PI), Stephen Abrams, Sara Rogers, Kathlyn Kao, Hanan Kataw (2021)

Additional Resources & Archives

Building for Tomorrow Logo in black and white.

Several resources were created through the Building for Tomorrow project, or were used as references for participants.

Documents
Standards

Standards Organized Based on Implementer / Primary Audience:

This list includes some of the most important standards of interest to the various parties involved in the archiving process of born-digital design data.

All Standards

Custodial Institution: 

Information producers:

Software vendors:

The aim is to be as comprehensive as possible without being ineffectively encyclopedic. However, if you find the list missing any essential standards that you think should be included, please email us at [email protected]

The compilation of this list would not have been possible without the help of the Building for Tomorrow Standards Working Group that included experts and stakeholders from different fields. Special thanks to John Bacus; Leif Granholm, Nancy Hadley, Leslie Johnston, Marek Suchocki, and Dan Rossiter.

Last updated: May 2021

Past Events

April 2021: What is the New Architectural Archive?
Paper Session at the 2021 Annual International Conference of the Society of Architectural. Historians to be held in Montréal, Québec, Canada.

Session Chairs: Emily Pugh, Getty Research Institute, and Ann Baird Whiteside, Harvard University Graduate School of Design

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November 2020: Building for Tomorrow Meeting
The focus of Building for Tomorrow in 2020-2021 is on preservation recommendations for design records, and intellectual property issues related to collecting repositories taking in digital archives. In view of your deep immersion in and concern for these issues, Building for Tomorrow team will hold a two-day online meeting on November 16th and November 23rd, 2020 to review and help us assess preliminary preservation recommendations for digital design records.

Facilitator: Dr. Katherine Skinner, Executive Director, Educopia Institute

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April 2019: Roundtable: The Preservation of Digital Architectural Records
Roundtable at the 72nd Annual International Conference of the Society of Architectural. Historians held in Providence, Rhode Island.

Architects, archivists, preservationists, and historians joined together to discuss how members of SAH can contribute to Building for Tomorrow in 2019–2020 and how we can work with architects to help preserve their architectural

Moderator: Ann Whiteside, Harvard Graduate School of Design.

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April 2018: Digital Architectural Records and Our Future
Roundtable at the 71st Annual International Conference of the Society of Architectural. Historians held in Saint Paul, Minnesota.

This roundtable discussed work that is being done to assess the multi-layered issues, and approaches to managing our digital archival collections.

Moderator: Ann Whiteside, Harvard Graduate School of Design.

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April 2017: Building for Tomorrow Forum
In 2017, the Frances Loeb Library at the Harvard University Graduate School of Design received an IMLS grant (Whiteside 2017) to develop a shared infrastructure for preservation of digital design documents and data. Under the National Digital Platform priority, the grant supported the convening of a National Forum that brought architects, architectural historians, archivists, librarians, technologists, digital preservationists, and all those engaged in preservation of digital design data together, for a day and a half-long workshop. Thirty-five participants, invited to represent these areas of expertise were asked to work together in small and large groups to meet the desired outcomes of the Forum. The goals of the forum were: (i) to set priorities for long-term preservation of digital design documents; (ii) to think collaboratively about issues in preserving architectural design data; (iii) to find alignments of needs and challenges across communities; (iv) to identify a path of development for sustainable shared infrastructure for preservation of digital design documents and data, usable by a variety of types and sizes of architectural museums and archives, in the form of an action plan for the next 3-5 years. An infrastructure in this context includes human resources required to do this work, along with the technological tools, methodologies, and services needed to support institutions of varying types and sizes.

The forum was held immediately prior to the Society of Architectural Historians annual conference on April 17-18, 2018, in St. Paul, Minneapolis. It was led by Building for Tomorrow PI, Ann Whiteside, and facilitated by Christina Drummond with help from Aliza Leventhal, Jessica Meyerson, Kit Arrington, Kari Smith, and Kate Neptune to keep discussion on topic, to encourage all voices to be heard, and to prompt critical reflection within small groups. A copy of the agenda listing all presenters is included in the appendix. The following report comprises a summary of events and major findings; full notes from the Forum are included in the appendix.

The Forum Planning Advisory Group:

  • Aliza Leventhal, Corporate Librarian/Archivist at Sasaki Associates
  • Nancy McGovern, Lead/Digital Preservationist at MIT Libraries
  • Jessica Meyerson, Educopia
  • Pauline Saliga, FSAH/Executive Director at Society of Architectural Historians and Charnley-Persky House Museum Foundation
  • Ann Whiteside, Librarian/Assistant Dean for Information Services at Harvard University Graduate School of Design
  • Andrew Witt, Architect/Professor of Practice of Architecture at Harvard University Graduate School of Design

Project Credits

Logo for Insitute of Museum and Library Services

Building for Tomorrow could not have been possible without the dedication and hard work of staff and students from the Graduate School of Design and Harvard University. This project was made possible in part by the Institute of Museum and Library Services, IMLS Grant LG-73-17-0004-17

Staff

Ann Whiteside
Grant Principal Investigator
Librarian/Assistant Dean for Information Services,
Harvard University Graduate School of Design
[email protected]

 

Sara Rogers
Digital Archivist,
GSD Frances Loeb Library
[email protected]

 

Stephen Abrams
Head, Digital Preservation, Harvard Library
[email protected]

Students

CURRENT STUDENTS:

Kathlyn Kao
Master in Architecture II 2022, Harvard Graduate School of Design
[email protected]

 

Hanan Kataw
PhD in Architecture, Landscape Architecture, and Urban Planning 2024, Harvard Graduate School of Arts and Sciences
[email protected]

 

FORMER STUDENTS:

Anirudh Gurumoorthy
Master in Design Studies History and Philosophy of Design 2020, Harvard Graduate School of Design

 

Carrie Bly
Master of Design Studies in History and Philosophy of Design and Media 2019, Harvard Graduate School of Design

 

Charlotte Leib
Master in Landscape Architecture I and Master in Design Studies, History & Philosophy of Design & Media 2019, Harvard Graduate School of Design