What is a journal?
A journal is like an academic magazine where scholars have written articles about their research.
What is the difference between a book and a journal article?
A book is a longer, and a usually more comprehensive text on a subject.
Journal articles are shorter, and more specific. They are published more frequently and so have more up-to-date information than books do.
Why use journals?
The Built Environment Library subscribes to a large number of print and electronic journals. To find journals, use PRIMO. (You can also access Primo from the library's website.) For the best results conduct a "Journal Search".
PLEASE NOTE:
The Built Environment Library's print journals, 1990 onwards, are shelved in the gallery in alphabetical order by journal title. The most recent five years' journals are kept in the current journal section.
Pre-1990 and cancelled journals are kept on level 2 of the Chancellor Oppenheimer Library (Main Library). South African journals are kept at the information desk, or else in our storage room, known as "The Local Store".
Please ask for assistance if you cannot find a journal you are looking for.
Reference books include dictionaries, encyclopaedias, directories, etc. An encyclopaedia is a reference work containing articles on various topics (often arranged in alphabetical order) dealing with the entire range of human knowledge or with some particular specialty.
These are shelved at the end of the book sequence, and can be consulted in the library only.
Reference books held at Built Environment Library have a DAR prefix.
You may also access our electronic reference collection to help you find information on a particular topic.
UCT Libraries Special Collections manage our unpublished materials comprise an extensive collection of original research material relating to architecture. The Department is situated in the J.W. Jagger Library. The entrance is in University Avenue.
Below is a synopsis of what is available in this collection:
BC 206 : BAKER COLLECTION A large collection of Victorian architectural drawings from the firm of Sir Herbert Baker, his partners F.Masey, F.K.Kendall, J.Morris and their successors, covering the period 1890-1930s. Includes correspondence, building specifications, photographs, newspaper clippings etc. A wide range of buildings are featured in the collection from public to domestic buildings. Cathedrals, churches, banks, schools, office buildings, foreman’s cottages and seaside villas are included; as well as sketches of designs for furniture and garden layout. Examples of some major Cape Town projects are Groote Schuur, St George’s Cathedral and Rhodes Memorial. (See also Fleming Collection BC 605 and Church of the Province of South Africa Collection). - See more.
BC 318 : Walgate and Elsworth Collection Letters, notes, articles and photographs of buildings in which C.P.Walgate and L.A.Elsworth were involved, 1910-1960s. Includes information on the Groote Schuur Campus of the University of Cape Town; Sir Herbert Baker and Sir Edwin Lutyens. - See more.
BC 326 : Hawke and McKinlay Architectural drawings of the Groote Schuur Campus of the University of Cape Town, 1917-1942. The firm took over this project after the suicide of the original architect, J.M.Solomon in 1921. They continued Solomon’s original concept and layout, but with many changes, in association with C.P.Walgate and in consultation with Sir Edwin Lutyens. Some of the plans have small pencil sketches of specific aspects by Solomon. - See more.
BC1413 - the Ivor Prinsloo Papers: The Ivor Prinsloo Papers cover all aspects of his work as an academic and as a professional architect and town planner from the early 1960s until the beginning of the 21st century. His personal achievements in these fields are well-documented, as are the many projects in which he was involved. The papers include a comprehensive collection of his writings, speeches and other presentations, as well as a substantial body of correspondence, both personal and professional. The numerous logbooks and workbooks are a chronological record of his career as well as a window into his private world. The collection comprises 52 archival boxes, two crates of oversized items and a number of rolled plans and drawings. - See more.