Baukunstarchiv NRW

Description

In Dortmund, at the Technische Universität, the A:AI Archiv für Architektur und Ingenieurbaukunst NRW was established in 1995 as a regional repository for architectural and engineering estates related to North Rhine-Westphalia.

Initially, the holdings were managed by the Lehrstuhl Geschichte und Theorie der Architektur (GTA) at the Fakultät Architektur und Bauingenieurwesen of TU Dortmund. In 2018 the holdings were transferred to the newly founded Baukunstarchiv NRW, which is housed in the building of the former Museum am Ostwall.

The A:AI is a member of the International Confederation of Architectural Museums as well as the Föderation deutschsprachiger Architektursammlungen. Its holdings comprise personal papers and corporate archives of regional relevance; these include, among others, records of the bridge-construction department of the Gutehoffnungshütte, of Wiemer & Trachte, and of the steel-construction firm Johannes Dörnen.

The archive documents the interface between architecture and engineering art in North Rhine-Westphalia and serves as a central research and collecting repository for plans, project-related records, and personal papers in this field.