Built Environment Library
Using the Library
The Built Environment Library serves the School of Architecture, Planning & Geomatics and the Department of Construction Economics & Management.
Open Book Collection: MIT Press Open Architecture and Urban Studies
MIT Press Open Architecture and Urban Studies is a robust digital collection of classic and previously out-of-print architecture and urban studies books, on the digital book platform, MIT Press Direct. The collection was funded by a grant from the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation as part of the Humanities Open Book Program, which they co-sponsored with the National Endowment for the Humanities. Visit the Collection
Spatial data is used to graphically represent the geographic environment including information on streets, property boundaries, contours, erf numbers, buildings etc. This type of data has cross disciplinary applications from spatial planners to landscape architecture researchers.
Cape Town GIS Data
The Built Environment Library has a small technical library with three PCs which contains the City of Cape Town geographical information systems (GIS) data. The data from the City of Cape Town is dated from 1998 until approximately one year ago and can be viewed using ArcGIS software which is installed on these computers.
Students are encouraged to find and extract necessary data in the library and manipulate the data using AutoCAD software available in the School of Architecture, Planning and Geomatics various computer labs. Tips on how to extract and export data in various formats are available on the computers’ desktops.
Image credit: Slingsby. T. 2018. Centlivres building: University of Cape Town. Imagery adapted from Google Maps
GIS Books & eBooks
The first Architecture Library occupied two wooden huts on the Upper Campus sports fields.
With the completion of the new Centlivres Building in 1959, it was possible to move into the more suitable, permanent accommodation it occupies to this day.
In line with faculty restructuring in 1997, the library was re-named the Built Environment Library and serves the School of Architecture, Planning & Geomatics and the Department of Construction Economics & Management.