India’s first Architectural Archives Centre

Compiled by Team IAnD

Photography: Courtesy CEPT Archives

CEPT Archives Centre

The CEPT University at Ahmedabad publicly authenticates its tradition of archiving by inaugurating its archival library and first exhibition at the hands of the eminent art and architectural historian, Prof. M. A. Dhaky today…

CEPT Archives, for built environment, design and culture in India is envisaged to be the first-of-its-kind and most comprehensive resource centre in the country. The prime intention is to archive history by creating a data-bank of primary information related to architecture, planning, design, art and allied disciplines in the country. Dedicated to collecting, recording and disseminating information, the centre will actively engage in different archival activities.

 

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The immediate focus is to gather significant works from, in and around the city of Ahmedabad, before they get lost in time. At the same time, Archives is also connecting with professionals and academicians across the country to facilitate and further its activities. The scope of the centre is then expected to gradually expand with the inclusion of works from different allied disciplines and across the country.

 

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The centre has also been working towards various archival issues to meet with the needs of digital age like, evolving the most updated and customized accession systems, design and development of the online portal, charting the acquisition and dissemination mandate, as well as preservation and IP issues related with digitally-born data. Further, CEPT Archives will also be pursuing collaborations with international archives and organizations like ICA and ICAM.

 

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Its various archival activities include the acquisition of all kinds of rare material like drawings, building models, letters, photographs, sketches, originals and/or reproductions, with background information and in a variety of languages and formats.  Record-keeping systems are being developed on the basis of most appropriate categorization and detailed metadata to convenience accession. 

 

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Well-preserved archival material in both, physical and digital mediums will now be available to cater to varied research-based inquiries, reaching out to the wide-spread community of students and scholars through various platforms, to keep them informed about its collections and relevance of archival research.

 

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The exhibition and the 4564 sq. ft. CEPT Archives is being inaugurated by distinguished architectural and art historian Padma Bhushan Prof. M. A. Dhaky, along with the guest of honours, Dr. Pradeep Mehendiratta and Dr. Vandana Sinha from American Institute of Indian Studies (AIIS), Gurgaon.