University of Texas at Austin, School of Architecture Archives: Center for American Architecture and Design records

The Center for American Architecture and Design (CAAD) began at The University of Texas at Austin’s School of Architecture (UTSOA) in 1982 as the Southwest Center for the Study of American Architecture (SWCAA). The Southwest Center initially opened as a regional affiliate of the Center for American Architecture at Columbia University. SWCAA’s founders felt that the bulk of architectural scholarship until that time focused on European history and style, and intended for their new Center to support and direct scholars, students, and practicing architects financially and intellectually in the study and analysis of American architecture. SWCAA’s original objectives included facilitating the acquisition of materials for the also-new UT Austin Architectural Drawings Collection (now the Alexander Architectural Archives), creating an active exhibition program, hosting symposia, publishing scholarly journals, supporting scholarship on architectural issues, and supporting research on historic architecture. As a regional affiliate, SWCAA was also supposed to support study, publications, and programming on the contributions Southwestern (specifically Texan) architecture made to American national identity.

In 1984, under the leadership of co-directors Lawrence (Larry) Speck and Drury Blakeley (Blake) Alexander, the Southwest Center secured funding and became operational ahead of the affiliated Center at Columbia. Reflecting this de-emphasis on regionality, the Southwest Center became the Center for the Study of American Architecture. With support from UT, private support from endowments, named gifts, and membership plans such as “The 100” (founding support group of donors of $10,000 or more) and “Friends of the Center” (members donating $1000 annually), the Center worked to create a rigorous schedule of thematically related exhibits, symposia, and publications. The themes with which the Center engages generally reflect the interests of its director. In 1984, the Center published the first volume of its primary journal, Center. Journals in the Center series contain peer-reviewed and edited papers of scholars and practitioners often originating from and inspired by the Center’s themed exhibits and symposia.

In September 1990, Larry Speck became the Associate Dean of the UTSOA, and Anthony Alofsin took his place as director of the Center. In 1991, the Center underwent a third name change to the Center for American Architecture and Design (CAAD). The name change was intended to reflect the Center’s increased awareness of the interrelatedness of design and architecture and their impact on everyday social and economic life. The name change was also intended to further distinguish the Center from Columbia’s Temple Hoyne Buell Center for the Study of American Architecture, as well as to appeal to a wider audience for financial support. In 1993, Michael Benedikt assumed the role of director of CAAD. Under Benedikt’s leadership, CAAD has hosted an active schedule of symposia, conferences, lectures, lunch fora, and exhibitions and publishes a variety of architectural publications. Through public events and publications, CAAD explores distinct themes in architecture, such as the juxtaposition of humans and the built environment, avant garde or ground-breaking architecture both past and present, and how architecture can transform the environment as the environment informs architecture. CAAD supports the pursuit of cutting-edge ideas and ideals in the architectural field and strives to impact practicing architects and the built environment in turn: “CAAD aims to harness the interdisciplinary nature of architecture to raise awareness of the possibilities for enhanced human welfare posed by higher design standards ... CAAD cultivates appreciation for architecture through the investigation of fundamental issues that are integral to our understanding and experience of the built environment.”

In addition to Center, CAAD introduced Centerline in 2005 to focus more intently on expansions of specific ideas and visions from singular writers. In 2008, CAAD also began co-producing the O’Neil Ford series of Monographs and Duographs which seek to highlight and describe historically important buildings that are underrepresented in scholarship, and to feature buildings and architects at the forefront of the field today. In addition to the journals and O’Neil Ford series, CAAD also occasionally publishes books on specific architectural themes or figures.

Partially adapted from The University of Texas School of Architecture's Center for American Architecture and Design" page [Accessed December 6, 2017], and materials from the collection.

Center Names