Library

The saai library consists of books and journals from bequest libraries and donations, as well as specimen copies. It contains special collections on bridge structures, the extensive architecture library of Fritz Leonhardt and books for children and young people on architecture and building topics.

The collection is located in the rooms of the saai library and can be used for scientific purposes. If you are interested, please make an appointment with our librarian. A large part of the collection with about 7,500 titles can be found in the KIT catalogue. Other items remain in the archive's holdings by internal agreement and are listed separately.

Special Collection: Children's Books

The collection of children's and young people's books on the subjects of building, architecture and the city collected by Hans-Werner and Ute Liebert comprises 1,310 titles. Beginning with Comenius' Orbis sensualium pictus from 1658, illustrated with woodcuts, the subject of the “built world” is presented for young people. In the 18th century, copper plates were used for illustration (Johann Bernhard Basedow's Elementarwerk 1-3, 1770). Lithographs, colouring and colour printing were not used as stylistic devices to convey knowledge until the 19th century. The first city picture books appeared in the early 20th century (e.g. Friedrich Böer, Drei Jungen erforschen die Stadt, 1933, or Heinrich Goltz, Eine Reise in die Stadt, 1922), which made it possible to compare urban and rural areas. From the 1970s onwards, environmentally critical themes were already being prepared for children and young people (e.g. Jörg Müller, Alle Jahre wieder saust der Pressluft-Hammer nieder, 1973).

Other 20th century themes include the big city (Heinrich Scharrelmann's Berni Bücher, 1908-1926) or books on the history of architecture (including titles published in the GDR such as Irene and Hermann Henselmann, Das große Buch vom Bauen, 1976; or ‘self-built’ houses such as in Janosch's Schnuddelbuddel baut ein Haus, 1980; informative non-fiction books (Rolf Toyka, Achtung, fertig, Baustelle!, 2009).The collection also includes architectural aspects in artistic picture books, expressive colours (Tom Seidmann-Freud, Die Fischreise, 1925) or well-known artists as illustrators (George Grosz in Hermynia Zur Mühlen, Was Peterchens Freunde erzählen, 1921).The New Objectivity and Bauhaus concepts can be found, for example, in El Lissitzky's suprematist Tales of Two Squares, 1922 or in the art-educational book Renate Friedländer, Mein Museumsbesuch, 1974. The largest part of the collection comprises titles from 1920 onwards on the subjects of building, architecture and the environment, which are also shown in children's encyclopaedias, play picture books or pop-up books.

For enquiries, please contact the librarian Doris Gadinger.