In conjunction with the Third Floor Hallway gallery exhibition Exhibitions Collection: 1971 – 1999, The Irwin S. Chanin School of Architecture Archive will hold a Gallery Remarks event on Wednesday, November 8 at 6:30pm.
 
Exhibitions Collection: 1971 – 1999 showcases original and reproduced records documenting the School’s exhibitions. Drawn from the Exhibitions Collection held by The Irwin S. Chanin School of Architecture Archive, this material highlights sixteen selected exhibitions produced by the School of Architecture over twenty-six years, beginning with Education of an Architect: A Point of View—a pivotal exhibition and publication of student projects shown at MoMA in 1971–72. Other exhibitions included in this presentation are Window Room Furniture (1981), an exhibition of one hundred eight projects by artists and architects; A Romance with the City (1982), featuring the work of Cooper Union engineering graduate Irwin S. Chanin, who had a significant impact on the New York City skyline in the 1920s and 1930s; [Un]Built] 1960-1990 (1991), on the work of Raimund Abraham; and Adjusting Foundations (1995), featuring the work of the School’s former Dean, John Hejduk.
 
Event participants will Archive staff members Caitlin Biggers, Archivist and Project Manager; Chris Dierks, Collections Manager and Grants Liaison; and Steven Hillyer, Director; as well as Distinguished Professor Adjunct Elizabeth O’Donnell, who previously served as Associate Dean of the School for eleven years, and Acting Dean for two years.
 
The Archive’s Exhibitions Collection is extensive and detailed. Collection records, which date from the mid-1960s, include analog and born-digital curatorial files, promotional material, photographs, and catalogs. In 2021 the school received funding from the Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS) to catalog, digitize, and enable broad public access to the collection. Improved access via discovery tools and a public, web-based platform promises to enhance the collection’s educational value and the impact of the School’s exhibitions program—a program that remains central to the School’s evolving pedagogy, its benefit to New York City’s intellectual and cultural life, and its contribution to the region’s broader architecture and design community.



Exhibitions and events presented by The Irwin S. Chanin School of Architecture Archive are made possible by the New York State Council on the Arts with the support of the Office of the Governor and the New York State Legislature.  

Located in the Third Floor Hallway Gallery. Open to current Cooper Union students, faculty, and staff.