Responsible:
Angela Windholz

Coordinator:
Francesca Ambrosio-Resciniti

Staff members:
Silvio Bindella
Daniela Costarelli
Nadir Marcon
Michele Mogliazzi
Debora De Carli
Fiorenza Moretti


The web page biblio.arch.unisi.ch/ accesses the Library’s catalogues and databases.

The Library of the Academy of Architecture of Mendrisio is one of the largest Swiss libraries devoted to the history of architecture and art. It is also of international importance for its documentary holdings, which are continuously updated, as well as for the rare bibliographical items it preserves, in particular those related to the art and architecture of the Canton Ticino, adjacent areas and the Mediterranean region.
In addition to documenting topics related to architecture and art in general, the library is currently building up a new collection dealing with popular and peasant architecture around the world. Through historical, philological, urban, photographic and anthropological studies of both present and past, it seeks to document individual geographical regions with a particular concern for primitive and indigenous architecture. To complement the existing collection on green architecture and stimulate reflection on architecture designed as an artistic work, new documents are also currently being acquired dealing with the functional morphology of plants, plant architecture, bionics and biomechanics.

The library is a member of the University Library Service (UBS - http://sbu.ti-edu.ch/) and of the Sistema Bibliotecario Ticinese (SBT - http://www.sbt.ti.ch/Sbt/)). It has also been a member since 2011 of artlibraries.net, the international catalogue of history of art and architecture which brings together holdings of the world’s most important museums and libraries of art and architecture. The library’s premises are housed in a building designed by Mario Botta and Aurelio Galfetti as a multipurpose hall and adapted to the new function by the architect Peter Disch, located next to Palazzo Turconi. It contains and makes available for reference approximately 69,000 monographic volumes and over 600 titles of journals specialized in art, architecture, urbanism and related disciplines. More than 4,000 journals are available in electronic format.

The library preserves bequests from: Pietro Bianchi, Enzo Frateili, Jacques Gubler, Augusto Guidini father and son, Gino and Gianna Macconi, Carlo Gastone della Torre di Rezzonico, Augusto Rima, Sergio Steffen, Virgilio Vercelloni and Stanislaus von Moos.
It also provides access to numerous databases, online or on physical media, including: Avery Index to Architectural Periodicals, Bibliography of the History of the Arts, Iconda, Francis, Wilson Art Fulltext, Oxford Reference Online and Wiley Interscience. In addition to bibliographic databases, also available are digital libraries of images, among including: ArtStor, Art Museum Image Gallery, Cindema Image Gallery and Prometheus.
Access to the Library and the services it offers are free. It is open to the teaching faculty, staff and students of the Academy as well as outside users. The reading room has 80 study places. There are 8 workstations equipped with PCs: 4 are reserved for bibliographic searches and 4 provide free access to Internet.

Books, magazines and documentary materials are present on the open stacks, except for those held in storage. Readers can access them independently for consultation on the premises or borrow them. Readers may also order books or photocopies of articles from other libraries in Switzerland or abroad.

The Library staff provides guidance and assistance in bibliographic research and the location of volumes.