Scope and Content Note
This collection consists of a wide range of material covering several aspects of Victor Olgyay's professional career. The collection is broken into 24 different series including professional projects, academic endeavors, and a variety of series that give insight into the focus and direction of Victor Olgyay's career. Included also are personal and professional correspondence, drawings, biographical information, and various climatological research projects from several locations around the world, including Europe, North America, and South America.
Dates
- Creation: 1939-1991
Language of Materials
Material in English
Access Restrictions
To view this collection, make an appointment at least five business days prior to your visit by contacting Ask an Archivist or calling (480) 965-4932. Appointments in the Design and the Arts Special Collections Reading Room at the Design and the Arts Library on the Tempe campus are available Monday to Friday from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.
Biographical Note
Victor Olgyay was born on September 1, 1910 in Budapest, Hungary. After studying English at the Royal Hungarian Institute of Technology in Budapest, he completed an architectural degree at the Scuola Superiore Di Architettura in Rome, Italy in 1936 and practiced architecture in Hungary with his identical twin brother, Aladar.
The twin brothers moved to the United States and continued to practice architecture as partners in the firm Olgyay & Olgyay Architects. Victor Olgyay's career also included research and teaching at several U.S. universities, including Notre Dame, M.I.T., Harvard, and Princeton University from 1953-1963.
Victor Olgyay's professional partnership with his brother ended in 1957 but he continued to practice architecture, designing approximately 20 buildings, completed mostly between 1957 and 1963 in Princeton, New Jersey. He won numerous awards for his work and research, including five first prizes in architectural competitions and recognition as a Guggenheim Fellow.
Victor Olgyay is best known for his 1963 book Design With Climate: Bioclimatic Approach to Architectural Regionalism. This book established him as an international figure in bioclimatic design, which seeks cohesion with natural elements such as the sun, wind, rain, and vegetation, leading to an optimization of resources. Victor Olgyay died on April 22, 1970 in Princeton, New Jersey.
Full extent
11 Box(es)
Full extent
60 Oversize Folders
Full extent
10 Linear Feet
Abstract
This collection documents the career of the Hungarian-American architect, educator, and bioclimatic designer Victor Olgyay and is arranged in 24 series.
Arrangement
This collection consists of 11 boxes and 60 oversize folders divided into 24 series:
- Series 1: Projects
- Series 2: Houses
- Series 3: Research
- Series 4: Climatological Data
- Series 5: Reports
- Series 6: Book Drafts
- Series 7: Architectural Profession
- Series 8: International Society of Biometeorology
- Series 9: Hungarian Professionals
- Series 10: Out of Country-Columbia
- Series 11: Out of Country-Argentina
- Series 12: Out of Country-Baghdad, Iraq
- Series 13: Conferences
- Series 14: Princeton Faculty
- Series 15: Lecture Notes, Bibliography
- Series 16: Student Papers
- Series 17: Professional Correspondence
- Series 18: Personal Correspondence
- Series 19: Foldout
- Series 20: Inventory Sheets
- Series 21: Registration
- Series 22: Vitae Biography
- Series 23: Miscellany
- Series 24: Oversize Materials
Provenance
The collection was donated by the Olgyay family in 1989 and 1991.
- Title
- Victor Olgyay Collection
- Status
- Completed
- Author
- Processed by Brent C. Harris in May 1999 and Harold Housley in December 2016.
- Date
- 2016
- Description rules
- Describing Archives: A Content Standard
- Language of description
- English
- Script of description
- Latin
- Language of description note
- English
Repository details
Part of the Design and the Arts Special Collections Repository
Contact
Arizona State UniversityP.O. Box 871705
Tempe AZ 85287-1705 United States
480-965-6370