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Douglas Darden papers and drawings, 1979-1996

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Series I: Condemned Building

This series contains documents pertaining to the ten projects featured in Darden's book as well as documents pertaining to the book's publication. The projects included in Darden's book are unbuilt works. Although Darden draws them in traditional plan, section, and elevation, these projects were designed as allegorical structures only. Darden posits a set of reversa for each project meant to reveal and explore a dichotomy within architecture. His background in literature is evident in his work, as each project is described with a narrative structure akin to the acts in a play, which describe the use of and circulation through each project. Each project also has a "Dis/continuous Genealogy," a graphic history wherein Darden pulls several images from his research and combines them in a "Composite Ideogram" for the project. Some of the projects are described with a psycho-dramatic text, in some cases accompanied by a letter blurring the lines between fact and fiction. Darden also peppers the pages of his book with quotations from . Drafts for each of these elements are included in this collection.

Darden's process integrated visual and textual research. His process work combines annotated literary and background text with the collection and manipulation of graphic materials. Most subseries contain project material that includes research materials, generative process work, and prints & negatives. The oversize study and finished drawings for these projects are housed in the first Subseries: Drawings.

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Subseries 1: Drawings

Contains drawings for the ten projects featured in the homonymous publication, with the exception of "Sex Shop" and "Oxygen House." The bulk of the material in this subseries is made up of sketches/studies on trace and finished drawings on paper, mainly executed in graphite and colored pencil. It also includes a set of prints of the drawings from five projects offered for sale in 1991 and a set of transparencies used in the "Dis/continuous Genealogies" featured in Condemned Building. Notably, the material for "Saloon for Jesse James" includes drawings on the gatehouse and "Kitty's Four Poster Bed" which are not included in Condemned Building, and one of the drawings for Museum of Impostors continues Darden's use of collage, featuring the use of lace to depict a lattice structure.


Drawer 207 Folder 1 Prints, 1991

11 items : Douglas Darden: Past the Present : Hostel, Temple Forgetful, Oxygen House, Museum of Impostors, Night School.


Drawer 206 Folder 4 Transparencies, ca. 1980s-1993

51 items : Discontinuous Genealogies and Dreamed Client Profile forCondemned Building.


Drawer 207 Folder 2 Museum of Impostors, 1983, undated

14 items : sections ; elevation ; site plan ; interior perspectives ; Composite Ideogram sketch ; print of Baltimore Harbor.


Drawer 208 Folder 4 Museum of Impostors & Saloon for Jesse James Finished Drawings, 1983-4, undated

14 items : "Museum for Impostors" : monument to Sarah Wilson, with draft; section; interior perspective; Inner Harbor elevation, day; longitudinal section; plan view; "A Saloon for Jesse James" : Kitty's Four Poster Bed; East Elevation; Bar Stools; Gatehouse; Plan view and South elevation for Saloon; Bar assembly for Saloon; Section for Saloon.


Roll 4 Museum of Impostors Outer Harbor elevation, night, 1984

1 item : graphite & pastel drawing with lace


Drawer 207 Folder 10 Temple Forgetful, 1988 Oct, undated

5 items : elevations; "This That Shrine" ; "Cross Section" ; "Preliminary Site Plan."


Roll 5 Temple Forgetful "Preliminary Cross Section", 1988 Dec 16

1 item : drawing on trace


Drawer 208 Folder 6 Clinic for Sleep Disorders, 1985 Nov 15 - 1987 May 18

23 items : includes long section, "Insomniac Clinic" ; "South Elevation" ; "North Elevation" ; "Preliminary Study/South Elevation" ; "Study for Boat."


Drawer 208 Folder 2 Clinic for Sleep Disorders Finished Drawings, 1986-7

7 items : Plan view, North/South section, East elevation, South elevation/section, West/East section, South section/elevation, Drawn boat.


Drawer 206 Folder 5 Night School Studies, 1987 June 20 - 27

5 items : "Northeast Elevation" ; "West Elevation" ; "Southwest Elevation" ; "Theatre Section" ; "Long. Section."


Drawer 207 Folder 3 Night School, 1984, 85, 87, undated

43 items : set of 6 drawings showing process work ; set of 12 drawings showing process work ; preliminary designs ; plans, sections, elevations ; "Day Section" ; "Theatre Perspective" ; "Study for Library" ; massing studies.


Roll 6 Night School South elevation/section, 1987

1 item : graphite drawing


Drawer 207 Folder 8 McMillan Water Filtration Plant Site, undated

3 items : McMillan Water Filtration Plan Site Plan ; Night School site plan ; Displaced Suburb plan.


Drawer 207 Folder 4 Melvilla, 1989 - 1990

58 items : sketches, plans, sections, elevations; Composite Ideogram sketch ; "Ahab's tails" ; "Ishmael's Uncertainty" ; "Moby Rock & Mask."


Drawer 208 Folder 1 Melvilla Finished Drawings, 1990

6 items : Sea Level Plan, Grade Level Plan, West Elevation, South/North Section, South Elevation, Longitudinal Section.


Drawer 207 Folder 5 Hostel, 1989 - 1990

27 items : sketches, plans, sections, elevations ; "Preliminary Study, Hostel, west elev. View from first Cataract" ; "Study, View from first Cataraca."


Drawer 208 Folder 3 Hostel & Confessional Finished Drawings, 1989, 1990

12 items : "Hostel": site plan, elevations, plan view, South/North Section, perspective ; "Confessional" : longitudinal section, Confessor's Amplifier, side elevation, cross section, plan view, front elevation.


Drawer 206 Folder 1 "A Saloon for Jesse James", 1982 Oct 5

1 item : mounted drawing


Drawer 207 Folder 6 Saloon for Jesse James, 1982, undated

12 items : plans, sections, elevations; drawings for "Kitty's Four Poster Bed" ; barstool designs.


Drawer 207 Folder 7 Confessional, 1989, undated

29 items : plan, section, and elevation studies; Xerox of San Pancrazio Plan with drawing on top ; drawings of "Confessor's Amplifier."

Subseries 2: Museum of Impostors

Contains materials for one of Darden's earlier works, which was submitted to the "From Here to Eternity" exhibition. This project set up an allegorical museum dedicated to historical American impostors. Situated in the Baltimore Harbor Water Gap, the project research included in this subseries concentrates on nearby historical sites and figures, such as Fort McHenry, Francis Scott Key, the Lazaretto, Interstate Highway 95, and the Lehigh Cement Factory. Also included is the semi-fictionalized account of Sarah Wilson, along with notes and drafts, and a few drawings.


Box 1 Folder 1 Research Materials, ca. 1980s-93

Site photographs : 31 items ; also includes Xeroxes, pamphlets, postcards,


Box 1 Folder 2 Generative Material, ca. 1980s-93

Notes, drafts, paste-ups, correspondence


Box 1 Folder 2 Generative Material, ca. 1980s-93

Drawings : 5 items ; Includes sketches : undated, 30 Apr 1983


Box 1 Folder 3 Negatives & Prints, ca. 1980s-93

Negatives : 16 items ; contact sheet : 3 items ; slides : 1 item ; Prints : 51 items ; Includes images of models, images forCondemned Building,research material, prints of drawings

Subseries 3: Temple Forgetful

Contains Darden's research and drafts for said project. Temple Forgetful was influenced by his time spent at the American Academy in Rome, as seen by its sitting next to the Basilica of Maxentius, and appropriation of the Romulus and Remus myth. The project consists of two uninhabitable theatres, set as opposites across the legendary boundary line separating Rome between the twins. Darden's research includes information on the new archaeological discoveries at his site, as well as the topics of memory and forgetting. Also includes postcards with some correspondence.


Box 1 Folder 4 Research Materials, ca. 1980s-93

Xeroxes, newspaper clippings, postcards incl. one with correspondence 24 Oct 1988


Box 1 Folder 5 Generative Material, ca. 1980s-93

Drafts and paste-ups


Box 1 Folder 6 Negatives & Prints, ca. 1980s-93

Negatives : 14 items ; contact sheet : 8 items ; slides : 1 item ; Prints : 36 items ; Includes images of models, images forCondemned Building,site photo, prints of drawings, one transparency


Box 15 Folder 12 Negatives & Prints, 1988 Sep/Oct

Drawings : 5 items

Subseries 4: Clinic for Sleep Disorders

Contains research and generative materials for this project situated just off of Liberty State Park in New Jersey. Darden began this project while teaching at New Jersey Institute of Technology; he took many trips exploring the surrounding industrial areas, which influenced his successive projects. His research for this project delved into sleep studies, dreams and nightmares, Freud, Arthur Rimbaud's "The Drunken Boat," and Ernest Hemingway's "Now I Lay Me." Generative materials feature images of electroencephalograms (recorded electrical activity of the brain), works by Picasso, and Dante's Inferno, amongst his notes and drafts. Includes one drawing.


Box 1 Folder 7 Research Materials, ca. 1980s-93

Site Photographs : 3 items ; also includes Xeroxes and newspaper clippings


Box 1 Folder 8 Generative Material, ca. 1980s-93

Notes, drafts, transparency, image of model


Box 1 Folder 8 Generative Material, ca. 1980s-93

Drawings : 1 item


Box 1 Folder 9 Negatives & Prints, ca. 1980s-93

Negatives : 25 items ; contact sheet : 3 items ; Prints : 39 items ; Includes images of models, images forCondemned Building,prints of drawings

Subseries 5: Night School

Contains the materials for a project at the McMillan Water Filtration Plant, in Washington D.C. Darden designed a school anchored by an open air theatre which must operate at night. His research materials consist mainly of site research, including photographs and plans of the site and research into ancient trilobites found at the site. The project was influenced by Greek Theatre, which can be seen in his notes and drafts in this subseries. Materials also include correspondence with Army Corps of Engineers and with Stanley Tigerman & John Whiteman, as well as visual gridded studies for this project's "Dis/continuous Genealogy," and two drawings.


Box 2 Folder 1 Research Materials, ca. 1980s-93

Slides : 2 items ; contact sheets : 3 items ; photographs : 17 items (2 mounted on paper together, 3 mounted on contact sheets)


Box 2 Folder 1 Research Materials, ca. 1980s-93

Xeroxes, postcard, plans of site


Box 2 Folder 1 Research Materials, ca. 1980s-93

Army Corps of Engineer's Washington Aqueduct


Box 2 Folder 2 Generative Material, ca. 1980s-93

Notes, visual studies, drafts, paste-ups, annotated chapter " The School of Night," correspondence, Xeroxed drawings with color pencil


Box 2 Folder 2 Generative Material, ca. 1980s-93

Drawings: 2 items


Box 2 Folder 3 Negatives & Prints, ca. 1980s-93

Negatives : 53 items ; contact sheet : 1 item ; prints : 56 items ; includes images of models, images forCondemned Building,prints of drawings

Subseries 6: Melvilla

Contains Darden's materials for his design of a library built on location of Herman Melville's former home on East 11th St. and Fourth Ave in New York City. Research materials focus on Melville, whale hunting, and the Iroquois, and include building history and maps for the project site. [Darden's copy of is not included in this collection.] The subseries includes notes, visual studies, drafts, paste-ups, articles, and transparencies for "Dis/continuous Genealogies," as well as correspondence regarding the research and publication of Melvilla, from 1989-92.


Box 2 Folder 4 Correspondence, ca. 1980s-93

Includes letters regarding the research and publication of Melvilla, undated, 1989-92


Box 2 Folder 5 Research Materials, ca. 1980s-93

Xeroxes, postcards, newspaper clipping; includes visual and textual research


Box 2 Folder 6 Generative Material, ca. 1980s-93

Notes, visual studies, drafts, paste-ups, articles, Melville Society Extracts


Box 2 Folder 6 Generative Material, ca. 1980s-93

Transparencies : 2 items


Box 2 Folder 7 Negatives & Prints, ca. 1980s-93

Negatives : 117 items ; contact sheets : 18 items ; prints : 53 items ; includes images of models, visual studies of "Dis/continuous Genealogies," prints of drawings

Subseries 7: Hostel

Contains research and generative materials pertaining to the Aswan Dam and its displacement of Nubians; Darden pulls from this dichotomy of construction/destruction to design a project that symbolizes this contradiction as a temporary home for Nubian workers. Darden's research focuses on infrastructure and transportation, especially that related to water; materials include postcards and newspaper clippings. The subseries also includes notes, drafts, a transparency of the project's "Dis/continuous Genealogy," as well as three drawings.


Box 3 Folder 1 Project Material, ca. 1980s-93

Research materials, including Xeroxes, postcards, newspaper clippings, The Story of Abu Simbel


Box 3 Folder 1 Project Material, ca. 1980s-93

Notes, drafts, paste-ups, Xeroxes of drawings and model images


Box 3 Folder 1 Project Material, ca. 1980s-93

Transparency : I item ; drawings : 3 items


Box 3 Folder 2 Negatives & Prints, ca. 1980s-93

Negatives : 90 items ; contact sheets : 13 items ; slides : 9 items ; prints : 57 items ; includes images of models, visual studies of "Dis/continuous Genealogies," prints of drawings, site images

Subseries 8: Saloon for Jesse James

Contains material for Darden's project originally started in Stanley Tigerman's studio at Harvard GSD in 1983. The project draws on the duality of the anti-hero and ideas of confrontation. It includes research on mining, specifically the Kennecott Copper Mine, on Jesse James, and on Great Salt Lake and Saltair as well as miscellaneous documents such as pamphlets from Amtrak and maps of Utah. Project materials also include several postcards with correspondence, two drawings and a collage.


Box 3 Folder 3 Miscellaneous Documents, ca. 1980s-93

"Mining's Living Legacy," Amtrak Express, Utah map, Salt Lake Area Map, "The Codex Hammer," lithograph of 1899 topographical map of Utah


Box 3 Folder 4 Project Material, ca. 1980s-93

Postcards with correspondence, Xeroxes, postcards, newspaper clippings, notes, drafts, paste-ups; photographs : 2 items


Box 3 Folder 4 Project Material, ca. 1980s-93

Drawing : 2 items ; collage : 1 item


Box 3 Folder 5 Negatives & Prints, ca. 1980s-93

Negatives : 45 items ; contact sheets : 5 items ; prints : 37 items ; prints with collage : 3 items ; includes images of models, prints of drawings

Subseries 9: Sex Shop

Contains research material, but no drawings or prints for the project. The research material draws from Georgia O'Keeffe, Marquis de Sade, Duchamp, Fourier, Lequeu, and pornography. While there are no drawings, Darden did create a "Dis/continuous Genealogy," materials for which are included in this subseries. [Series VI: Slides includes 9 images of a model for this project not included in the book ]


Box 3 Folder 6 Project Material, ca. 1980s-93

Research material , including articles, newspaper clippings, Xeroxes, notes, paste-ups


Box 3 Folder 6 Project Material, ca. 1980s-93

Transparency : 1 item ; negatives : 6 items ; prints : 5 items

Subseries 10: Confessional

Contains material for a proposed confessional booth at the site of the Chapel of the Holy Sepulchre in the Church San Pancrazio, in Italy. Materials include site research, as well as notes, correspondence, drafts, and 5 drawings. The project draws on Alberti, the ideas of balance and intersection, radio transmission and amplification.


Box 4 Folder 1 Research Materials, ca. 1980s-93

Xeroxes, postcard, poster, pamphlet for Cooplat "Servizi per gli Spazi Espositivi" ; photographs : 4 items


Box 4 Folder 2 Generative Material, ca. 1980s-93

Notes, drafts, paste-ups, correspondence, xeroxes of drawings and model images


Box 4 Folder 2 Generative Material, ca. 1980s-93

Drawings : 5, undated and 31 May 1988


Box 4 Folder 3 Negatives & Prints, ca. 1980s-93

Negatives : 46 items ; contact sheets : 6 items ; prints : 19 items

Subseries 11: Oxygen House

Contains the material for Darden's project based on the fictitious story of an ex-railroad employee, Burnden Abraham, who after being injured in a train derailment must live in an oxygen tent. The subseries contains research material on train instruments and railroad infrastructure, anatomy of the lungs, hydraulics, and zeppelins. It also contains images for the "Dis/continuous Genealogy," notes, drafts, paste-ups, correspondence, and one drawing.


Box 4 Folder 4 Research Materials, ca. 1980s-93

Xeroxes, postcard, newspaper clipping


Box 4 Folder 5 Generative Material, ca. 1980s-93

Notes, drafts, paste-ups, correspondence; drawing : 1 item


Box 4 Folder 6 Negatives & Prints, ca. 1980s-93

Negatives : 85 items ; contact sheets : 9 items ; slides : 16 items ; prints : 60 items

Subseries 12: General Materials

Includes materials for the publication of such as notes, work on the frontispieces, a list of Hamlet quotations to be featured in the book, font/text experimentation, drafts (bound and unbound), and correspondence with Princeton Architectural Press.


Box 4 Folder 8 Other Materials, ca. 1983

Composition Book with notes


Box 4 Folder 7 Other Materials, ca. 1980s-93

Book Synopsis, font/text experimentation, typed partial drafts, research material for frontispiece, press releases for Princeton Architectural Press


Box 4 Folder 7 Other Materials, ca. 1980s-93

Negatives : 17 items ; contact sheet : 1 item ; prints : 6 items ; drawings : 1 items (frontispiece, and unidentified project (found with Melvilla papers), undated)


Box 15 Folder 13 Publication Drafts, ca. 1980s-93

Draft test prints


Box 5 Publication Drafts, ca. 1980s-93

Bound drafts : 2 items, undated & 11 May 1990


Box 5 Folder 1 Publication Drafts, ca. 1980s-93

Unbound draft : 1 item, undated


Box 5 Folder 2 Correspondence and Press, 1988-95

David, Ben Ledbetter, Princeton Architectural Press: Kevin Lippert, Ann Urban, Bill Monaghan ; press releases