Official newspaper of The University of Texas at Austin

The Daily Texan

Official newspaper of The University of Texas at Austin

The Daily Texan

Official newspaper of The University of Texas at Austin

The Daily Texan

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October 4, 2022
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Sutton Hall exhibit serves as a resource to students

Building_2018-09-20_To_Better_know_a_Building_Erika
Erika Ramirez

On the walls of the Architecture and Planning Library in Battle Hall, students can view photographs, drawings and contracts of Sutton Hall, which could help them with their own projects.

The exhibit is called “To Better Know a Building” and is arranged by the Alexander Architectural Archives to mimic the experience of coming to the archives. Through the exhibit, students can easily access documents instead of scheduling an appointment to visit the archives.

Beth Dodd, who takes care of the archives, considers the exhibition a remarkable resource for students who want to look deeper into the design of Sutton Hall.


“A visit to the library is an important part of the teaching and learning process, as many publications are not yet available online,” Dodd said. “By using a building as your vehicle, like Sutton Hall, a studio student is going to come in and learn how an architect visually communicates their design.”

The exhibit also showcases student research on Sutton Hall from architecture professor Michael Holleran’s class. Nancy Sparrow, curator of the Alexander Architectural Archives, found the work from Holleran’s class valuable to the Sutton Hall collection.

Sparrow said students from the class suggested Sutton Hall to be the next addition to the exhibit series so their research could be included.

“We used the student’s research to help inform the exhibit and there’s even a (glass) case in there that talks about that,” Sparrow said. “They had come to us and said they really would like the next one to be Sutton Hall.”

Some students who were not in Holleran’s class, such as architecture freshman Kristen Dailey, were also interested in the exhibit on Sutton. Dailey said she has noticed that the building is more than what meets the eye.

“My desk in the architecture studio is right next to a window where I can see the building, so I saw the painted tile and all the intricate details and I thought it looked really historical,” Dailey said. “It’s definitely one of the older buildings on campus.”

Through the exhibit’s explanation on what goes into the production of a building, Dailey said she can see the impact that the finished product has on potential architects.

“It feels like there’s a history here you have to aspire toward to be able to come up with something like that,” Dailey said.

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Sutton Hall exhibit serves as a resource to students