Administrative Information

Access Restrictions

Collection is open to research.

Use Restrictions

Permission to publish material from the Ute Westrom Architectural Papers must be obtained from the Special Collections, Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University.

Preferred Citation

Researchers wishing to cite this collection should include the following information: Ute Westrom Architectural Papers, Ms1996-023, Special Collections, Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, Blacksburg, Va.

Acquisition Information

The Ute Westrom Architectural Papers were donated to the International Archive of Women in Architecture at the Special Collections in 1996 by their creator. Additions to the collection were given in 2000, 2002 and 2005.

Processing Information

The Ute Westrom Architectural Papers were first processed, arranged and described by Eric Ackermann in March 2001. Reprocessing to integrate additions to the collection took place in July and August 2006.

Biographical Information

Ute Westrom was born in 1939 in Berlin, Germany. She was oldest of four children of Hilde Westrom, a well-known early woman architect. In 1959, Ute Westrom studied psychology, philosophy, and sociology at the University of Hamburg. In the same year, she began her study of architecture at the Technical University of Berlin. While a student, Westrom worked for an architect in Lubeck, Germany in 1962, for the municipal planning office in Paris in 1963, and toured North Africa and the Middle East. She graduated in 1968 with an architect's diploma from the Technical University of Berlin.

Between 1972 and 1984, Westrom was involved with the design and construction of at least 320 apartments throughout Berlin, primarily for a low-income, municipal housing project funded by the Railway Building Association. During this period, she also designed individual houses, furnishings, and won various design competitions.

From 1977 through 1984, Westrom became increasingly involved with the conversion of old buildings for new uses, many as museums. In the process, she designed and implemented new forms of lighting, furnishings, display cases and panels for organizations such as the Berlin Hall of Fine Arts, the Berlin Gallery, and the Brohan Museum. Of particular importance was her collaboration with partner and husband Winnetou Kampmann in the reconstruction of the former Museum of Applied Arts, built in the late nineteenth-century by Martin Gropius and known as the Martin-Gropius-Bau, into an international art center. The restoration of the 1877 landmark was necessary after it was destroyed during in an air raid during World War II. Another notable project was her original design for a new office building for the Sozialkasse des Berliner Baugewerbes in Berlin. Westrom continues to be active in designing office buildings, town planning projects, museum expansions, and condominiums throughout Berlin.

Scope and Content

The Ute Westrom Architectural Papers include many original drawings and photographs showing her architectural work, as well as some materials from the meetings of L'Union Internationale des Femmes Architects (UIFA).

The collection contains various versions of Westrom's curriculum vitae and incomplete lists of projects she has worked on in both German and English. There are also copies of papers presented at the Third and Fourth International Congresses of UIFA, with additional materials on presenters at the fourth congress. UIFA materials are mostly in French and English.

Architectural project materials include selected original drawings from many projects, small printed versions of drawings, photographs of completed buildings, and some descriptive text about the projects. Descriptive texts and articles may be in German, English, or both languages. All of the projects are located in Berlin, Germany. The information in the collection is generally final drafts of drawings and photographs of completed projects from near the completion date.

Arrangement

The collection is arranged by grouping together biographical data, UIFA congress materials, and project materials. All material is arranged in chronological order.

Related Material

Another collection of Ute Westrom's papers is housed at the Berlinische Galerie in Berlin, Germany.

The following items were transferred to the Special Collections Rare Book room:

Kampmann, Winnetou, Ute Westrom, and Hans-Joachim Arndt. Martin-Gropius-Bau: die Geschichte seiner Wiederherstellung. New York: Prestel, 1999. Call number NA6750.B44 M377 1999

Adjunct Descriptive Data

Another collection of Ute Westrom's papers is housed at the Berlinische Galerie in Berlin, Germany.

The following items were transferred to the Special Collections Rare Book room:

Kampmann, Winnetou, Ute Westrom, and Hans-Joachim Arndt. Martin-Gropius-Bau: die Geschichte seiner Wiederherstellung. New York: Prestel, 1999. Call number NA6750.B44 M377 1999