Since its establishment, saai has been collecting and archiving material on architecture, landscape design and engineering, as well as on architectural teaching, architectural theory and photography. The oldest documents date from around 1700, but the collection focuses on the 20th century, particularly the second half of the century, and geographically on collections from the southwest German area. Most of the holdings are of international importance and testify to the region’s networks with the world. In addition to collecting and preserving cultural assets, our core task is to ensure that scientists and educators have the most open access possible to our objects, estates, documents and data. At the same time, the role of the saai as an established place of knowledge is always reflected.