Architecture Image Resources
I normally post on Wednesday afternoons, but this Wednesday I had a particularly interesting call: it was my wife calling to tell me that she was in labor. 10 hours later I became a dad. Since then, my wife and I have been sleep deprived to the point of exhaustion which is nature’s way of brain washing us into serving the baby exclusively. If you’re bored you can check out the obligatory baby pics here.
So, what do you post when you’re sleep deprived? I’ve found that when mildly drunk, which almost equates to sleep deprivation, that I can pretty much just post cool resources and add a few pretty pictures for fun. So, today it’s going to be all about my top four resources to find great architecture photos. Some on the list will be instantly familiar, but I hope that a couple will not be so familiar.
House Heuser, Mies van der Rohe 1932
Danda.be - The first resource that I turn to to get a sense for a building is Danda. Danda has managed to pull together a comprehensive photo gallery for a great number of contemporary buildings. Their main focus is Europe, though, so don’t expect to find as many American buildings. Buildings are organized very well, so finding things by country, architect, or building name becomes quite easy.
Archinect- Archinect is becoming one of my old standbys as far as anything architecture is concerned. I’ve been meaning to check to see how popular they are because for me, they seem ubiquitous. However, I think archinect is a rather small operation, so it’s impressive what they have accomplished so far. Also, archinect has pulled together tons of photos of unbuilt projects and student work as well as built works.
Flickr- Flickr is, of course, awesome to find architecture pictures. In particular, I use the group “Details of Modern Architecture” which is a bit more specific on modern architecture and a bit more broad based on the amount of contributors which is 0ver 1,500. Although the gallery is vast at 15,000 + pics in the group, finding something you want is not simple because there is no real descriptive data structure.
www.ribapix.com- Before I go any further this resource is currently down, but I need to mention this resource anyway because of its importance. RIBAPix is the image database for the Royal Institute of British Architects. From what I’ve read, this is the most comprehensive picture gallery of architecture in the world. Here’s what RIBA says about their database:
RIBApix is the online image database of the RIBA British Architectural Library, the world’s most extensive visual archive devoted to architecture.
The database, which encompasses photographs, drawings and engravings, covers world architecture of all periods together with related subjects such as design, landscape, topography, planning, construction and the decorative arts. Many of its unique images are also of social documentary importance.
Now, back to baby stuff. It took no less than 4 attempts to make this post. I’ll have a system down soon, I hope.