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Faculty of Architecture and Design

See the DBIS subject overview for a comprehensive list of architecture and design sources.

Articles / Databases

ArchInform

The world's largest online architecture database (projects, architecture offices and architect biographies, references). The focus is on architecture of the 20th century.

Detail Inspiration / Archiv

The architecture database Detail Inspiration of Detail Business Information GmbH contains project documentation of building objects from the magazine Detail. A national license archive for the reporting period 2018 to 2020 was set up and hosted by TIB after a one-year embargo period and is available to all authorized institutions and users throughout Germany via the TIB portal as part of a national license.

GreenFILE

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Offers well-researched information covering all aspects of human impact to the environment. Its collection of scholarly, government and general-interest titles includes content on global warming, green building, pollution, sustainable agriculture, renewable energy, recycling, and more. The database provides indexing and abstracts for more than 538,000 records, as well as Open Access full text for more than 5,800 records.

JSTOR

Access to full-text or indexed journal articles, books covering Architecture & Architectural History, Art & Art History, and Garden & Landscape.

Pidgeon Digital

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Pidgeon Digital is fully searchable and currently consists of 265+ illustrated talks and 200+ transcripts. New talks are added regularly. Notable speakers include 17 Pritzker Prize Winners and 15 RIBA Royal Gold Medal Winners.

Pidgeon Digital began in 1979 as a series of tape/slide talks created by Monica Pidgeon, the editor of Architectural Design from the mid-1940s to the 1970s. She wanted students of architecture and design to have the opportunity to share the thinking of world leading members of the architectural community, to whom they would not otherwise have access. In 2006 the illustrated talks were digitized.

Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA) Online Catalogue

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Updated daily. Provides an index to over 300 of the world's most respected architectural periodicals as well as a catalogue of the books and audio visual materials held in the RIBA (Royal Institute of British Architects) Library, including the RIBA Library Photographs Collection, the RIBA Library Manuscripts Collection, and the RIBA Library Drawings Collection. Also includes a biographical database of architects. It covers a wide spectrum of subjects, ranging from prehistory to the present, which are international in scope. In addition to architectural theory, practice and history there is material on allied subjects such as building and construction, civil engineering, structural engineering, landscape architecture, interior design and decoration, the decorative arts, town and country planning, and construction law.

Directories

Architektenkammer Berlin [Berlin Chamber of Architects] - Member Search

Offers search of members of the Berlin Chamber of Architects; including architects, interior architects, landscape architects and city planners.

BauNetz Rankings

Offers an up-to-date ranking of architectural firms in Germany.

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"For the office ranking, publications made within the previous 24 months are taken into account. The evaluation includes the printed main issues of each magazine.

TheĀ national ranking lists are based on evaluation of six German (Bauwelt, Detail) and six international professional journals (Architectural Review, a+u, architektur aktuell, Werk Bauen und Wohnen, domus)." - BauNetz: Procedure Rules

Images

ARTstor

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Updated regularly. Comprised of over 2.5 million digital images of visual material encompassing artistic and historical traditions across many time periods and cultures. Focuses on, but is not limited to, the arts. Includes architecture, painting, sculpture, photography, decorative arts, and design as well as many other forms of visual culture. Designed to be used by researchers in fields that do not traditionally use images as well as by art historians.

In order to take advantage of all the features of the site, you must register or log in with the service. The registration and login links are visible once you enter the database.

Archnet.org

Open access to a very unique set of resources related to the built environment of the Muslim world.

Catena: Digital Archive of Historic Gardens & Landscapes

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Updated regularly. A typologically organized archive of digital images with accompanying educational materials. The initial component of Catena is built around the villa, an important landscape type in garden history. Serves as an educational tool for teachers and scholars of landscape history affiliated with schools and universities. The images and intellectual content on this site should be used for educational purposes only.

Note: Pop-up blockers on browsers must be disabled for viewing content.

Cities / Buildings Database

Updated regularly. Offers more than 5,000 images of buildings from across time and throughout the world. Search for buildings by country, city, style, title of building, architect and/or date of construction.

Historic American Buildings Survey / Historic American Engineering Record / Historic American Landscapes Survey

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Updated regularly. The Historic American Buildings Survey (HABS) and the Historic American Engineering Record (HAER) collections are among the largest and most heavily used in the Prints and Photographs Division of the Library of Congress. Since 2000, documentation from the Historic American Landscapes Survey (HALS) has been added to the holdings. The collections document achievements in architecture, engineering, and landscape design in the United States and its territories through a comprehensive range of building types, engineering technologies, and landscapes. This online presentation of the HABS/HAER/HALS collections includes digitized images of measured drawings, black-and-white photographs, color transparencies, photo captions, written history pages, and supplemental materials.

New York Public Library Digital Gallery

Open access to over 800,000 images from the New York Public Library's vast collections, including illuminated manuscripts, historical maps, vintage posters, rare prints, photographs.

VADS (Visual Arts Data Services)

Updated regularly. Provides a central resource of over 100, 000 high quality digital images from across a range of visual arts subjects (including applied arts, architecture, design, fine art and media) from across the UK.

RIBApix


Maps & GIS

ArcGIS Open Data Hub

CADMapper

DataONE

Digital Maps & Geospatial Data Portal

Historical Maps of Berlin (ZLB)

You can find maps and plans of Berlin here. Many of them are in the public domain and free for re-use.

Library of Congress Map Collections

The focus of the collection is Americana and Cartographic Treasures of the Library of Congress. These images were created from maps and atlases and, in general, are restricted to items that are not covered by copyright protection. Digital maps represent a small fraction of the LOC's 4.5 million items in its Geography and Map Division.

United Nations Environment Programme

USGS Historic Topographic Maps

Currently more than 141,000 GeoPDF maps of the approximate 180,000 in the full collection are available for download. The project is ongoing.

World Digital Library

The World Digital Library (WDL) is available free and offers multilingual options. It offers a wide-range of primary materials from countries and cultures around the world.

Materials

Architecture and Design Materials Library (ADML)

Here you will find an index of the design materials archived in Klingemann Library


Periodicals

DETAIL Magazine

All past issues of DETAIL Magazine are available to view online. Current print issues are also available in the library.


Reference Books

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Contemporary world architecture


This work presents a comprehensive survey of international architecture at the end of the century and offers a critical study of the social, cultural and political changes that are shaping the built environment today. Continual advances in science and technology, shifting demographics and greater global communications constantly transform lifestyles and business practices, and prompt a perpetual reinterpretation of architectural ideology and building types.

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Encyclopedia of 20th century architecture


A complete reference resource exploring architecture worldwide during the twentieth century. Exploring architecture from all regions of the world, this three-volume set chronicles and analyzes the twentieth century's vast architectural achievements, both within and well beyond the parameters of Modernism.

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A global history of architecture


The gold-standard exploration of architecture's global evolution. A Global History of Architecture provides a comprehensive tour through the ages, spinning the globe to present the landmark architectural movements that characterized each time period. Spanning from 3,500 b.c.e. to the present, this unique guide is written by an architectural all-star team who emphasize connections, contrasts and influences, reminding us that history is not linear and that everything was 'modern architecture' in its day.

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Modern architecture : a critical history


This acclaimed survey of modern architecture and its origins has become a classic since it first appeared in 1980. For the fourth edition Kenneth Frampton has added a major new chapter that explores the effects of globalization on architecture in recent years, the rise of the celebrity architect, and the way in which practices worldwide have addressed such issues as sustainability and habitat. The bibliography has been updated and expanded, making this volume more complete and indispensable than ever.

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Sir Banister Fletcher's global history of architecture


Sir Banister Fletcher's Global History of Architecture is the acknowledged classic reference work for architectural history. It has been essential reading for generations of architects and students since the first edition was published in 1896 - and this tradition continues today as the new 21st edition provides the most up-to-date, authoritative and detailed account of the global history of architecture available in any form.

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World architecture 1900-2000 : a critical mosaic


World Architecture 1900-2000' records the major architectural contributions made in all regions of the world to the development of human culture. Grouped into ten geographical regions and representing five twenty-year-periods, the buildings have been selected by over 75 internationally acknowledged architectural critics.