Image Sources for the Built Environment
The design and study of buildings, landscapes, and cities depends on visual information in the form of images such as photographs, drawings, diagrams, maps, and paintings. These images exist in many forms: digital files, photographic film, and paper documents. Images of the built environment might seem to be everywhere, but it often is difficult to find the exact images one needs. There is no single catalog and no single easy source for images. Because images vary widely in format, size, quality, and kind, it is difficult to know where to start. Often you may not even know if such an image as you are imagining exists.
To begin searching for images, you must have a sense of what you are looking for. You may think "I'll take anything that's available"- but that is not a useful starting point. You must be specific. Make a list of terms. It needn’t be very long. Ask yourself: am I looking for photographs? Maps? Drawings or plans? Digital images? Paper documents? All of these? Images are produced and used in a wide variety of settings and unless previously collected together, the kinds of images you are looking for may exist in different places, based on how and why they were made or how and why they were used.
To identify what you are looking for, you should know some or all of the following information:
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Name of the creator such as the designer, architect, landscape architect, planner, engineer, or artist
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Name of building, site, or object
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Date of construction
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City or place where located
Alternately, you may be looking for a variety of examples of a type of object, rather than a specific example, so in that case you may wish to know:
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the specific kind of thing you are looking for: barns, skyscrapers, paintings
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the general kind of thing you are looking for: farms, office buildings, decorative art
Once you have a clear idea about what you are looking for, and have written down some terms to search on, think about where these images might be produced, reproduced, or collected. These are the “sites” where you can look for images.
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Where images are produced:
Architects, Landscape Architects, Planners, Artists, Photographers, and other creators all produce of images of all kinds.
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Where images are reproduced:
Books, Journals and Magazines, Newspapers, authoritative Websites, and other publications all disseminate and display images of all kinds for consumption.
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Where images are collected:
Archives, Photograph Collections, Stock Photography Houses, Visual Resource and Slide Libraries, Museums, and other institutions collect both original and published material and facilitate access to them.
These three sites are jumping-off points for finding images. You may find some of these sites more useful than others. These sites may overlap; for example a Journal may publish drawings of a building and they may also produce drawings and photographs of the building.
Image sources by site of image production
To find the source of images particular to a creator, search the internet for the creator's (architect, designer, photographer, firm) name. For historic, defunct, or non-current creators, you may need to look for library, archives, and museum collections that maintain the original imagery that these creators made. To identify photographers, published photos usually include credit information somewhere: in books it may be in an image credit list in the front or rear of the book. In journals and on websites, photo credits are usually below each image or listed with each article.
Architects’, Landscape Architects’, and Planners’ Websites are a good place to look for images of specific projects, because the designer is the originator of the original objects. Besides images, they may list statistics, related people, dates, and other information about the project. Some designers’ websites list publications where the project in question has been featured - providing you with a bibliography specific to this work. Some will send a .pdf "press kit" or flyer of information about the project if you ask. Please write to them regarding use of their images. It is youir job to understand and respect copyright.
Architects’, Landscape Architects’, and Planners’ Websites can be found with Internet search engines or via directories of professionals or firms.
Examples:
Professional associations, directories, Social Networks:
Photographers produce the photographs we see in publications, often in the service of designers and firms. Their websites usually have high quality images. Please write to them regarding use of their images and respect copyright.
Photographers’ websites can be found with Internet search engines or via professional directories.
Examples:
Professional associations & directories:
Image sources by publication or reproduction site
Books and Monographs may be published on the work of a specific architect or designer or may focus on particular types of projects (e.g. Barns, memorials, parks), or projects that share particular traits (e.g. Sustainable Buildings, [something landscapy or planning here), or projects in a particular location. Books usually contain photographs, drawings, plans and any other kinds of images.
Search for books in the library catalogs, using the architect, landscape architect, firm, building or place name, or subject term.
An extensive list of books which have been found to be useful in study here at CED is at the bottom of this page.
Journals and Magazines publish articles illustrated by photographs and drawings of buildings and environments. Journals tend to be more up-to-date and may contain images of objects that have not yet had the chance to be published in book form.
Search for Journal articles in article databases.
After finding an article in an index that matches what you are looking for, you must find that issue of the journal in paper or digital form.
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To find a paper copy of a journal, search for the Journal in the library catalogs to find the location of the journal.
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To find an electronic copy of the journal, you can also search the library catalogs and follow a UC E-Links link if an online version of the journal is available. Some journals also publish back issues online; check the journal’s website.
Newspapers publish photographs and news about noteworthy projects.
Newspaper articles are indexed in databases much like Journals.
Search newspaper indexes and find that article in paper, microfilm, or digital form.
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To find a paper or microfilm copy of a newspaper, search for the newspaper in the library catalogs to find the location of the material.
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To find an electronic copy of the article, you can search the library catalogs and follow a UC E-Links link if an online version of the newspaper is available. Some newspapers also publish back issues online; check the newspaper’s website.
Authoritative Websites are websites that are published by Archives, Museums, Historical Societies, Scholars, and other non-commercial entities. They may be specific to a place, creator, or subject. Most of these websites can be relied upon for the accuracy and authenticity of the information they present.
Image Databases are collections of images that span genres and subject areas.
Image sources where images are collected
This place of images contains all the places where images wind up after they have been created and/or published and consumed. Often these places become a site for consumption as well, because they are a useful place to encounter images outside of the structure of publication formats. These places include Archives, Visual Resource collections, Museums, Stock Photography Houses, enthusiast websites, image sharing websites, and the open web.
Archives hold original visual documents, including, but not limited to, photographs, maps, drawings, and plans. Archives organize their material by Collections, which are groups of documents that belonged to or were created by a person or organization. Therefore, images are usually indexed along with many other kinds of textual and non-visual records.
Visual Resources Collections are image libraries created to support teaching in educational institutions. They almost always hold reproductions (copies) of images for use in research and teaching, although some also have original images. These images—digital, photographs, and slides-- come from many different sources, including all the kinds of sources listed on this page.
Museums generally hold collections of objects and art work for which they produce different kinds of imagery. Many museum websites publish and display images, some may act as image vendors, selling or depositing their images in image databases or with Stock Photography Houses.
Photography Agencies and Stock Photography Houses are commercial enterprises that exist to sell images for publication. They frequently own large collections of historic photographs. They may be narrow in scope or may regularly produce new images. Some allow their images to be searched in other image databases. They may or may not be easy to search; almost all charge significant fees to obtain images.
Enthusiast websites are websites where anyone with interest or desire publishes images, usually arranged thematically. Basically, these are any websites that focus on displaying images, often regardless of source or legality. Many re-publish images that they have found elsewhere on the web or that they have digitized themselves. These types of websites can be found by search engines when searched for by a topic name. Many of the images on these pages can be found with an image search engine. Some are more reliable than others but be careful about accuracy and proper copyright when using them.
A few select examples:
Image sharing websites are websites where users upload photographs and can search for images other users have added. Many users also upload quantities of scanned material and submit their photographs to groupings of similar images. Some are more reliable than others but be careful about accuracy and proper copyright when using them.
The open web is search-able with Internet search engines. Some provide image-specific searching options. Search engine image searches only find a small fraction of imagery available online. Most images found through a search-engine image search will be lacking in quality, variety, authoritativeness, and applicability. But images found using these search engines may lead you to more in-depth sites which may prove to be of use.
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Selected books
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America preserved: a checklist of historic buildings, structures, and sites recorded by the Historic American Buildings Survey/Historic American Engineering Record. Indicates types of illustration and documentation included in records for historic buildings, neighborhoods, and sites, e.g., photogrammetric images, measured drawings, etc. California HABS information.
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American architectural masterpieces: an anthology comprising masterpieces of architecture in the United States, American architecture of the twentieth Century. Includes black and white views, plans, elevations and details.
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American architecture of the twentieth century: a series of photographs and measured drawings of modern, civic commercial and industrial buildings. Contains plans, elevations, details and views in oversized format.
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An anthology of houses, edited and introduced by Monica Pidgeon and Theo Crosby. Contains 310 photos, plane & diagrams of 50 modernist houses.
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Architectural details 2003 : annual selected edition from Detail review of architecture. Annual compilation of drawings from Detail magazine.
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Architectural Records in the San Francisco Bay Area: A guide to research. California Cooperative Preservation of Architectural Records, Waverly B. Lowell, editor. For an inventory of the historic architectural records of the San Francisco Bay Area and their locations.
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Architectural representation handbook : traditional and digital techniques for graphic communication / Paul Laseau.
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Architecture in detail series. Similar to the GA series, each monograph examines a contemporary building. See a list of all books in the series.
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The architecture of western gardens : a design history from the Renaissance to the present day. Architettura dei giardini d'Occidente. Edited by Monique Mosser and Georges Teyssot. (See also The History of Garden Design)
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Blueprints: twenty-six extraordinary structures by Christopher Gray. Photographs and blueprints of 16 buildings and a few other structures. Scale not always apparent.
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Building footprints: a selection of forty-five building plans, all drawn at the same scale. Ground floor plans of a variety of well-known structures in the world.
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Building skeletons: an investigation of ten buildings. Drawings of structural systems for the Farnsworth House, Crown Hall, Richards Medical Research Building, Student Center MIT, Tiber Island Apartments, N.C. Mutual Insurance Building, Earth Sciences Building, Lever House, Pirelli Building and Chase Manhattan Bank.
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Comparative analysis of 20th-century houses, by Hideaki Haraguchi. Axonometric drawings of important houses.
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Contemporary masterworks, ed. by Colin Naylor. Contemporary arts series. Photographs, essays, bibliographies and occasionally plans for approximately 100 "classic" buildings. Separate sections for works of art, photography and design also included.
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Details of modern architecture, by Edward R. Ford. Details for numerous buildings designed by Sullivan, Le Corbusier, Wright, Rudolph Schindler, etc.
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Domus Map Guides - Included in Domus Magazine. These are thematic guides to architectural landmarks in selected locations.
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Drawings of great buildings. Edited by Werner Blaser. Contains 180 orthogonal drawings showing plan and elevation combined with sections of great buildings in the history of architecture.
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Encyclopedia of gardens: history and design. editor, Candice A. Shoemaker.
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Encyclopedia of world architecture, by Henri Stierlin. Color photos of famous buildings with scaled sections, elevations, and plans primarily arranged by style and place.
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GA document. Detailed drawings, scaled plans and photos of projects.
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Global architecture. Outstanding visual documentation in oversized format for major modern and contemporary buildings. Indexed in Avery Index.
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Global architecture detail. Comprehensive detail drawings in a large format for major contemporary buildings. Indexed in ARCH via Melvyl.
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Great architecture of the world. John Julius Norwich, ed.
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The Great buildings collection by Kevin Matthews.[CD-ROM]
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Handy key to your "National Geographics". Subject and picture locator.
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Historic American Buildings Survey; California (HABS) Reproductions of photographs and drawings of the Historic American Buildings Survey for California. Also available on microfiche, or search the HABS index. To search for HABS for other states in the catalogs do a title search for "Historic American Buildings Survey [state]". Copies of photos and drawings available from Library of Congress.
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History of garden design, the western tradition from the Renaissance to the present day, ed. by Monique Mosser and Georges Teyssot. Over 600 illustrations, including many scaled plans.
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Huellas de edificios; una coleccion de plantas de edificios dibujadas en la misma escala = building footprints; a selection on ground-plans drawn to the same scale, by Eduardo Sacriste. Footprints of historically significant buildings, excluding dwellings, drawn to a scale 1 cm-2m and reduced proportionally to 1:2. Plates identified and described in vol. 1.
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Illustrated atlas of the world's great buildings: a history of world architecture from the classical perfection of the Parthenon to the breathtaking grandeur of the skyscraper. Each chapter covers a single building style with corresponding scale drawing.
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Illustration index. 4th ed. By Marsha C. Appel.
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Illustration index V, 1977-1981; Illustration index VI, 1982-1986 Illustration index VII, 1987-1991; Illustration index VIII, 1992-1996. By Marsha C. Appel.
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Image-based research : a sourcebook for qualitative researchers. Edited by Jon Prosser.
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In detail : single family houses : concepts, planning, construction. Edited by Christian Schittich; [translated from the German by Peter Green and Elizabeth Schwaiger].
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Index to italian architecture: a guide to key monuments and reproduction sources. Compiled by Edward H. Teague. Provides citations to illustrations of approx 1,800 works of Italian architecture, planning and landscape sites. Includes works from most historical periods and styles.
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Introduction to landscape architecture, by Michael Laurie.
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Italian Renaissance: sixty measured drawings with details from the thirteenth to the sixteenth century. Oversized plates of details. Index to buildings in Vol. 1.
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Key buildings of the twentieth century, by David Dunster. Photographs and plans of houses designed by famous architects.
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Key monuments of the history of architecture, by Henry A. Millon. Black and white photos with scaled plans and sections for each building or site.
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Landscape architecture: an illustrated history in timelines, site plans, and biography. William A. Mann. Black and white maps and scaled ground plans of some of the most important historical environmental design projects from prehistory to the 1970s.
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Living in a dream: great residences of the world. Cut-away drawings, elevations, color photos, plans, drawings of 12 castles and palaces from all over the world. Scale not given.
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National Register of Historic Places, California. Complete nominations including building and landscape plans. All nomianations through December 1982 also available on microfiche.
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Picture researcher's handbook : an international guide to picture sources and how to use them compiled by Hilary and Mary Evans.
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Scale models : houses of the 20th century edited by Friedrich Kurrent
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Single building series. Each monograph examines a contemporary building.
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Source book of American architecture: 500 notable buildings from the 10th century to the present by G.E. Kidder Smith. Black & white photos, no plans.
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Study-book of mediaeval architecture and art: being a series of working drawing of the principal monuments of the Middle Ages; whereof the plans, sections, and details are drawn to uniform scales, by Thomas H. King.
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Various dwellings described in a comparative manner by Richard Saul Wurman. A collection of comparative descriptive drawings in perspective of thirty-five significant dwellings from around the world drawn to the scale of 1:384.
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World architecture 1900-2000: a critical mosaic general editor, Kenneth Frampton. Organized by continent, includes plans and photos: v. 1. Canada and the United States; v. 2. Latin America; v. 3. Northern Europe, Central Europe and Western Europe; v. 4. Mediterranean Basin; v. 5. The Middle East; v. 6. Central and southern Africa; v. 7. Russia-USSR-CIS; v. 8. South Asia; v. 9. East Asia; v. 10. Southeast Asia and Oceania.
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World architecture index: a guide to illustrations by Edward Teague. Comprehensive list of visual sources found in approx. 100 different books arranged by geographical location with indexes to architect or designer, and building or site name. Abbreviations refer to books in which illustrations appear. See abbreviations list and call numbers in front of volume.
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World atlas of architecture. Pictorial history of architecture including color photographs, diagrams, orthogonal drawings, hypothetical reconstructions.
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