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Architecture - Guide to Research

Getting Started

Grove Dictionary of Art Online
http://ublib.buffalo.edu/libraries/e-resources/grovesart.html
Grove Dictionary of Art, 1996 (LML Ref N31 D5 1996 (vol. 1 - 34); UGL Ref N31 .D5 1996 (vol. 1 - 34).

An excellent starting point. Provides detailed and extensive coverage of all aspects of the arts worldwide, including architecture and architects, art and artists, painting, sculpture, graphics, photography, decorative arts, and planning. In addition, contains entries on significant periods, movements, and styles. Includes authoritative bibliographies for more information. Online version links to entries on related topics and also provides links to relevant images, illustrations, photographs, and diagrams.

Avery Index to Architectural Periodicals
http://ublib.buffalo.edu/libraries/e-resources/avery.html

Provides citations and often brief abstracts to wide array of national and international journal articles, book reviews, exhibitions and exhibition catalogs, audiovisuals, websites, obituaries, and more. Covers topics of architecture, urban planning and design; historic preservation; art and related areas. Comprehensive coverage from 1930 - present; selective coverage from 1860-1830. Updated weekly.

Guides

Architecture Sourcebook: A Guide to Resources on the Practice of Architecture, 1997 (APL Ref NA 2750 A75 1997).

An excellent and practical guide in two parts:

Part I organized by building type: Commercial Office / Cultural / Educational / Government and Public / Health Care / Hospitality / Housing / Industrial / Justice / Libraries / Recreation and Sport / Religious / Retail / Transportation. Each section lists key reference sources, associations, bibliographies, books, and periodicals pertaining to the particular building type.

Part II provides well annotated lists of reference sources, including dictionaries, encyclopedias, indexes, handbooks and manuals, periodicals, significant collections in the US, and publication sources.

Art Information and the Internet: How to Find It, How to Use It, 1999 (APL Ref N59. J66 1999)

Chapter 10 covers art historical styles and periods: ancient world to modern era. Chapter 13 covers resources for architecture.

Art Information : Research Methods and Resources, 1990 (APL Ref N85 .J64 1990).

Chapter 9 discusses research methods especially for architecture; chapter 21 covers resources for architecture research.

Architect's Portable Handbook: First Step Rules of Thumb for Building Design, 2003. (APL Ref NA 2750 G87 2003).

Pocket handbook of general requirements, measurements. 2003 edition contains International Building Code, 2000 and NFPA 5000 Requirements.

Architecture Reference Sources (http://www.lib.berkeley.edu/ENVI/ArchRef.html)

From UC/Berkeley, this reference guide is a selective, but extensive list of the significant, historically important, and/or most helpful architecture reference sources, organized by format.

Encyclopedias and Dictionaries: for additional overviews, basic facts, and bibiographies

Contemporary Architects (APL Ref NA 40 .C6 1987, 1980)

Contains excellent, brief biographies and comprehensive bibliographies by and about significant contemporary architects. Most entries include the architect's statement of intent, a critic's statement about the architect, and extensive bibliographies containing publications by and about the architect. 1987 edition does not include all of 1980 edition -- check both editions for optimum coverage.

Dictionary of Architecture and Construction, 2nd ed. (APL REF NA31.H32 1993).

Includes everyday, historical and technical definitions used in common practice of architecture and construction, including those on drawings and in specifications.

Encyclopedia of Architecture Design Engineering & Construction, 1988 (Vols. 1-5). (APL Ref NA31 E59 1998).

Covers all aspects of architecture including architects, building types and buildings, and pertinent aspects of architecture and construction. Contains discussions on various building types that include history, evolution of building type, current trends, design requirements, and site planning. Includes entries for sports stadia, theaters and opera houses, and campus planning. Index in volume 5. Includes photographs, diagrams, and bibliographies.

Encyclopedia of Community: from the Village to the Virtual World, 2003 (Vols. 1-4) (APL Ref HM 756 .E53 2003)

Excellent source, with substantive articles written by experts in the field, Contains bibliographies.

Encyclopedia of 20th Century Architecture, 2004 (Vols 1-3) (APL Ref NA680 E495 2004)

Covers architecture produced between 1900-2000. In addition to information on architects and architecture of the period, also extends to countries, regions, cities, specific buildings, sites, unbuilt projects, materials, building technology, building types, stylistic and theoretical terms, schools and movements, architectural practice, the profession, and planning. Written for informed readers, with entries signed by established scholars and/or experts in field. Entries include selected bibliographies for additional information. A highly useful source.

Encyclopedia of World Art, 1959. (APL, LML, UGL-SEL Ref N31. E4833 and LML Book collection) 17 volumes, plus supplements. Index in vol. 15.

Arranged by time periods, provides detailed and authoritative essays on artists, architecture, and works of art. Use index in vol. 15 to locate information on specific artists, architects, buildings, time periods, and works of art. Includes extensive bibliographies as well as color plates. Includes detailed images, illustrations, and plans for art and architecture. Especially good for classical art and architecture.

International Dictionary of Architects and Architecture (APL Ref NA 40 I48 1993) Vol. 1 Architects; Vol. 2: Architecture.

An excellent source for Western architectural history from Ancient Greece to postmodernism. Vol. 1 contains biographies of significant architects accompanied by bibliographies and some critical essays. Vol. 2 contains some critical essays and comprehensive bibliographies about significant buildings. Contains photographs, illustrations and floor plans, etc.

Macmillan Encyclopedia of Architects, 1982.vols. 1-4. (APL Ref NA 40 M25 v 33 M23 1969) 5 vols.

Contains more than 2400 signed biographies of international architects born by 1930. Arranged alphabetically, each entry includes a list of works followed by a bibliography. Vol. 4 contains a chronological table of contents, a glossary, and a list of buildings by name. Contains many illustrations and photographs.

To find books: Search BISON, the UB Libraries Catalog http://ublib.buffalo.edu/libraries/e-resources/bison/ . Search by keyword, title, or author to locate books.


Keyword search -- combine keywords by using AND, OR (Boolean operators) to search for your topic; for example:

Olmsted AND buffalo

Parks OR parkways

Title search -- omit beginning articles such as 'the', 'a', 'and.

History and Architecture of Chetham's School and Library,

not

The History and Architecture of Chetham's….

Author Search -- Type the author's last name first

Aalto Alvar, not Alvar Aalto

Databases for architecture

http://libweb.lib.buffalo.edu/infotree/resourcesbysubject.asp?subject=Architecture enable users to identify journal articles, conference papers, and other publications on architecture, architects, art, and art history. Some databases include the full text of articles or provide links to full text. Other databases are bibliographic and list only a citation, telling where the article can be found; still others are image databases.

Cost Estimates

R.S. Means series. Kingston, Mass: R.S. Means Co. This company produces a series of annual cost estimating guides. Frequently used titles are listed below. Most recent copies in Reference collection. Earlier editions in book or storage collections. Ask the Reference Librarian or CIRC desk.

Assemblies Cost Data (APL/UGL-SEL Ref TH435 .B84)
Building Construction Cost Data (APL/ SEL Ref TH425.M4)
Facilities Construction Cost Data (UGL-SEL Ref TH435.M425)
R S Means Mechanical Cost Data (UGL-SEL Ref TH435.M435)
RS Means Repair & Remodeling Cost Data (APL Ref TH3411 .R6)
Residential & Light Commercial Construction Standards (APL Ref TH2025 .R46 1998)
Means Site Work & Landscape Cost Data (APL Ref TH435 .M4367)
Square Foot Costs, 2005 (APL Ref TH435 .M44 TH43)

 

Handbooks, Directories and Standards

ProFile: the Official Directory of the American Institute of Architects, 1978--; biennial (APL Ref NA53 .P7). Also online at http://www.cmdg.com/profile/

Useful, current directory of the American Institute of Architects (AIA) members. In addition to addresses and phone numbers of individual members, contains information about architectural firms (size, type of work, award-winning projects, etc.), arranged by state and city. Indexes by individual names and firms. Separate listing of minority and women business enterprises. Summary information about the AIA, addresses of chapters, related and affiliated organizations, honors and awards, etc.

Time-saver Standards for Architectural Design Data: the Reference of Architectural Fundamentals (SEL Ref CD-ROM TH151 .T55 1999, plus earlier hard copy editions in stacks)

The Time-Saver standard publication above and those below are highly useful to architects and students of architecture. They provide extensive, concise information on fundamentals and design data on various aspects of architecture. In addition to a new list of "exemplary professional and technical reference books," each section provides a list of references.

Time-saver Standards for Building Types (APL Ref NA2760 .D42 2001)

Basic programming information for a variety of types of buildings, including libraries, schools and auditoriums.

Time-saver Standards for Housing and Residential Development, 1995 (APL Ref NA9051 .T55 1995)

Time-saver Standards for Interior Design and Space Planning, 2001 (APL Ref NK2110 .T48 2001)

Time-saver Standards for Landscape Architecture: Design and Construction Data, 1998 (APL Ref SB475.9.S72.T55 1998)

Time-saver Standards for Site Planning, 1984 (APL Ref NA2540.5. T55. D4.1984)

Time-Saver Standards for Urban Design, 2003 (APL Ref HT 166 T47 2003)

Building code handbooks and standards

Architects' Guide to the International Building Code (IBC) 2002 (APL Ref TH420 .A73 2002)

Architect's Guide to the Uniform Building Code (UBC) 1999 (UGL-SEL Ref KF5701 .Z95 B873 1999)

Architect's Portable Handbook: First Step Rules of Thumb for Building Design, 2003. (APL Ref NA 2750 G87 2003).

Pocket handbook of general requirements, measurements. 2003 edition contains International Building Code, 2000 and NFPA 5000 Requirements.

Building codes Illustrated : a Guide to Understanding the 2000 International Building Code (APL, UGL-SEL Ref TH420 .C49 2003)

2003 IBC Architectural Applications for Designers : Based on the 2003 International Building Code, 2004 (APL Ref NA2750 .A15 2004)

International Building Code (IBC), 2000, 2003 (APL, SEL, Ref K3538.A15 I5). APL also has Guide as supplement.

Simplified Engineering for Architects and Builders, 2006 (APL Ref TA 6333 A 43 2006)

An excellent guide that offers essential engineering information for architects and provides an introduction to investigation and design of ordinary structures for buildings. Covers structural analysis, materials, standards, and systems.

Uniform Building Code (UBC), 1991-1994, 1997 (APL, KF5701 .I524, 1985-1994; SEL KF5701 .I524, 1976-1991, 1997.

To Find Images and Exhibitions

AMICO (Art Museum Image Consortium) http://ublib.buffalo.edu/libraries/e-resources/amico.html

Contains over 65,000 digitized images of works of art--from ancient to contemporary times--from major North American museums, including the Albright-Knox Art Gallery, the Art Gallery of Ontario, the Phillips Gallery, and the International Museum of Photography. Includes a broad range of genres, including painting, sculpture, photography, print, drawing, ceramic, textiles, metalwork, furniture, books and scrolls, architecture, and archeological finds. Agreement reached with ARTstor for majority of AMICO to combine with ARTstor in the year to come. Subscription will end at UB 2/28/05.

ARTstor Digital Archive Collection http://ublib.buffalo.edu/libraries/e-resources/ARTstor.html

The ARTstor Digital Archive Collection contains over 300,000 digital images and associated catalog data from notable art and architecture collections worldwide, from early antiquity to the present, spanning cultures and encompassing architecture, painting, sculpture, photography, decorative arts, design, and many other forms of visual culture. ARTstor also includes the tools to actively access, manipulate, and deliver these images. ARTstor now contains the Art History Survey Collection; the Carnegie Arts of the United States Collection; the Huntington Archive of Asian Art; the Museum of Modern Art Architecture and Design Collection; the Mellon International Dunhuang Archive of murals and texts from Buddhist cave shrines in China; and the Smithsonian Native American Art and Culture collection. Upcoming collections will include women in America, Hellenistic and Roman sculpture, the art and architecture of Islam, the image of the Black in Western Art, and more. By 2006, ARTstor is expected to include approximately 500,000.images.


Avery Index: http://ublib.buffalo.edu/libraries/e-resources/avery.html

Use advanced search. To retrieve articles on a subject that includes illustrations, plans, elevations, etc., perform a keyword or subject search on the desired building. Then use "limit" mechanism to limit article to those with illustrations, which may include portraits, charts, drawings, plans, etc.

AccuNet/AP Multimedia Archive http://ap.accuweather.com/apphoto/index.htm

Currently contains approximately 700,000 photographs, most of which are contemporary, since late 1995.

BISON http://ublib.buffalo.edu/libraries/e-resources/bison/

In Keyword search, enter a subject keyword, AND, and a second keyword term that indicates the image form, such as "image," "ill, ""photographs," "exhibition" etc.

Bridgeman Art Library and Art Resource

Accessible via Grove Online's http://ublib.buffalo.edu/libraries/e-resources/grovesart.html image links, the Bridgeman Art Library provides searching of over 100,000 art images from major international museums, galleries and auction houses, including the British Museum and the British Library, the National Galleries of Scotland, Sweden and South Africa, the Hamburg Kunsthalle, and major collections in France and Italy, as well as the Harvard Art Museums, Yale Center for British Art, the museums of Detroit, Houston and Phoenix, plus the Barnes Foundation in Pennsylvania. Also accessible through Grove, Art Resource is a fully searchable collection of 90,000 important images in art history, especially of twentieth-century art.

Google Image Search http://www.google.com/

Encompasses an image database of over 425 million images. Use advanced Google Image.

Museum With No Frontiers (MWNF)
http://www.discoverislamicart.org/

This European Union Islamic image project provides images and documentation of Islamic antiquities, art objects and architecture. Contains over 1200 items, including illustrated and illuminated manuscripts. Extensive catalog details and documentation are provided. Images supplied by museums in Algeria, Egypt, Germany, Italy, Jordan, Morocco, Palestine, Portugal, Spain, Sweden, Syria, Tunisia, Turkey and UK.

National Gallery of Art http://www.nga.gov/. In addition to images, contains curatorial records and often bibliographies.

WORLDCAT (http://ublib.buffalo.edu/libraries/e-resources/worldcat.html)

OCLC's catalog containing over 60 million records of books and other materials held by more than 20,000 libraries worldwide. To find images, using the advanced keyword search, enter a subject keyword, AND, and a second keyword term that indicates the image form, such as "image," "ill, ""photographs," "exhibition."

World Architecture Index: a Guide to Illustrations (APL Ref NA 202 T4 1991)

Indexes architectural works worldwide reproduced in more than 100 books covering architecture, engineering and planning. Provides citations to works containing reproductions of exterior and interior views, plans, http://www.lib.utexas.edu/apl/guides.html sections. The titles of the works that are indexed are abbreviated. Consult the abbreviation key at the front of the index.

Web Sites

Web sites can be excellent starting points for information on every aspect of art. These are some of the best, but a word of caution! Although the Web offers a wealth of information, be sure to evaluate the reliability and currency of websites.

ArchINFORM http://www.archinform.net

This database includes over 13,000 built and unrealized projects from various architects and planners. The architecture of the 20th century is the main theme of this database.

Cities and Buildings Image Archive http://content.lib.washington.edu/cities/index.html

Begun in 1995, the Cities and Buildings Database from the University of Washington, is a collection of digitized images of buildings and cities drawn from across time and throughout the world, available to students, researchers and educators on the web. Includes a nations index

Getty Provenance Index Databases http://piweb.getty.edu/

Includes archival documents (1550-1840), sale catalogs (1650-1840) and public collections from American and British Institutions (1500-1990).

Getty Research Tools http://www.getty.edu/research/tools/vocabulary/ulan/

Provides access to a range of online research tools relating to the visual arts, architecture, and related fields of study- for artists' names and their spelling. Includes a searchable database of geographic names, a thesaurus of art and architecture, and a searchable provenance database.

Mother of All Art History http://www.art-design.umich.edu/mother/

This site links to Internet resources related to art & art history. Categories include: Art History Departments; Research Resources; Resources for Visual Collections; Image Collections & Online Art; Fine Art Schools & Departments, Textual & Linguistic and Art Portals.

Regional Knowledge Network - http://ublib.buffalo.edu/libraries/e-resources/rkn.html

Intended for researchers, students, government officials, regional leaders, community activists, and the general public, provides socioeconomic and political information, including maps, data, and other information on Western New York and southern Ontario. Covers such topics as demographics, government, economy, planning and land use, public health, and public safety.

Rudy Bruner Digital Archive - http://libweb.lib.buffalo.edu/bruner/index.html

The Rudy Bruner Award Digital Archive (RBADA) is an excellent resource for architecture students and practitioners to study precedents in urban design. The Archive is an image database of urban design case studies projects from 1987 to the present that have been recognized as exemplars of excellence in urban design achieved through community collaboration. Each entry includes full project documentation, including an abstract, project data, bibliography, color images, and more.

Timeline of Art History http://www.metmuseum.org/toah/splash.htm

A chronological, geographical, and thematic timeline of the history of world art with illustrations from the Metropolitan Museum of Art's collection. Includes subject, artist, and accession number indexes. Continually updated. Covers the period from prehistory to 1800 A.D. and will continue to expand in scope and depth.

URBANE: Urban Resource Base for Analysis and Networked Education
http://www.clr.utoronto.ca/PRECEDENTS/URBANE/

URBANE is a set of urban templates made from 120 precedent studies in urban design and is seen as an educational resource for academics, students and practitioners interested in urban design.

WordReference.com http://www.wordreference.com/

This Web site is helpful for translation of languages other than English. The site provides four multilingual translation dictionaries and one large English dictionary from HarperCollins. The dictionary can be used to translate from French, German, Italian or Spanish to English and also as a browser add-on tool to translate words in other situations.

Words of Art http://www.arts.ouc.bc.ca/fina/glossary/gloshome.html

A glossary of terms for the visual arts, compiled by Robert Belton, Okanagan University College, British Columbia. Includes cross references.

Worldview [Macromedia Flash Reader] http://www.worldviewcities.org/

Offers a range of well-organized materials and information on what is new and interesting in urbanism and architecture from different cities around the world. For each city, visitors can peruse an interview with a leading urban planner or architect who is intimately familiar with each conurbation, comb through a historical map that allows visitors to see the growth of each place, and make their way along a timeline of events. Includes policy issues in section titled "Critical Issues."