CMU LibGuides: Architecture: Images &amp; Media

Image Databases

AP Images Collection This link opens in a new window
The Associated Press (AP) Images Collection™ captures the greatest events in history and brings them to life through photographs, audio sound bites, graphics and text.
Artstor on JSTOR This link opens in a new window
Over two million high-quality images in the arts, architecture, humanities, and social sciences. Additionally, discover public collections and open content.
Bridgeman Education This link opens in a new window
Images of art, history, and culture from global museums, galleries, private collections and contemporary artists. All images are copyright cleared for educational use.
Digital Sanborn Maps, 1867-1970 This link opens in a new window
Produced for over a century, more than 660,000 Sanborn maps chart the growth and development of more than 12,000 American towns and cities. Created to assist fire insurance companies as they assessed the risk associated with insuring a particular property, the maps list street blocks and building numbers including numbers in use at the time the map was made and previous numbers. These maps are for non-commercial use only.
Oxford Art Online This link opens in a new window
An illustrated, encyclopedic work on all aspects of the visual arts from prehistory to the present day.

Image Collections on the Free Web

AGRAM Database: Architectural Information
Work of Aalto, Le Corbusier, Duiker, Jujol, Loos, Melnikov, Schinkel, and Wright is presented on this site with photos, drawings, and models.
Asian Historical Architecture
A photographic survey of Asia's architectural heritage.
ARCHNET
An open access, intellectual resource focused on architecture, urbanism, environmental and landscape design, visual culture, and conservation issues related to the Muslim world.
Cities and Buildings Database (University of Washington)
A collection of digitized images of buildings and cities drawn from across time and throughout the world.
Esto
Excellent selection of stock "images of architecture and the built environment" by Ezra Stoller and other photographers.
Great Buildings Collection
Documents buildings and architects, selected over ten years by the editors of ArchitectureWeek, with photographic images and architectural drawings, integrated maps and timelines, 3D building models, commentaries, bibliographies, web links, and more.
Historic American Buildings Survey/Historic American Engineering Record/Historic American Landscapes Survey
These federal programs have documented thousands of historic sites with measured drawings, photographs, and written histories since 1933.
SAH Archipedia
Histories, photographs, and maps for over 20,000 structures and places.
Structurae
The largest database for civil and structural engineers includes more than 75,000 structures and 290,000 images.
WorldImages (California State University)
100,000 examples in all areas of visual imagery, including art and architecture.

Reference Books

Key Buildings from Prehistory to the Present: Plans, Sections and Elevations. The latest in this successful series, this book features around 150 of the most important buildings in the history of world architecture--from the pyramids and the Parthenon to some of the most significant works by recent architects.
Key Houses of the Twentieth Century: Plans, Sections and Elevations A companion to the popular Key Buildings of the Twentieth Century, this book includes classic residential works by such seminal architects as Le Corbusier, Frank Lloyd Wright, Mies van der Rohe, and Alvar Aalto, as well as houses by more recent masters such as Tadao Ando, Rem Koolhaas, and Glen Murcutt.
Call Number: NA7126 .D38 2006 (FA-REF-4)
Key Buildings of the Twentieth Century: Plans, Sections and Elevations Accurate scale plans show each floor, together with elevations, sections, and site plans where appropriate for each of the buildings.
Call Number: NA2705 .W44 2004 (FA-REF-4)
Key Contemporary Buildings A collection of more than one hundred twenty-first-century buildings of particular interest for study by students and professionals.
Call Number: NA2705 .G745 2008 (FA-REF-4)
Key Buildings of the 20th Century Documents major 20th-century buildings in plans drawn to the same scale (1:250). Vol. 1: Houses, 1900-1944; Vol. 2: Houses, 1945-1989
Call Number: NA680 .D86 1985 Vols. 1-2 (FA-REF-4)
Drawings of Great Buildings Plans and some sections and elevations of 185 of architecture's greatest hits.
Call Number: NA2706 .U6 D72 1983 (FA-REF-4)
Huellas de edificios; una coleccion de plantas de edificios dibujadas en la misma escala. Building Footprints: A Selection of Ground-plans Drawn to the Same Scale. Plan drawings of famous buildings.
Call Number: NA2635 .S23 Vols. 1-2 (DESK-4-RES)
Global Architecture Book Outstanding visual documentation for many major buildings of the twentieth century.
Call Number: NA680 .G58 Vols. 1-13 (FA-REF-4)
Encyclopedia of World Architecture Plans, elevations, sections, and some color photographs of hundreds of important buildings.
Call Number: NA202 .S76 1978 Vols. 1-2 (FA-REF-4)
The World Atlas of Architecture A pictorial history of architecture useful for its variety of color photographs, diagrams, and drawings.
Call Number: NA200 .W67 1984 (FA-REF-4)

Video

Kanopy Streaming Service This link opens in a new window
Provides remote access to documentary and feature films on many subjects including arts, business, global studies, health, and sciences.