LibGuides: Architecture and Interior Architecture and Design (IAD): Specialist resources

New resource: Pidgeon Digital

Pidgeon Digital
Digital collection of architects' talks and images.
Originally collated by Monica Pidgeon in 1979. Speakers include Cedric Price, Denys Lasdun, Felix Candela, Frank Newby, James Stirling, Konrad Wachsmann, Maxwell Fry, Norman Foster, Peter Rice, Philip Johnson, Richard Buckminster Fuller, Richard Rogers, Serge Chermayeff, Ted Happold, and Zaha Hadid.

Organisations and professional bodies

Architects Registration Board The UK's regulator of architects.
Architecture Foundation The Architecture Foundation leads the conversation on the development of London and contributes to a global discourse about the architect’s changing role and responsibilities.
Black Females in Architecture A global membership network and enterprise founded to increase the visibility of black and black mixed heritage women within the architectural industry and other built environment fields.
Centre for Accessible Environments A leading authority on inclusive design for over 50 years. We provide consultancy, training, research and publications on building design and management to meet all user needs, including disabled and older people.
CIRIA The Construction Industry Research and Information Association, a neutral, independent and not-for-profit body. Their vision is to be a leading enabler and preferred partner for performance improvement, driving collaboration across built environment and construction sectors for the identification, development and transfer of knowledge.
Landscape Institute The Landscape Institute (LI) is the chartered body for the landscape profession. It is an educational charity that promotes the art and science of landscape practice. Student Membership is open to all students on LI-accredited courses and students studying related built environment and natural environment courses.
Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA) A global professional membership body driving excellence in architecture. "We serve our members and society in order to deliver better buildings and places, stronger communities and a sustainable environment. Being inclusive, ethical, environmentally aware and collaborative underpins all that we do." The website contains a wealth of useful information.
Royal Institute of Chartered Surveyors (RICS) A globally recognised professional body, "everything we do is designed to effect positive change in the built and natural environments". The website contains a wide range useful information.
Royal Town Planning Institute (RTPI) The Royal Town Planning Institute is an international professional body for town planners with over 27,000 members in 88 countries.
Town and Country Planning Association The TCPA works to challenge, inspire and support people to create healthy, sustainable and resilient places that are fair for everyone.
Urban Design Group A campaigning organisation with over 1000 members who care about the quality of life in our cities, towns and villages, and believe that raising standards of urban design is central to its improvement. The website contains a wealth of information and resources

Government departments

Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities
Building Regulation documentation
Health and Safety Executive Includes a section on construction with guidance, case studies and other resources
Planning Portal A joint venture between the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities and TerraQuest Solutions Ltd, working in partnership with every local authority across England and Wales.

Oxford Art Online

The Grove Art Online encyclopedia is the foremost scholarly encyclopedia, updated regularly and covering global art and architecture from prehistory to present day. It includes peer-reviewed articles contributed by nearly 7,000 scholars from around the world, accompanied by images, bibliographies, and links to additional resources. Search by artist, medium, era or topic

Oxford Art Online
Collection of encyclopaedias for art and photography and related subjects.
Accessibility statement and help

Specialist library resources

Built environment and landscape resources

BCIS
The Building Cost Information Service (BCIS) is a tool designed for building professionals to help prepare top level cost plans, provide early cost advice to clients and benchmark costs for both commercial and residential buildings
Compass
CS Helios
CS Helios Plant Selector is a searchable plant database program based around the industry approved Species Lists and Specifications. See more... for login instructions.
It provides species lists, characteristics, photographs and many thousands of plant specifications in accordance with the National Plant Specification.
Users can define, save or print plant lists, details and photographic images and create user-defined Palettes that can be incorporated into many landscape CAD programs.
For new users or those without a personal login:
1. Click on the link above
2. Click Customer login
3. Enter the details below:
Organisation Name: University of Gloucestershire
Licence Number: 66823
Your University of Gloucestershire email address
Your First Name
Your Last Name
4. An email will then be sent to your University email account with a link for you to set your personalised password.
Development Control Practice
Digimap OS and Historic Map Collection (EDINA)
Digimap OS allows On-line digital mapping and data extraction facilities using current Ordnance Survey data of Great Britain. Digimap Historic allows users to view and download Historic Ordnance Survey maps of Great Britain dating from 1843 to the early 1990s.
Planning

Market and industry research resources

IBISWorld
Industry market research, reports and statistics. Subscription incudes the Core Database package, Industry and Archive Reports (UK, US, Canada, China, Australia, New Zealand and Global), and Specialised Reports (UK, US).
MINTEL
Market research reports on consumer products, leisure and retail sectors, with related news.
Statista
Global data and business intelligence platform, including statistics, reports and insights.

Researching in other subject areas

Depending on your research interests you may wish to explore the resources and guides provided for other courses and subject disciplines. Choose another subject library guide from the list, or visit the A-Z of all electronic resources directly.

Researching in technology

For example these two databases focus on computing and technology, which will include articles and conference proceedings covering technical aspects of smart buildings, smart cities, the Internet of Things, augmented reality, virtual reality and more

ACM Digital Library
Full text journal articles and conference proceedings for information systems, multimedia, Information technology and computing.
Accessibility statement and help
IEEE/IET Electronic Library
IEEE Xplore contains more than 2 million articles from over 12,000 publications in computing and technology that encompass journals, conference proceedings, and technical standards, with select content dating back to 1893.
Accessibility statement and help

Newspapers

Search for articles in national or regional newspapers, some going back to the 1980s.

Useful for local views of planning and development issues
Useful to see how different newspapers report on the same story
Contains text only, no images
Remember that newspapers are not academic sources, and will often be biased

Newspapers
Online access to newspaper articles from UK newspapers

Searching and using UK newspapers (video guide)

Useful websites and resources

Any list of useful weblinks will not be complete, and will quickly become out of date. If you would like to recommend a website or would like to tell me about a broken link please contact me or fill in the form below.

ArchiDATUM: Architecture in Africa A company which aims to create awareness about Architecture in Africa. "We aim at partnering with all the stakeholders in the building industry towards a common goal of objectively informing the public and the world at large about Architecture in Africa" - a registered company under the laws of Kenya
Archinect Aims to make architecture more connected and open-minded, and bring together designers from around the world to introduce new ideas from all disciplines. Contains news, blog posts and information about jobs and current issues
ArchINFORM includes information over more than 84000 built and unrealized projects from various architects and planners.
Architonic A showcase of premium design materials and products, aiming to provide a guide to the best of current design
Decolonise Architecture Based at the University of Bath, the group formed in July 2020, in the wake of the global Black Lives Matter movement. A solution-based group driven to tackle institutional racism and bias.
dezeen dezeen calls itself "the world's most influential architecture, design and interiors magazine"
ESI Supplier and product information across the built and outdoor environment, combined with insightful articles and case studies to keep you up-to-date with sector innovations
Failed Architecture "Reconnects architecture with the real world. Through articles, podcasts, Situations, a Twitch stream and more, we support an international network of writers, editors and critics committed to challenging dominant spatial narratives and exploring alternative realities."
GreenSpec "Identifies and endorses green building products, systems and services using the PASS (Product Assessment Screening System). The GreenSpec website includes a directory of endorsed products along with supporting environmental and specification data. GreenSpec is dedicated to disseminating information about green building materials and construction techniques. The website features many original guides and articles aimed at appraising practicing architects and designers of new developments in design, materials and fabrication for inclusion in their daily work"
Historic England Archive Holds over 12 million photographs, drawings, reports and publications from the 1850s to the present day, covering the whole country. Over a million of the records can be searched online. The Historic England website also includes information about listing, heritage and the management of the historic environment
urbanNext "Expanding architecture to rethink cities and territories" - a free subscription will allow access to a wide range of content about architecture, urbanism and landscape architecture

Recommend a weblink

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Zines

The new Zines@FCH collection has just been launched.

Zines are a place for people to be able to tell their own stories, through the art of DIY magazines.

Find out more, or drop into the library to have a look.