Finding Images

Images of architects, buildings, cities, landscape

Google as a first step

As with many searches, the most efficient first step is Google [ http://www.google.com] or in this case Google Images [ http://www.google.com/imghp?hI=en&ie=ISO-8859-1Eg ]. Google will search many sites with good (and sometimes bad) images, including for instance the Great Buildings Collection Online: http://www.artifice.com/gbc/buildings.html (which is also lots of fun to browse).

When google isn't enough

Some of these options may be obvious, some are less so. All are included here as a comprehensive checklist and memory aid.

• Books have images!! [Told you some of these would be obvious!] Search the online catalog for books in the UNLV Libraries on your building or architect.

• Magazine articles have images too. Search periodical indexes, especially the Avery Index to Architectural Periodicals to find articles with images in magazines.

• Reference tools both print and electronic may prove helpful.
  

Another online resource available to UNLV faculty and students that specializes in images [and that you won't find through Google] is ARTstor (http://www.artstor.org/info/). ARTstor is a repository of hundreds of thousands of digital images and related data, and the tools to actively use those images. Although it is currently more art than architecture, there are architecture images being added on a consistent basis. See for instance the Museum of Modern Art Architecture and Design Collection, and the Hartill Archive of Architecture and Allied Arts – both included in ARTstor.

A guide/tutorial to using ARTstor can be found on the web page of the College of Design Art Architecture and Planning Library at the University of Cincinnati http://www.libraries.uc.edu/libraries/daap/about/whatsnew/featuredresources/artstor.html

Sometimes elevations and plans can be difficult to locate. I highly recommend Ed Teague's World Architecture Index: a guide to illustrations, in the ASL Arch Ref section (NA 202 T4 1991). This index leads to images in books, most of which are in the ASL. Take the time to see how this index works. If you know the location of a building, you can go directly to the listing by city [called the Site Index]. If you do not know the location, check the building name [Work] index or the Architect index, which will lead you to the city entry. This entry is the one that gives you the abbreviation of the book that has the site plan or elevation. The list of abbreviations is in the front of the World Architecture Index, and gives all the information you need to find the book in the online catalog.

Las Vegas building images [including sometimes elevations and site plans] are one of the ASL's specialties. See our page on Las Vegas architecture http://www.library.unlv.edu/arch/lasvegas/index.html which includes online images of buildings submitted to the AIA annual design award competition.

Check the list of free online image collections in the ASL net guide [ http://www.library.unlv.edu/arch/rsrce/webrsrce/main0012.html#Image%20Collections1094], many of which are databases and not accessible through Google. Some collections to become familiar with include:

• ArtServe: Australian National University -- Institute of the Arts [http://rubens.anu.edu.au]

  Over 19,000 images of architecture and architectural sculpture of the Mediterranean Basin

• Chicago Imagebase [http://tigger.uic.edu/depts/ahaa/imagebase/index.html]

  "The Chicago Imagebase is a web-based project aimed at enhancing knowledge about the built environment of the Chicago region. On this site you will find a wide variety of images and other data along with information on how to use this data to study the city."

• Cities and Buildings Database [http://content.lib.washington.edu/cities/]

  Images of buildings in more than 30 countries. Access is by country, city, style, title, architect, and date.

• CLIP (Contemporary Landscape Inquiry Program) [ http://www.clr.utoronto.ca/VIRTUALLIB/CLIP/ ]
  (last access date: unknown)

  "Database and clearinghouse for the coordination of a library of copyright free images for use in education." Images. Full-text working papers. Bibliography. Searchable by location, designer, typology.

• Digital Archive of American Architecture [http://www.bc.edu/bc_org/avp/cas/fnart/fa267/contents.html]

  Slides from the collection of Jeffery Howe, Boston College. Arranged by century, building type, style, architect. Enlargeable thumbnails. Substantial.

• Digital Archive of European Architecture [http://www.bc.edu/bc_org/avp/cas/fnart/arch/default.html]

  Slides from the collection of Jeffery Howe, Boston College . Arranged by period. Enlargeable thumbnails.

• Perseus Building Catalog

  [http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/cgi-bin/ptext?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.04.0039]

  Images and short text on selected Greek and Roman buildings.

• Philadelphia Architects and Buildings [http://www.philadelphiabuildings.org/pab/]

  Browse or search this substantial online text and image collection which draws on the "collections, data, images and professional expertise of The Athenum of Philadelphia, the University of Pennsylvania Architectural Archives, the Philadelphia Historical Commission, the Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission, and several local cultural institutions."

• SPIRO, Architecture Image Library, University of California, Berkeley [http://www.mip.berkeley.edu/spiro/]

  With over 55,000 digital images (and growing each year), this site is helpful in locating sources for images, although many are only identified as University of California Berkeley slides. Topical areas include: architecture, landscape architecture, urbanism and city views, fine arts, minor arts, material culture. Searchable by architect and building name, building types, building materials, building components.

• Web Gallery of Art http://www.wga.hu/index.html"

  The Web Gallery of Art is a virtual museum and searchable database of European painting and sculpture of the Gothic, Renaissance and Baroque periods." 8/05

Putting images to use

Downloading images from the web -- with proper credit given to the source of course -- is one standard method for including images in your work. Don't forget that the ASL also has several scanning stations equipped with Adobe, Macromedia, and Microsoft Office software suites.