Eighteen places worth returning to, from daily industry news to image archives and drawing tools.
Trends shift, projects complete, materials and applications keep arriving. Staying current is its own discipline, and it competes for time with the work itself. The resources below are the ones our team returns to, grouped so that a spare twenty minutes can be spent on whichever kind of reading is most useful that day.
Keeping up with the industry
ArchDaily
ArchDaily is among the most widely read platforms in the field, covering award-winning projects, interviews, competitions and new work from around the world. Its product catalogue is the part specifiers tend to overlook, and it is a reliable way to find materials worth investigating further.
Inhabitat
Inhabitat concentrates on green architecture and climate adaptation, which have moved from niche interest to standing requirement across most briefs. Anyone following the sustainability conversation in landscape work will find it a more focused read than the general news sites.
Architect Magazine
Architect Magazine, the journal of the American Institute of Architects, puts the emphasis on the thinking behind a design rather than the finished image. Its manufacturer directory is useful for tracking new technology and products, and the publication doubles as a route into professional networks.
Going deeper into research and standards
JSTOR
JSTOR is a digital library of academic journals, magazines and primary sources spanning a wide range of disciplines, searchable by subject, title or author. Its Open Access section carries free-to-read books, architecture textbooks among them, for anyone wanting to return to fundamentals.
LEED
LEED, the green building rating system administered by the US Green Building Council, is the reference point most often cited when specifying green materials. The USGBC site holds handbooks, credentialing material and policy documents, alongside a directory of certified products. That directory earns its place in a specifier's bookmarks, particularly when a regular supplier cannot deliver what a design requires and an alternative has to be found and verified quickly.
Drawing and modelling away from the desk
BIMx
BIMx, created by Graphisoft, is a set of desktop and mobile applications that turn Building Information Models built in Archicad into 3D and 2D documentation through a simplified interface. It has become a standard part of practice for many architects, and a free desktop version is available.
Arrette
Arrette suits designers who want to sketch freehand on an iPad while keeping a measurable drawing scale. It comes in two versions, Arrette Scale for professional use and Arrette Sketch, which is free and worth trying first.
PadCAD
PadCAD is a straightforward CAD application built for smaller drafting work such as home extensions, modest remodelling projects and site surveys. Functionality is limited next to AutoCAD, but it runs on both iOS and Android, which makes it genuinely useful on site when the desktop is out of reach. Drawings export to PDF or DXF for further work later.
Building a visual reference library
Harvard HOLLIS Images
Harvard HOLLIS Images succeeded the university's Visual Information Access catalogue and draws together material from archives, museums, libraries and other collections across Harvard. The catalogue is open to the public at no cost, and results can be filtered by categories such as plans and exterior views.
USModernist
USModernist holds the largest open digital archive of midcentury Modernist houses anywhere. Its Masters Gallery covers more than thirty figures in twentieth century Modernist residential design, its library runs to millions of pages of American architecture magazines, and its radio strand is a podcast series on architecture. The whole archive is free and open.
Archnet
Archnet is devoted to Islamic architecture and design, browsable through curated collections or through a visual timeline covering the history of art, architecture and urbanism across Muslim communities.
Architectural Association Photo Library
The Architectural Association Photo Library holds an extensive collection weighted towards European architecture, which makes it a strong source for mood boards in the early stages of a design.
WikiArquitectura
WikiArquitectura sets out to be an architectural Wikipedia. It features fewer buildings than the larger image libraries, but the write-ups go considerably further, covering location, date, designer, remodelling history and, unusually, a dedicated section on the materials used.
Pinterest deserves a mention for a reason many practices miss. Manufacturers have taken to it because its search and image-led interface suit product discovery, so new suppliers can now be found without waiting for the next trade show. Jonite maintains a presence there for the same reason.
Resources built for landscape practice
Gap Gardens
GAP Gardens holds around a million garden and plant images. It is a commercial stock library rather than a free inspiration board, so licensing costs apply, but for garden and outdoor space references the depth is hard to match.
World Landscape Architect
World Landscape Architect is an online magazine written specifically for landscape architects, covering projects, news and awards, with a job listings section alongside.
American Society of Landscape Architects
The American Society of Landscape Architects is the profession's definitive body in the United States, and its site carries news, community and networking opportunities, and updates on its conferences.
Land8
Land8 works differently to ASLA. Rather than a professional association, it is an online community built around forums, podcasts, webinars and member groups, and it is probably the best place to follow candid industry discussion without leaving the office.
Where to start
There is more here than anyone can read consistently. The better approach is to bookmark a handful, return to them periodically, and treat the time as part of the work rather than a break from it. Understanding what the rest of the industry is building, and contributing back to that conversation, tends to pay for itself.
