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Interior Architecture and Interior Design: Digital Resources

Architecture and Design Databases

Art Full Text

Description: Also includes Art Abstracts and contains bibliographic references and abstracts of articles from 280 periodicals - journals, yearbooks and museum bulletins. Subject coverage spans all aspects of art, from visual to performing arts, and ranges from Archaeology to Television and Video. Art Abstracts currently has 400,000 records and is updated monthly. It indexes periodicals from 1984, and includes abstracts from 1994 onwards.

DETAIL inspiration Databank

The DETAIL inspiration online databank gives users access to more than 5,500 DETAIL project documentations. By using professional search functions and filter options to find key terms such as building type, material, construction year or the topic of an issue, DETAIL inspiration supports architects both in their quest for solutions and in their daily work. The projects can be organized and saved as needed in personal watchlists.

WGSN Interiors

Description: Worth Global Style Network Interiors is an online trend forecasting and product design tool for the industrial design, home and interiors market across 16 product categories, including furniture, lighting, textiles, interiors, garden design

Subject Scope: Interiors, product design, packaging, textiles, marketing, trends, forecasting, business strategy, trade news, trade shows

Date Range: Current

Bloomsbury Architecture Library

This is a key digital resource for the study of architecture, urbanism and interior design. It gives access to a wide-range of texts and images from historical to contemporary material.

Bloomsbury Design Library

Bloomsbury Design Library provides cutting-edge scholarly coverage of design and crafts worldwide from 1500BC to the present day. It offers authoritative access to books and reference material, and includes a rich selection of museum object images.

Design and Applied Arts Index

Description: DAAI is an international index to the contents of design and crafts journals since 1973, and is the only database devoted to this subject area. Subjects covered include advertising, jewellery, metalsmithing, packaging, graphic design, fashion, textiles, design management etc. In addition DAAI also includes other searchable databases: international directories of associations, journals, educational establishments, archives and special collections.

The RIBA Library

Books, journals and photo collections from the Royal Institute of British Architects

Digimap

Description: Ordnance Survey Map Data available for download to use with appropriate application software such as GIS or CAD, or as maps generated by Digimap online. Users may view and print maps of any location in Great Britain at a series of predefined scales, and also download map data for use, for example, in GIS software on their own desktop.

Subject Scope:

Date Range: 2000-

Full Text: Yes

Architecture Web Resources

aaschool.ac.uk

Architectural Association (AA) School of Architecture. Useful for current events, publications, competitions

archdaily.com

Compiled by architects - good for research, up-to-date projects and architectural products.

archidose

Blog covering exhibitions, projects,books, articles allowing you to join and add content

archiplanet.co.uk

Website for architecture students in the UK. Includes forums, jobs, exhibitions and competitions 

barbourproductsearch.info

Barbour Product Search a "searchable database of products and suppliers, including images, case studies, technical data, catalogues, news and project data".

bustler.net

Bustler, "sister site to the leading architecture platform, Archinect, focuses on keeping the design community busy and inspired. Bustler has become the go-to online publication for competition and event listings in the architecture and design industries."

Contemporist.com

Contemporary interiors architecture and design

designboom.com

"Industrial design today: courses, education, competitions, history and contemporary, shop, interviews, snapshots, design-aerobics"

dezeen.com

An online journal showcasing the best architecture, design and interiors projects from around the world.

greatbuildings.com

A gateway to architecture around the world. This website documents a thousand buildings and hundreds of leading architects, with photographic images and architectural drawings, integrated maps and timelines, 3D building models, commentaries and bibliographies for famous designers and structures of all kinds.

Inhabitat.com

A weblog that provides information on new sustainable design and technological practices.

Mocoloco

Mocoloco is a web magazine relating to modern contemporary design and architecture, including; residential architecture, interior design, furniture, accessories, lighting, floorcoverings, wallcoverings, books, websites, audio-video, online & retail stores and more.

mymodernmet

Includes articles on art, design, photography, architecture, technology, environmental issues, as well as inspiring stories and interviews. This website also provides a platform for new designers.

Riba Library Catalogue online

"Open to everyone and without charge, the British Architectural Library and its collections and services form the largest and most comprehensive resource in the United Kingdom for research and information on all aspects of architecture."
 
 A database that provides images from the collections of the British Architectural Library at the Royal Institute of British Architects.
 
The world's largest open digital collection of major US architecture magazines with over 4.3 million downloadable pages representing over 21,000 issues.
 
VADS is the online resource for visual arts. It has provided services to the academic community for 12 years and has built up a considerable portfolio of visual art collections comprising over 100,000 images that are freely available and copyright cleared for use in learning, teaching and research in the UK.
 
A global website covering projects relating to architecture, design, art, and city guides
 
Useful website for international profiles on architects, landscape architects, engineers, interior designers, lighting consultants, and architectural photographers. Also provides reviews and job vacancies.
 

 

Image Resources

It is important to use good quality images in your work. This means not only high resolution but good provenance. This refers to the source of the image. Is there accurate, authoritative information about the object? For example:

  • Who is the creator?
  • When was it made?
  • Where can it be found?
  • What is it made of?

Instagram and Pinterest have lots of images, but information about the pictures is often very sketchy. Try to use good quality books, museums, galleries and archives or their websites.

These are links to some good quality sources of images:

Bloomsbury Fairchild Books Interior Design Library - Featured Content

Materials Web Resources

Useful Links

Quick links to useful pages and resources.

Art-Based Websites

Architecture Masterprize

Photo credit: Lee Justin Lik Tsz, MDX BA Photography third-year student, Winner of the Architecture Masterprize Photography Award in the category: Bridges. Title: The Spectacular Tsing Ma Bridge. 2024.

Source: Architecture Masterprize Winner The Spectacular Tsing Ma Bridge / Fine Artchitecture (architectureprize.com)

Art Collections in London

Victoria & Albert Museum

The world’s leading museum of art and design

National Portrait Gallery

Art gallery in London that houses a collection of portraits of historically important and famous British people

TATE

Tate is an institution that houses, in a network of four art galleries, the United Kingdom's national collection of British art, and international modern and contemporary art. 

Hayward Gallery

Art gallery within the Southbank Centre

ICA | Institute of Contemporary Arts

London’s leading space for contemporary culture

The National Gallery

National art museum in Trafalgar Square

Royal Academy of Arts

Art institution based in Burlington House on Piccadilly in London

Sadie Coles

London-based contemporary art gallery representing around fifty established and emerging international artists. 

London Transport Museum

The London Transport Museum (LTM) is a transport museum based in Covent Garden, London. The museum predominantly hosts exhibits relating to the heritage of London's transport, as well as conserving and explaining the history of it.

Whitechapel Gallery

Public art gallery in Whitechapel in the London Borough of Tower Hamlets

White Cube

One of the world's leading contemporary art galleries, White Cube has spaces in London, Hong Kong, Paris, New York and West Palm Beach

Serpentine Galleries

Free contemporary art gallery in London's Kensington gardens

Design events in London