1. books on the building
2. books on the architect
3. If books on the building and / or the architect don't provide the drawings you need, consider checking the books below, which collect plans, sections and elevations for significant buildings:
Featuring more than 100 significant and influential houses of the 20th century, including works by Le Corbusier, Frank Lloyd Wright, Mies van der Rohe, Alvar Aalto, Tadao Ando, Rem Koolhaas and Glen Murcutt. For each of the houses included there are scale plans showing each floor, together with elevations, sections and site plans where appropriate.
The table of contents and a brief preview of this book are available via Google Books
Precedents in Architecture is also available as an e-book. Check the library catalogue.
Featuring more than 100 significant and influential buildings of the 20th century, including works by Le Courbusier, Frank Lloyd Wright, Mies van der Rohe and Alvar Aalto, Norman Foster, Frank Gehry and Rem Koolhaas. For each of the buildings included there are scale plans showing typical floors, together with elevations, sections and site plans where appropriate.
Featuring 95 significant buildings of the early 21st century, including works by Renzo Piano, Norman Foster, OMA and Frank Gehry. For each building there are scale plans showing a combination of floor plans, elevations and sections as appropriate.
Featuring 87 influential modern housing designs of the past 100 years. Each project is explained with a concise text and photographs and scale drawings, including floor plans and site plans, sections and elevations where appropriate.
Featuring around 150 important buildings from the pyramids and Parthenon to some of the most significant works by recent architects. The buildings are organized by type, from places of worship and public buildings to houses. For each building there are scale drawings showing a combination of floor plans, elevations and sections as appropriate.
If you would like this file in an alternative format, please contact Irene Bittles (email: i.bittles@qub.ac.uk)
This is one of the best places to identify journal articles which have architectural drawings. Please note: Books are not included.
The British Architectural Library at RIBA (Royal Institute of British Architects) holds one of the world’s foremost architectural collections. Using the RIBA Library catalogue, you can find references to journal articles, books and exhibition catalogues which include architectural drawings.
The Planning Architecture and Design Database Ireland is one of the best databases for finding books and journal articles about Irish and Northern Irish architecture. You can search for journal articles and books which include sections, plans, elevations, photos and other types of illustrations.
How to search PADDI (YouTube)
DETAIL Inspiration provides online access to architecture and construction projects that have been documented in the journal Detail: Zeitschrift für Architektur und Baudetail.
DETAIL Inspiration includes text (in German and English), photographs and architectural drawings. PDFs are available for download.