The Best Architectural Websites

The Top Architectural Websites in the World

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That sounds pretty important doesn’t it? At the very least it sounds comprehensive … it suggests an extensive and exhaustive collection of the best architecturally themed websites in the world. I’m not sure if that is this list but it is my go-to list of websites. Compiling a list of the top architectural websites is far more difficult than it sounds, particularly if there isn’t any particular manner of evaluation employed other than these are the sites that I go to the most often.

I don’t have a blog roll on my site, something that I struggle with continually for excluding. That having been said – and at the request of enough people, I am finally putting together a list of my favorite websites. To make this list (and since I didn’t want to spend more than a day putting it together) I did have some rules that ended up eliminating some possibilities – most notably that you have to publish new content to your site regularly.

So let’s get to it – in no particular order, Life of an Architect’s Favorite Websites:

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John Hill’s A Daily Dose of Architecture was the first architectural bog that I started reading. Full of critical evaluation and first-hand knowledge, this is a great site to visit for any fan of architecture.

I discovered the BUILD website a few months after starting my own. I would like to think that other than the personalities that go into writing the articles, their website isn’t much different from my own (other than theirs is better). Informative, personal, interesting, and transparent … everything a good architectural blog should be.

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I started reading Coffee with an Architect from the beginning and I had the good fortune to meet Jody Brown in person approximately 6 months after I started blogging. Jody is a funny guy, clever writer, and from what I can tell, a pretty good architect. Jody’s site doesn’t really focus on his work – he focuses on the stereotypes associated with architects,architecture, and the design process and writes about them in a way that relates to almost every working (and not working) architect in the country.

What is there to say about the ArchDaily website? It’s only the most trafficked architectural website on the planet. They have been the leader in aggregate architectural sites from the beginning … and for good reason. If it’s out there, most likely it’s covered on this site.

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The Architect’s Newspaper is an aggregate site for projects, news, competitions, job postings and much more.

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Scott Taylor in my office originally turned me on to NOTCOT and it has become one of my most favorite websites regardless of any sort of classification. A great site for designers to visit just to see what other designers are doing.

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I have been reading Architectural Record the magazine for 20 years – migrating to their website just makes sense. One of the things that distinguishes the Architectural Record website from most of the others are the stories and the consistently high quality writing. This is one of the websites that I aspire to getting my work published. Maybe one day they will write an article about blog sites and Life of an Architect will make that list. (fingers crossed)

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Evan Troxel is a designer and educator that I became aware of through twitter and it has worked to my advantage that I have. Evan is a sort of digital renaissance man and his collection of websites (starting with evantroxel.com) have entered my rotation of “what’s that?” websites. I don’t understand most of what he writes about but I can’t help but feel that if Evan is talking about it, I should figure out why … and then do it.

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Entrepreneur Architect is a resource website for other architects that is full of articles relating to – you guessed it – entrepreneur architects. This website is based on the premise that “Entrepreneur Architects have a strong belief in the opportunities they pursue and are willing to take substantially high levels of personal, professional and financial risks to pursue that opportunity. With high risk, comes substantial reward for the architects, their employees and for society as a whole.” This website will help you get there.

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Energy Vanguard is the nerdiest website I go to – and I don’t ever regret going (I just keep it to myself or I’ll lose my “Architects are indifferent” card.) Posts here are written by Allison A. Bailes III – who happens to have a PhD. in Physics that he puts to good use teaching others about building science and energy performance. Normally I might steer clear from a site whose topics generally involve HVAC design protocols but with posts titled “Release the Kracken! – The Ductopus is Bad for Air Conditioning” how could you not take a look?.

As an architect that focuses mostly on residential projects, Residential Architect is my go-to magazine / website of choice. The proper collection of projects, technology, news, and general articles that inspire creativity, this is another magazine that I aspire to gracing.

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Architechnophilia is an aggregate site and a really good one at that. There are a lot of architecturally themed aggregate sites out there but few are as current and as relevant as this one.

Simply put, Design Milk is a bad ass site. If it’s cool, it’s here: architecture, art, furnishings, interior design, style, technology and news … everything related to design. It was originally founded by Jaime Derringer but there is an army of talented and cool people assembling information for you. Based on their website, I bet they throw really good parties (that I will never get to attend.)

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Rounding out the triumvirate of magazine/ websites is the aptly named Architect. This is THE magazine of the American Institute of Architects so what does that tell you? It’s relevant, engaging and always full of interesting articles on all things related to the built environment. Recently I was lucky enough to make it onto the pages of this fine magazine – an experience neither of us will soon forget. The article can be found here [brace yourself – shudder]

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Materialicious is a designers aggregate site – plenty here to explore, be prepared to lose track of time for a while … don’t be surprised to learn so much time has passed that you have to shave again.

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I am a Texas Architect so therefore I am interested in what is going on with regards to Texas Architecture. There is no better place for me to find out – and to follow – the happenings from around the Lone Star State than to check in on the Texas Society of Architects website.

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Everyone knows that architecture students are always in the studio … Stuck in Studio is an architectural blog geared towards architecture students and the excitement, opportunities, and challenges unique to architecture students. There are plenty of architecture student blogs, I just think this one is the best. This is the one site that sort of breaks my rule since they haven’t posted in a while – my message to them? Get it going! [oh yeah, they are probably in stuck in the studio]

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Not so much an architecture site but rather an art and interior design site. Most of the Interior Design websites that I traffic have so much product information that it all becomes noise … and in a just a very short time my brain becomes quite addled. What I like about MoCo Loco is the balance they strike between design and designers, art and artists. They have made the effort to bring me the story behind the products and as a result, I love their site.

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Because she can say it better than I can – from Blueprint editor Vicky Richardson: ‘Blueprint aims to use the subject of design to reveal the workings of society. The magazine is about the important role that design and architecture can play in shaping the world.’ The online version is as good as the printed version – if you aren’t subscribing, you are missing out.

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The 2modern site is unique on this list for the simple reason that they sell the stuff they tend to talk about … but I don’t care. There is so much eye-candy on this site that I simply couldn’t leave it off this list. This was one of the first sites I added to my RSS feed and after two years when most sites than I can remember have been put on only to find themselves removed, 2modern is still there. Nice job folks, keep up the excellent work.

While this probably won’t be a fan favorite, the National Council of Architectural Registration Boards (NCARB) website is a great website. Since I get so many emails from students or people who want to be an architect, I am constantly on this site to verify the information I include in the responses I send out. There are sections with information on “Becoming an Architect”, “Studying Architecture”, “Architectural Registration Exams”, and much, much more. To be honest, I wish they would improve their SEO or something so they could field more of the emails I am receiving.

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The ISSUE: Collective is a student-run blog for the University of Texas at Austin (which is also my alma mater). The blog serves as a school-wide forum covering current issues, new directions, and dilemmas at the UTSoA and features contributions from faculty members, current students, and alumni. Even if you didn’t attend the UTSoA, there is always something interesting to be found. The quality level on this site is so high it makes me question whether or not I actually graduated from this program.

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Metropolis Magazine is one of my favorite design magazines so it stands to reason that I would like the website as well (surprise!) Hard to really back this up with empirical data but I seem to find stuff on the Metropolis site that I don’t find anywhere else – and in this day and age where people seem to freely borrow from one another that’s really saying something. From their website, “Metropolis examines contemporary life through design—architecture, interior design, product design, graphic design, crafts, planning, and preservation.”

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So there it is – my top 24 websites. I’m quite sure that you have some that you love that didn’t make this list … just put them in the comment section below!

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even better stuff from Life of an Architect