Architectural knowledge should be accessible to everyone

Architectural precedent research involves studying existing buildings and projects to inform new design decisions. It is fundamental to architecture education and professional practice, helping architects understand spatial relationships, material applications, climate response strategies, and design patterns. ArchiRef provides access to 6,000+ curated architecture projects with structured data on daylight strategies, facade systems, spatial organization, circulation patterns, and climate response — making precedent research faster and more systematic than ever.

ArchiRef's database contains over 6,000 curated architecture projects spanning 50+ countries and over 100 years of architectural history, from the early 1900s to 2026. Each project is enriched with structured metadata including building type, architectural style, materials, structural system, sustainability certifications, awards, and design strategies across five categories: daylight, facade, spatial, circulation, and climate response.

ArchiRef classifies projects across five architecture strategy categories using a controlled vocabulary of 77 terms: Daylight Strategy (11 terms including skylight, clerestory, light well, atrium daylight, light shelf), Facade Strategy (16 terms including curtain wall, double skin, brise-soleil, kinetic facade, green facade), Spatial Strategy (18 terms including open plan, double height, central void, terraced, sky garden), Circulation Strategy (15 terms including central atrium, ramp circulation, promenade architecturale, bridge link), and Climate Response (18 terms including cross ventilation, thermal mass, solar chimney, green roof insulation).

ArchiRef uses a multi-factor intelligent search engine that goes beyond simple keyword matching. It employs natural language query parsing that extracts architect names, locations, year ranges, building types, materials, climate strategies, and capacity requirements from plain text. The system uses a two-pass retrieval pipeline: first strict constraint matching, then relaxed semantic matching if needed. Results are scored across 10+ weighted factors including type match, tag overlap, architect match, award status, sustainability certifications, strategy overlap, area fit, and location match, with diversity algorithms ensuring varied results.

ArchiRef is built specifically for architectural precedent research, not editorial content or product sourcing. Unlike ArchDaily (editorial focus) or Architizer (product catalog), ArchiRef provides structured, searchable data using a controlled vocabulary of 165 architectural terms across 11 categories. You can search by design strategy (e.g. "museum with cross ventilation and clerestory lighting"), capacity ("500-seat auditorium"), or combine multiple criteria that editorial sites cannot parse. Every project links and credits directly to its architect's portfolio, and results are ranked by architectural relevance, not advertising.

Yes, ArchiRef is designed for architecture education. Students can search for precedents by typology, material, style, climate strategy, or natural language queries like "low-budget housing with cross ventilation in tropical climates." Professors can create curated boards of architectural precedents organized by theme, assign them as study resources, and track student engagement. The platform supports multiple languages (English, Spanish, Portuguese, German, Italian, French) and offers free access for educational use.

ArchiRef covers 25 building types including office, residential, mixed-use, museum, gallery, cultural, educational, healthcare, hospitality, retail, sports, religious, civic, library, performing arts, research, and more. Projects are further classified by 18 architectural forms (tower, pavilion, courtyard, cantilever, bridge, adaptive reuse, etc.), 16 styles (modernist, brutalist, parametric, biophilic, etc.), and 23 material categories (exposed concrete, mass timber, CLT, corten steel, ETFE, rammed earth, etc.).