First In Architecture Your first stop for all things architecture
Firstly, we have our own CAD block library so head over to our cad block pages to check it out. I will continue to build it, and if there is anything missing you want to see just let me know and I’ll get it on here. My aim is to provide best quality blocks, to correct scales, correct layers, that make it easy for you to drop directly into your drawing with no problems.
We currently feature a good range that include: bathroom blocks, furniture cad blocks, table blocks, chair cad blocks, door cad blocks, window cad blocks, people cad blocks, tree cad blocks, vehicle cad blocks, landscaping cad blocks, sports cad blocks, and a whole load more!
Here are just a small selection of our cad blocks below:
If you still haven’t found what you need then here are our top ten alternatives. Although it is really useful to find free AutoCAD blocks and place them in your models, make sure you are a bit savvy about it. I have had many a problem with AutoCAD blocks and learnt that they are not always worth it. For example, they can be in the wrong units, crazy scales, be corrupt and damage your model, generally badly drawn, have strange layering, and the list goes on. If you are still keen to take a shortcut and find a quick and easy solution in the form of a free AutoCAD block, I have sought out the websites that seem to have the best pickings.
FastrackCAD has a massive collection of manufacturer details and cad drawings. Search by supplier or by product type. Sign up required for download but they are all free.
CADdetails is the leading provider of manufacturer-specific building product information, delivering to more than 452,000 architects, engineers, contractors, and other design industry professionals throughout North America.
CAD Blocks.net continues to be high up on my list. Great selection of blocks, you can download for free and don’t have to register. Also have good images showing you what you will get, all categorised.
CAD Blocks Free has a pretty impressive range of blocks, both in 2D and 3D. They have good search functionality, categories and images of the blocks. Some items are paid items, but generally there is a great range of free stuff, and you don’t need an account to download. I like this site!
This site is a great starting point. It has everything from people and animals to fixtures, fittings, structural, vehicles and landscaping. Only problem – its not too easy to find what you are looking for. You have to do a lot of clicking before you find the download you want, and each download is one individual file, not a selection – so it can be a little time consuming. Having said that, they do have a good range of blocks.
Syncronia has been suggested to me by a reader. It is a bit different to some of the other options here in that it provides more 3D blocks, and also textures. They are from suppliers so the quality is good and there is a wide range. Worth checking out. You have to register but the blocks are free.
Cad Architect – has a large collection – interesting range of stuff from normal blocks to colour symbols, to cad details and building layouts. Much of the content is paid access, and you have to have an account to download anything so it is difficult to see what is free and what is not….
BIM Object has replaced AutoDesk Seek. It has a massive collection of 2D but mainly 3D objects in many different formats, ranging from SketchUp to Revit, to ArchiCAD. Takes a while to filter through to find what you need, but I guess that comes with such a large database of files.
Bibliocad requires sign up but has a good mix of stuff – with preview images Some Free and some VIP ones. I use Bibliocad quite a lot, but one downside is that a lot of the content is user contributed so sometimes quality can be a bit hit and miss.
A Plus has a large selection of CAD blocks, free to download and well categorised.
My favourite block cad site is http://www.tonythanh.com, it easy to discover and search relevant block cad for our design.
Thank you for the tip – I have not seen this one before 🙂
Great, they look very useful.
I wanna suggest another site: Syncronia.com. You can download free BIM and CAD file for Architecture and Interior Design in different formats.
Hey Travis – thanks for the tip – I will add it to the main post. Much appreciated. Emma
For Free Cad files and free Cad dwg http://www.cadsample.com is so good
Don’t forget http://www.caddetails.com – 1000’s of manufacturer approved CAD and BIM files.
Hey Charley – thanks for the tip – I’m planning an update to this post soon so I’ll make sure to include your website in the main body of the post 🙂 Emma
Free Cad dwg and blocks in http://www.cadsample.com
Do visit http://www.planndesign.com (related to cad blocks, drawings, Interior- Architectural detail, Landscape detail etc.)
Hello Emma,
nice list! Im gonna be honest, this is a comment just because I want you to see our free cad-blocks site. I think it would fit the list:
pimpmydrawing.com
Thank you for your great work!
Hi, Great content here. Thank you. I have a question. What is the deal with Bibliocad?? I wanted to find some famous master buildings to study from, but all their drawings are unitless or to some weird scale. Any ideas? According to their drawings, the height of a room is 2.35 mm……..All their cars and things are messed up to. Any ideas why or where else I can find legit drawings of famous buildings?
Cheers,
M
Hi Michael, From what I understand Bibliocad is essentially a collaboration site. This means that people kindly submit their work to be part of the library, that then entitles them to access to all the free and vip blocks. This means that there may not be a very thorough quality control on the submissions and results in a varying format, scale, units and of course quality. Personally I am not comfortable sharing any of the projects I am working on and I don’t think my clients would be too happy about it too – so I use some of the bibliocad blocks for my tutorials. One of the reasons I started creating my own block library and sharing it with my readers was to offer consistency and hopefully a high standard of block that can be relied upon. Bibliocad is great and has a vast selection of blocks many of which are free to use – you just have to check the drawings and be selective and take it for what it is. Don’t knock it!
As for famous buildings – I think you would be better turning to architectural journals – Architects Journal often does building studies, Detail Magazine and many others. I think these would be better places to study famous buildings.
Hi Emma, thank you for your response.
You are right, there are lot’s of good stuff on Bibliocad. What I found is that the drawing scales have been scaled way down perhaps to save file space. So some drawings can be scaled up. Whilst Detail Magazine and Architects Journal are great , I was more interested in downloading a CAD file of buildings to analyze their dimensions. Do these sites offer building studies that allow downloads?
As a student of architecture, I’m really interested if architects these days design using proportioning systems. Or perhaps it’s more based on anthropometrics, building standards, and sizes of materials. On a side not, happy to hear your thoughts on this, too.
Hi Michael, yes, it is tricky to get hold of cad files of famous buildings – for obvious reasons. I think sites like bibliocad would be your best bet, once you have sorted out the scales.
Cheers Dude
For me it was very useful Website dwgmodels.com!
Thank you so much for both your articles and tutorials, and for the free CAD block library. I’m just starting out in CAD and I’ve found this site an incredibly useful resource!
Great to hear, thank you Kate.