Archi-Quiz: Can You Identify These 12 Iconic Buildings Solely From Their Sections?

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The soaring popularity of our feature on sensational sections proves that architects, architecture students and design enthusiasts alike are suckers for a good sectional perspective drawing. This particular form of architectural representation is hard to beat when it comes to understanding a building through visual means: Concepts relating to formal qualities, spatial rationale and programmatic principles can all be displayed with great clarity with the aid of a detailed slice through a structure.

For this reason, this singular drawing type makes for a superb compendium of iconic architecture across the globe, and authors Paul Lewis, Marc Tsurumaki and David J. Lewis — founding principals of LTL Architects — have made it so with Manual of Section. The book, which is available to buy here (currently with a 24% discount!), contains some 63 intricately detailed section drawings, each one drawn by LTL with insightful explanations about the buildings they portray.

Inspired by these illustrations, we are laying down the gauntlet — how many of these 12 buildings can you identify from a single section? Grab a pen and write down the name of the building and its architect for each of the drawings below, then click on the link at the foot of the article to see how many you got right.

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Share this with your fellow students and colleagues to see how your architectural knowledge compares! Then, when you’re ready, you can check out the answers here. (No cheating!)

Send us a drawing, tell us a story, win $2,500! Enter the One Drawing Challenge before the Early Bird Deadline on July 2nd, 2021.

All drawings © LTL Architects / Manual of Section