The preference of material chemists for specific organic building blocks for the generation of porous crystalline or amorphous covalently linked materials or supramolecular architectures, held together by hydrogen bonding or metal coordination, is reviewed. Tetrakisphenylmethane and adamantane cores are readily to hand and easily endowed with various functional groups suitable for network generation. Besides, these structures fulfil the stiffness requirements in order to generate permanently porous frameworks. By reviewing the major types of porous networks through selected examples, the authors intend to give a concise overview to the specialist in the field and to provide the non-specialist with a tool box of possibilities.