3.66 avg rating — 44 ratings

"Huts; living on the edge; tea houses, and a voice striving to awaken us to alternative architectural values. The first chapter of this book is excellently written and that tone is maintained all the way through what is an exceptional book on an important issue. However, one can't help feeling that the work should have touched upon the issue of 'wabi' sensitivities in design as something that haunts the entire architectural profession and desperately needs articulation as a counterpoint to contrived design orthodoxies that support the profession / supplier economic relationship. The issues she touches upon are not restricted to huts and small homes but (as we are cerain Cline would agree) are to be found at a corporate design level as well. One is reminded, for example, of Habermas's points concerning the economic 'systemsworld' and its persistent penetration of the cultural 'lifeworld'; there is a battleground here that Cline retreats from. However, we recommend this erudite and sensitive book, but wish the author had desired to address the difficulties felt by many commercially practising architects."

3.86 avg rating — 5,568 ratings

"Sub-titled 'the Education of an Amateur Builder', this book is a good place to start on dealing with a subject with many dimensions and crucially concerned with the process of creating this strange thing called 'architecture'. It is a wonder that Pollan does this with nothing more than a studio-hut at the bottom of his garden, but he manages to bring in a huge variety of fundamental architectural theory and sentiments - the latter including the politics that invariably exist within the client / architect / builder triad. Cleverly, Pollan is treading well-trodden ground: the notion that architecture has simple roots, mythologised at the beginning of the modern period (in the 17th / early 18th centuries) as the notion of 'the primitive hut' to which origin all architecture (then neo-classical) architecture could be traced. Try it; it will surprise you. You might become strangely ambitious with that garden hut you've been planning."

3.40 avg rating — 40 ratings

"Useful primer: assumes no previous architectural knowledge, outlines lives and works of key international players, architectural styles and movements explains, glossary of terms and techniques."

4.17 avg rating — 6 ratings

"The ABCs of architecture. From cave-dwelling to skyscraper, Louis Hellman, architect and cartoonist, give us the blueprint. The styles, materials, inventions the good and the bad of architecture, are clearly explained in cartoon format which makes for a delightful publication. There's erudition and wisdom behind the comic wit of this cartoonist who frequently illustrates architectural works published from within the profession."

4.29 avg rating — 4,046 ratings

"A classic introduction to architecture (form, space and order), architectural analysis and architectural drawing, with beautiful sketches marking Ching's romp through architectural history and form. Although the work is not structured in historical terms, its wealth of plans gives the book certain parallels with Bannister-Fletcher (see below). The book is described as a study intended "to introduce the student of architecture to form and space and the principles that guide their ordering in the built environment". Topics such as Form & Space, Proportion, and Principles, are all dealt with in simple, concise and clear graphic terms. Implicitly, the reader becomes familiar with a wealth of architectural examples from around the world, ancient and contemporary. (You can also find other good books by Ching.)"

3.92 avg rating — 26 ratings

"Baker's work is prefaced by the famous British architect Jim Stirling. It adopts an analytical approach to architectural composition, and has many parallels with Ching (see above), especially in its employment of clear sketches. However, the book goes into specific buildings in more depth and, as much as anything else, helps to us to understand our architectural experiences and learn how to look.

Note: if this and Ching's book interests you, also see Simon Unwin's book in the Getting More Serious section."

3.77 avg rating — 4,221 ratings

"A short, irreverent classic - a witty journalist debunking Modernism at the same time as he informs us about its tenets and key personalities, offering us images such as the impecunious young architect's family celebrating their only significant possession: a designer chair. Should be read in conjunction with Wolfe's book on abstract art."

4.01 avg rating — 2,461 ratings

"First published in 1985, this is the original book by an ordinary client (a journalist who had great success with a book on the invention of the computer (The Soul of A New Machine) who uses home-building as a means of accessing architecture and the process of building - a theme later taken up by Pollan (and, to some extent, Rybczynski). The fraught and emotive eternal triangle of client / builder / architect relationship is central to the story - a relationship that is almost archetypal and evident at every scale of building."

4.19 avg rating — 299 ratings

"Not only a history of how the wealthy lived and the evolution of grand English country homes, but also an exploration of the relationship between architecture, life-styles and social class. £16.95 at Amazon."

really liked it 4.00 avg rating — 8 ratings

"A full colour, map guide based book on London's recent architecture by the people who brought you London Open House. Handy for the pocket; not to small to be hard work. It includes references to anything nearby that is worth visiting and, in this sense, extends beyond just the contemporary and gives a useful introduction to London's significant architecture. London Open House can also provide fold-up mapguides of the same topic."

3.55 avg rating — 11 ratings

"Powell is an excellent architectural journalist and this coffee-table book is a good appetiser to encourage you to get out on the streets and enjoy the metropolis. But like all books in this genre, it presumes you will stay sat there in cosy comfort and will not attempt to get to the things themselves! So: good, enjoyable, flattering in some peculiar way, but neither the selections of the information draw you out onto the pavement. The same comments apply to the companion book to this one: New Architecture in Britain. Kenneth Powell (Merrell, 2003)."

4.34 avg rating — 89 ratings

"Day opens his book with the question, 'Does architecture matter?' and, on the same page, makes the distinction between a photograph of architecture and its experience - he'd won us immediately! He dives straight into the deterministic debate that argues our surroundings are more than 'hygiene' factors, that their aesthetics are extremely important and affect us in profound ways. Now whether Day means the emotions when he talks of the 'soul' is a debatable point. And 'ensouling buildings' is a painful term! So, too, is his dedication against the rectangle. Nevertheless, you'll find this book thought-provoking and a very useful introduction to architectural appreciation. There are many good points. The challenge is to ensure it makes one positive and innovative rather than negative and reactionary. "

0.00 avg rating — 0 ratings

"You might find this guide to England's public sculpure a useful adjunct to architectural explorations and encouragement to look at public sculptures, although its recommendations are edited back to the absolute minimum of examples (10 for London!). We suggest you contact the PMSA for fuller details and access to their extensive database."

4.36 avg rating — 25 ratings

"Now in its umpteenth edition, originally written when such books were comparatively rare, this work attempts to be a veritable gazetteer of significant London architecture and it is very good. As usual, the authors (quite reasonably) have to edit content and one of your obscure favourites might turn out not to be theirs. Having said that, the work is still the most comprehensive (if selected) guide to London's architecture. If you do want the real gazetteer, then turn to the Buildings of England. If you want a map-based and even more edited guide, then use the Ken Allinson guide."

4.55 avg rating — 11 ratings

"The Buildings of England series offers descriptions, spiced by lively and informed comments, of every building of architectural importance in every county of England. Besides the grand set pieces - cathedrals and their furnishings, great country houses and their parks, the commercial and industrial architecture of Victorian cities - the reader is introduced to other delights, from village churches to garden follies, from pubs to pumping stations. The series is hugely impressive, but suffers the curious presumption that readers will happily sit by the fireplace and rarely get out there to experience the architecture itself. For example, a description that tell us a facade is three-stories high and has marble giant-order Doric columns is of limited use if you're standing in front of the building itself (although, in truth this fault is less evident now that Pevsner is being overwritten). The academic values and criteria implicitly discount actual experience."

3.65 avg rating — 83 ratings

"With over 365 illustrations this publication is the account of how men of ingenuity and imagination have taken the most elementary of human needs and transformed them into some of the greatest manifestations of the human spirit. The book is written in a sequence of 21 chapters, each one charting a stage in the architectural story, beginning with 'origins' and ending with 'many Directions'. This makes for easy reference and divides the book into natural study units. The book unfolds as a story without technical language and covers the entire world."

3.76 avg rating — 138 ratings

"A classic Dorling Kindersley publication: to the point and well illustrated. The entirety of architectural history is packaged into sections taking about two pages each and one has the feeling that Glancey has honed his information to the bone. Particularly good for younger children and anyone enthusiastic about the range of architecture and keen to home in on new areas of interest."

4.01 avg rating — 642 ratings

"A simple work based on some of Summerson's lectures, but a useful introduction to the topic that can lead onto far more penetrating coverage.
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3.86 avg rating — 532 ratings

"Another book that enters upon a huge subject through a small door - in this instance, the designing and building of an American home for the author, but an exercise that rattle around most of architectural history and theory. There are other books (e.g. Home - A Short History of an Idea) in the same vein, by the same author. Try them; they are all accessible, knowledgeable and well written."

0.00 avg rating — 0 ratings

"Step by step American guide to the architectural planning process, from initial conceptualization to the bidding process. This book is designed to give anyone involved in architectural review – from members of design review boards to potential new homeowners – the tools necessary to understand architectural drawings. (There are a few other works around like this, but they are all US-oriented so far as we know.)"