Recommendable Architecture Books?

Does anyone have suggestions for good introductory architecture books? I'm starting a project management position for a developer and, although I know it isn't necessary, I would like to have some architectural knowledge. Not looking for something academic, but something educational, at least.

Appreciate any suggestions!

 

Depending on what you will be doing, a general construction management book may be more useful, more for process control and coordination. Your role will be much more about process and coordination if this is an entry level type position. If it is, I'd check on some CM textbooks. Also, what kind of assets will you be around? Type I skyscrapers or industrial for example?

 

If you're looking to further areas of your knowledge that will help you in your career, you do not need architecture books. You would need construction management or MEP focused books.

If you want to study areas of architecture for fun, I can make some suggestions if you're more specific about what interests you.

Array
 
Best Response

Right up my alley - I'm an architect and avid reader!

These recommendations are assuming you are a non-savvy individual who's willing to spend a limited time on this stuff:

Hands down my #1 reccomendation is the Architecture of Happiness. It effectively explains why architecture is important to most architects, why idealistic architects see it as an art and not a technical discipline by demonstrating how the architectural environment affects people. It's an outsider's wonderful take on the discipline, and should be interesting for anyone invested in the spaces they are creating.

To learn the basics of what good design should encompass, 101 Things I Learned in Architecture School is an obvious choice and you can get through the thing in 10 minutes, but in its mere 101 sentences it still has some fluff...

Going deeper - Architecture, Form, Space & Order is a classic and goes into the depth of why those 101 things are taught to architects - all architecture students graduated within the last 20 years are familiar with this book, but is a bit longer (albeit with readable, short chapters).

Want to impress people with your comprehensive knowledge of architectural styles and history? American Homes is your best bet for an illustrated encyclopedia, less comprehensive than the authoritative but cumbersome Field Guide.

cre_questions hit the nail on the head with the half-century old Death and Life of Great American Cities hands down the single most informative book on planning, etc. All architects have read this, at least in part, as well. I'd also recommend The Highway and the City to understand the social side of architecture, viewed from a 1960s lens.

Astute Pulitze-prize winning architectural critic Paul Goldberger's best hits are compiled in Building Up and Tearing Down - this is a good one as it's a compilation of journalistic pieces (short) about recent buildings which likely include some you've actually walked by and noticed.

I've also heard good things about Structures, as TheWildMan has recommended - haven't read it myself though.

If you particularly love an architect, try to find their highest rated monograph on Amazon, as the work will be beautifully documented in photographs, drawings, and sketches and generally sits impressively on a coffee table.

While Vitruvius, Le Corbusier, Palladio can all be considered cornerstones of Western architectural canon, they are painfully dry and should really only be read for academic purposes. A summary of their points should be sufficient if you're interested.

What I'm missing right now is an easy book that explains the architectural drawing best, but all that comes to mind is overly academic and I think I've left you for enough now...

 

You probably don't even remember writing this, but I found this in search and added plenty of these to my list. The idea to find a specific architect and find a book on them is a great recommendation - just purchased books on Mies van der Rohe (because of his significance) and Zaha Hadid (amazing/unique designs). 

Don't @ me
 

Given your position and desired expertise, I'd recommend anything that either builds your vocabulary and knowledge of concepts or the process architects follow to design the plans that show up on your desk. The later is probably more useful. I'd recommend grabbing a few of the Francis D. K. Ching illustrated books that are great to browse through and learn through visuals. Personally, I take more pleasure in reading about urban development. Happy City, and Triumph of the City are good ones.

I haven't tried to find any books that are good at explaining architectural process, but there's probably quite a few academic books out there. Try to be humble and ask your architects for a list of information/checklists they go through to put a site plan together and use whatever resources you have to provide that information with your site plan/building ideas. You'd be surprised how much time they take to research city codes/ordinances before they can even put a simple idea into AutoCad. This was a big wake-up call to me. I used to be ignorant enough to ask for several revision drafts that I could forward to land sellers with LOIs, but I didn't realize the effort it took to make "simple" revisions like moving the building to one side of a parcel or making it more rectangular even though square footage didn't change.

Frankly, you should spend as much time as you can honing skills in project management, cost estimating, and negotiating. Your projects' profitability depend on you keeping general contractors honest and calling BS on anything that seems unreasonable. Do not accept change orders without understanding why the cost was estimated incorrectly. There are many GCs who would be out of business if they didn't win the bid by low-balling and banking on change orders at the end of a project. If they invoice for 60 feet @$1,000 , it's probably 55 feet, so just pay attention to the details, Multiply this small oversight by 100 and you'll have little contingency to work with. Also, keep a close eye on anything that could delay the project. Have 100% understanding of lease clauses for delay penalty and make those known to GC. Is an HVAC unit supposed to be installed in 30 days? Ask the GC if it's ordered and when it's scheduled to be on site. Document everything that concerns delays. It gets ugly quickly. Your equity investors will sue you for cost overruns or ask you to eat the cost, so you need to be prepared to make GCs eat the cost or admit that you didn't know better in project planning and accepted a timeline that allowed for little margin of error. Most likely your bosses will push you to have a shorter timeline because it increases returns and makes it easy to sell. Also, learn MS project manager so you can really map out a critical path to deliver s building.

 

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