1 comments about Architectural Practice: A Critical View.

1. Gutman describes the state of the profession and the historical reasons for its condition. Drawing from economical, social and political forces he explains the reasons for the decline of the role of the architect.

1 comments about LARE Review, Section A Practice Problems: Project and Construction Administration, 2nd ed..

1. These books are pretty expensive, and unfortunately they are not very representative of the current (2008) test. They are really only helpful to give an indication of how the test questions are worded.

2 comments about Graphic Thinking for Architects and Designers.

1. As an Architecture Student, I really enjoyed this book. It was very helpful with sketching techniques and just general concepts related to architecture. It was a required text for a class, but it has been a helpful reasource since. I recommend this book to any person wishing to develop a good sketching technique. This book refrences very important works by Aalto and Wright. It also addresses important and helpful hints about abstraction of ideals and their graphic weight.



2. As an interior design student I have found this book to be very informative and helpful. The step by step analysis of the design process is terrific and I've practically worn out the copy at the library, so it's time to buy it for myself.

4 comments about Axonometric and Oblique Drawing: A 3-D Construction, Rendering, and Design Guide.

1. I am suprised by the view from Russia. I think reading a book and understanding it are two issues which are completely different. Probably the reviewer does not understand the meaning of Axonometric and Oblique Drawing, or may be not trained in a related field to be equipped to understand the book. This book has a clear emphasis in design and use of various axonometric types for design presentation. I believe that when it comes to this particular topic uddin's book is the only complete source at this time. The strength of the book is in its showing the context of Axonometric drawings in Design Analysis, Design Process, and in Final Composed Presentation. There is a brief chapter on contemporary architects work using such drawings. The chapter on shades and shadows is particularly useful, since it simplifies shadow casting from simple to complex 3D axonometric drawings.



2. I would recommend this book to all design professionals and especially to all teaching professionals and students in the field of architecture. I used the book as a guide to paraline drawing as a design tool last spring in a studio setting at the Academy of Art College in San Francisco. The mystery of axonometric drawing was dispelled and my students were quickly using and producing detail and large-scale drawings to explain their intent. This is a real winner.



3. Gives a great overview of the "history" of oblique drawings. Perfect for the text for architectural foundation classes focusing on drawing and avant-garde interpretations. A wonderful portfolio of VERY diverse drawings is included, for students to see professionals working with wnat might seem an esoteric concept while in school.

   It really has two personalities. The technical section at the first half is more than is included in drawing classes, highly technical. The second "half" gives a wonderfully deep cross-section of examples. These combine to serve as visual adis for students and professionals as well [several architecvture firms in my community -Southern California- have purchased this book for therir reference collection]. I think this speaks of the range of appeal.




4. This book is worthless and Anthonly Healy could write a better book. Contact him at heaant@dunwoody.tec.mn.us

2 comments about A Theory of Architecture.

1. A Theory of Architecture is not a cook book. It does not tell architects how to compose a building in several easy steps. Rather, it gives architects permission to do what we would automatically do if we had not been taught the style rules and the world view of the `Modern Movement' and its successors. A Theory of Architecture reveals the scientific food value of most tried and true building recipes while demonstrating that contemporary junk food is exactly that.
   
   Why should the architect, who is more often a creator and a builder than a reader, plough through pages of analogies that link our perception of spaces and surfaces with the laws of nature in mathematics and physics? Simply because the laws come alive for us in the author's straightforward and active prose. They remind us that when we design a building, we do far more than please a client or satisfy demands of use and economy. They remind us that we shape order in our world. We can base that order on an ideological whim. Or we can base it on patterns and forms found in nature and in the majority of architecture throughout history.
   
   A Theory of Architecture is a book we can read again and again. Then we can put it down and forget about it. The lessons we glean from it will have taken form in the designs we make. We discover that our buildings have levels of scale, meaningful ornament, proportions which the human eye notices inherently. We notice that both patterns and forms comprise the language which our spaces and their boundaries speak. We realize we have learned to design in consonance with our own nature. What a breakthrough! What a book!
   
   Dr. Ir. Jaap Dawson,
   Architect and Assistant Professor of Architectural Design,
   Technische Universiteit Delft



2. What an amazing book! I highly recommend it to any architect, designer or student thereof. It is a powerful, direct look at the principles behind psychologically pleasing design - grounded in math and science. Salingaros presents easy to digest information; rules that help an architect create his/her own "language" to humanize design, and interesting concepts that everyone can enjoy.
   
   I picked it up about a few months ago, and it has dramatically changed the way I see "good architecture". Following the patterns of Christopher Alexander and others, Salingaros offers us an accessible and applicable examination of how architects construct basic psychological needs into the built environment. He has created easy to understand guides to build a socially responsible, aesthetic and long-lasting architecture.
   
   A Theory of Architecture is a different view of sustainable design that will lead a new breed of architects into a dynamic renewal of human-centric architecture. Undoubtedly the most powerful book I've read since McDonough's Cradle to Cradle. Salingaros is a visionary, and I can't wait to read more of his work!

2 comments about Traditions in Architecture: Africa, America, Asia, and Oceania.

1. Although the book was written as a textbook for a course in non-western traditions in architectural history, it may be of considerable interest to anyone traveling to parts of Asia, Africa and Oceania. The authors' approach is largely descriptive, and the illustrations both plentiful and very good, so one may be a little impatient that the verbal descriptions rarely provide much information that is not apparent from the photos and drawings; but this is, after all, a textbook, and if you will grant that allowance, it is well-worth your time.
        The architectural traditions covered are contemporary as well as ancient, grand as well as domestic and, throughout, the authors treat the sacred and symbolic traditions of the culture, insofar as they are known or may be inferred, as they bear on the built environment. The book is organized thematically, rather than chronologically or geographically. Among the themes: moveable, stationary and underground dwellings; the impact of colonialism on native structures; the transfer of traditional architectural knowledge; and spatial organization, from courtyards to the axial alignments of cities. The focus is on three categories of structures: professionally designed and built monuments, houses erected by traditional building tradesmen, and structures that ordinary people build for their own use. The overarching theme is that architecture expresses cultural values as well as technology, and it illustrates that theme with an exceptionally wide range of examples.
        In the single area of the book where I have a fairly solid background, the Anasazi/Puebloan architecture of the Southwest, the scholarship is current and sound. Interesting and highly informative.



2. My familiarity with architectural studies stems from 3 years as a graduate student. Most architectural studies are "biased" to western history an organized in chronological order. Traditions in Architecture takes a fresh approach by focusing on a rich source of architectural precedence in the early America, Asia, Africa and the far east. The organization is thematic, rather than chronological covering such diverse topics as fixed versus mobile living spaces, vernacular materials, construction methods, sacred spaces, and so much more.

   The only reason that I did not give the work 5 stars is that many of the pictures (all black and white) lacked clarity. I do not know whether this was due to poor originals or poor reproduction; however, the details often are necessary to untderstand the full impact of the works.

   As UCLA professors, Crouch and Johnson give much credit to their students' work and input. This appears to be a work that has been a culmination of years of study with much independent input. I highly recommend it as a "first" to take this approach and to cover such a wide breadth of topics in one volume.

No comments about ARE Sample Exams: Nonstructural Divisions.

3 comments about Pocket Guide to the ADA: Americans with Disabilities Act Accessibility Guidelines for Buildings and Facilities, Revised Edition.

1. The Table of Contents of this book is nearly indentical to the "Code of Federal Regulations" issued by the Justice Department and provided free of charge to anyone who asks for it. But at roughly 6x9 inches, it doesn't fit in my pocket. So if the pocket thing is important to you, I highly recommend this book!



2. This little book is easy to carry around and contains all of the ADAAG info you could ever need! I've been using mine for 2 years and would be lost without it! Thomas Schmokel - ADA Consultant



3. Are you tired of tracking down the office copy of the ADA standards? Is the only copy within the workstation of King Tornado? Get your hands on this little number. Keep it by you at all times. I have used this reference guide for two years now and it has saved me a lot of time. This is a very easy to use condensed version of the state issued ADA guide. It is accurate and reliable and it does not have to go back to the office library. And don't let the words "pocket guide" scare you off, this is not a brochure, it is a book. It's just smaller and smarter, not to mention lighter than the stardard issue. So get a grip on ADA, pocket size.

3 comments about Michael Graves: Images of a Grand Tour.

1. Here are images drawn by a young man destined to be one of the premier designers of our time. They were done in the 1960-62 time frame when Mr. Graves was a student in Rome. He traveled across Europe sketching, painting and photographing. His subjects were primarily architectural, but also included images that his eye could pull out of a scene that the rest of us would miss.
   
   These two years, Mr. Graves says in the Foreward, taught him to experiment with media, style, even places to paint other than in his studio. This was two years of independent graduate study that in part gave him the background to go on to the success that has made him almost a household word.
   
   These are fascinating drawings, often showing the essence of a point of design with only a few strokes. The next picture captures what an architect of centuries earlier designed in a Roman structure. Once in a while there's a photograph to capture a particular scene. All in all, a view of what a talented person sees.



2. Prior to creating post-modernist architecture and becoming a household name (thanks to Target), Michael Graves' career took him to the American Academy in Rome from 1960 through 1962. While there, Graves immersed himself in the architecture of Rome, Italy, Greece, Turkey, France, Spain, and the United Kingdom which have been collected into a book aptly entitled "Michael Graves: Images of a Grand Tour".
   
   The drawings within "Images if a Grand Tour" are grand themselves as they vary from quick pencil sketches to elaborate pen and ink sketches of full building perspectives, details, and partial cityscapes. All of the drawings exhume a certain elegance in their composition and mannerism despite the level of time and detail Graves may have paid to them.
   
   Two important lessons can be drawn from the collection of Graves drawings. The first is that the importance of drawing to the representation of architecture - be it built or conceived - is unparalleled. The drawings contain gestures of ideas, form, etc. that Graves was highly interested in. This point is further reinforced with the inclusion of Graves' writing entitled "The Necessity for Drawing". The second lesson that can be observed from this collection is the emergence of Michael Graves as an Architect. Graves' noted architectural style evolves with his studies during those two years, and one can begin to see many of the forms and shapes arise from what Graves is immersed in.
   
   Whether or not one may love or loathe the work of Michael Graves, "Images of a Grand Tour" is a superb collection of drawings that are worthy of note and worthy of owning.



3. In his newest book, Professor Brian Ambroziak eloquently displays the sketches, washes and images created by his mentor, Michael Graves, during his two year stay in Rome (having won the pristigious Prix de Rome). The most important thing about this book is that it is far from being a mere collection of work, beautiful though it is. Ambroziak asks us to look deeper into the work and search for the artistic conscience- for the connection between mind and hand that Graves exemplifies in his work. Looking at Graves' work while considering the education of the architect is an inspirational experience. I can imagine Graves' eye following the line of the horizon as he sketches the landscape of Rome- his pencil traveling carefully over the edges. In a similar way, Graves has a way of embedding architectural ideas into his drawings- they are not just documentation of a place. His "Theater of Dionysia" from Athens, the "Tempietto" from Rome, "Arch of Janus" on the Capitoline Hill, "La Rotunda" in Vicenza- every work in this book evidences the mental processes that Graves underwent during in his explorations of Italy, Greece, Turkey, France, Spain and the UK.
   Attempting to understand the way in which architects think in terms of the connection between what they see and what they draw is vital to the understanding of architecture (and representation in general). I recommend this book to everyone, but especially to architecture students. There is much to learn from this work.

1 comments about Concise Townscape.

1. If Gordon Cullen's book 'The Concise Townscape' were required reading for anyone entering an architectural education, the level of discourse on design would skyrocket. Cullen puts to words and images some of the more intangible qualities of space that nevertheless affect how we view our surroundings. It is, in my opinion, a categorization of experiences... discussing things like 'serial vision' (the progression of visual experience as one moves along a path) 'outdoor room and indoor landscape', 'looking into enclosure', 'viscosity', etc. etc. This book is more than a dictionary or thesaurus of spatial terms, however. It is primarily a book on experience- getting to the heart of how a space actually feels; how it is occupied, how it CAN be occupied, and what are the qualities that make it that way. If read for what it truly is, it renders the current fashion of architectural pornography rather silly.
   
   And this, my friend, is where its true strength in Academia comes into play. Sexy renderings only take one so far, but your design professor has most likely read this book. Understanding Cullen's work will bring the discourse up, and move your work beyond a visual one-liner.
   
   But that's just my opinion, and I could be wrong.