No comments about Timber Construction: Details, Products, Case Studies (Detail Praxis).

No comments about Doors of the World.

1 comments about 2003 ICC/ANSI Guidelines: for Accessible & Useable Buildings & Facilities (Icc/Ansi).

1. this book has given me so much information and has helped in resolving some questions as well as issues from the previous issue of the same book in 1998. i am so glad i got this book.
   thank you

No comments about Learning Construction Spanglish.

1 comments about Ten Shades of Green: Architecture and the Natural World.

1. Peter Buchanan's TEN SHADES OF GREEN: ARCHITECTURE AND THE NATURAL WORLD centers on ten buildings which illustrate how environmental responsibility influences modern architectural pursuits. Peter Buchanan is a curator and critic: his choices reflect designs which blend environmental responsibility with design excellence, showing how such a focus provides architects with new, innovative ideas.

No comments about Energy-Efficient Architecture: Basics for Planning and Construction.

5 comments about In Detail: Building Simply.

1. Very informative and gives a clear precise description of varying types on renovation and adaptive reuse.



2. This book is part of a deliriously excellent series of Birkhauser's In
   Detail collection, a series of books emphasizing and celebrating the importance of architectural details and the susbsequent spatial magic that emerges from the vigilant attention to design craft. I must say its excellence SHAMES the building culture of The united States of Kitsch. The level of American work in the field of architecture, by comparison, is stunted, nostalgic to the point of senility, and plastic garbage overseen by power broker idiot clients. Sadly, it's painfully, pathetically true, and these books prove it as a matter of course. Why are we (American) practitioners, builders, teachers, students, clients, laypeople, basically everyone really SO ill informed about design????
   Don't we care?? Is there so much discord and disagreement?? It's puzzling.
   Get these books and feast on the International wisdom; let's get half a clue.



3. The book was exactly as I expected, high quality, detailed explanations in the Caliber of detail magazine. I will defiantly be purchasing the other books in this series.



4. I found the essays on simple construction to be variable in quality...The chapters on wood and steel either suffered in translation or were student composition exercises to begin with. The projects illustrated, however, are of uniformly high quality, and are documented with Detail's typical precision. For an American architect, many of the projects using wood construction will be eye openers. The stone and clay construction projects are wonderful for daydreaming about a different building culture in this country. Well worth it for the photos and drawings.



5. The book describes simple and neat residential building design in detail , shape, and material. The book should be applicable to architects or designers who aspire to work in modernism or minimalism on housing and who desire to improve the residential detil design to be more insighfully clean and blight. As well, the analysis from the publication could be developed to function in other architecture types.

5 comments about Architectural Acoustics (Applications of Modern Acoustics).

1. Having read some architectural acoustics books, I can recommend this one as one of the best. It is an excellent resource. In fact, I should not have spent some of my money on some oldie books, which were cheap but not as good.
   
   This is an up to date book, and it is worth every penny you spend. If you are a student or someone interested in the topic architectural acoustics, it is a good resource but it has many formulas (sorry if you do not like physics).
   
   With it I have been able to specify to an architect who does not know hardly anything about acoustics how to correct his design for a contemporary church. I also recommend "Handbook for Sound Engineers" as a compliment to this book, for people that are trying to get the best of both worlds -- acoustics and audio. These are both good buys, and can help you very much. Remember that to be a good consultant you need to have a good library of books and this one would be an excellent part of your reference library.



2. The ultimate guide to architectural acoustics covering many topics in a single and nice priced book, It has everything covered and explained to a good level, my only complain is that only basic measurement techniques are explained. However it is a great complilation of knowledge in a single package.



3. In his preamble the author refers to the fact this book took him more than 10 years to write. Given the level of detail and the comprehensive nature of this book, this is not surprising.
   
   There may be better acoustical books available relating to specific niches of acoustics, such as Beranek and Barron's works on concert halls and there are certainly more simple introductions to the subject, such as Egan's book of the same name, but for anybody who doesn't mind grappling with some mathematical equations, this is definitely the best and most comprehensive book on this subject of the 15 or so that I possess.
   
   Like the author, I am also a practicing acoustical consultant and a lecturer in this subject. It's probably splitting hairs, but I suspect that my architecture students might not respond well to this book due to the fact that the illustrations are generally limited to fairly simple black and white drawings and the mathematical approach may intimidate some, but for other acoustical consultants and engineers interested in the field of building acoustics, I would definitely recommend this text.



4. I just received my copy, and have yet to dive into. However it appears up to date (2006) in that it covers modelling and auralization concepts. The scope of the book is expanded compared to Eagan's excellent text. Take a look at the table of contents on line for an idea of the topics.
   
   It appears to be well written. The mathematics of sound are covered. This should be a standard reference text for a general knowledge of architectural acoustics.
   
   July 2007 - I use this book as one of my primary references. It has excellent breadth and detail.



5. I have a copy of Long's Architectural Acoustics and have read a number of sections. The book is remarkably complete and Long has correctly embodied current literature. I recommend it for professionals and architects who have some mathematics. Leo Beranek

2 comments about Urban Design: A typology of Procedures and Products. Illustrated with over 50 Case Studies.

1. This is not a comprehensive book on the field of Urban Design. Although this is obvious from the subtitle one is left with dissapointment. Aside from an interesting collection of cases studies you really don't get the complexity and timeless cross-section of this field that is having a renaissance now. None of the current trends are mentioned nor do they get any strong coverage (new urbanism/trasnurbanism/reurbanism/everyday urbanism/splintered urbanism/complexity urbanism) nor does the historical element comes through. Generaly good written book but too much of a sallad bowl without a proper structure and philosophy. Not a good tool for teaching. If you want top of the pops book in this field go to D.Grahame Shane's Recombinant Urbanism. For me it was astonishing how little space was given to new urbanism, the leading urban design theory and practice today.



2. A spectacular book. Lang explains all the design process of the urban environment within USA in this century. What had going wrong and why. See also how a close relationship between designers and its clients can improve design quality and what sort of human needs can be fulfilled by the built environment. A book not only for urban designers but for all people related with the designing process from interiors designers to landscape architects.

2 comments about Project Resource Manual (PRM) : The CSI Manual of Practice.

1. I purchased this to study for the CDT exam. It is very complete, but reads (as you'd expect) more like a specification than a textbook. Five stars for completeness, and five stars for cure for insomnia.



2. First off, I'm an architect, so my review is written from that perspective.
   
   This is a great companion to the AIA Handbook. If the AIA Handbook is about running a firm, the CSI PRM is about running a project. An oversimplification, yes, but both books are so dense and full of critical information, no 100 word review could do either justice.
   
   The CD includes many useful references including an overview of MasterFormat and a list of divisions / sections, but does not include the entire MasterFormat "product" (the full MF product includes 95-04 conversion tools and additional documentation).
   
   My only complaint is that the text is so dense it takes a lot of time and energy to absorb all of the information within. :) It's as if they took a 1000 page tome and compressed it into 300 pages. (The product description says 1200 pages, but it's only an inch thick, so I'm guessing 300 pp.)
   
   A must-have for architects who strive to deliver projects in a more expert and professional manner, and wish to more effectively interface with contractors during the construction phase. If you're a pure "designer" or only involved with the front end of projects this will probably stay on the shelf, but if you're responsible for the rest of the process (DD through construction and occupancy) this book is essential.
   
   I can't believe I made it through 6 years of architectural education without being required to own this book.