5 comments about Professional Practice for Interior Designers.

1. I am using this book for a class. It is actually very readable and has lots of good clear information.



2. The book is very informative,easy to read, and enjoyable! I wish I would have read as an interior design student, but I wouldn't have appreciated it as a 21 year-old.



3. This is very good! I haven't read the whole thing though. This version is so much better than the old one. It's twice as thick and scary at first site. If using it to study for the NCIDQ, better start reading way in advance, it's long and small print. Got a nice CD in the back to use for forms, nice!



4. Its a good book, but there are some things I think need to be reworked.
   
   There are real-world examples that are kinda hokey.
   
   There are lots of ethical "what would you do" examples with no follow up about whether or not such an example is an ethics violation or not. With relating the examples to codes of ethics, these examples are pointless.
   
   There seem to be some factual errors too. For example, the author states that if a designer witnesses work on a job site that is not in conformance with drawings they should intervene and stop work. HELLO! Contract law clearly states a designer should NEVER intervene. They should instead inform the contractor and the client of such inconsistencies and NOT recommend a remedy. It is up to the contractor to decide the appropriate remedy and the client to determine the appropriate contract action to take.
   
   And some things seem outdated. In the chapter on preparing marketing presentations, the author states that women "MAY" be permitted to wear trousers to a presentation depending on the firm they work for. Is this 1960? Forcing women to wear skirts violates employment law and the author should know this.
   
   Overall its a useful book, but I wouldn't call it great.



5. good information for starting a design business (not just interior) or to rewrite an existing plan that needs some freshening up.

5 comments about The Interior Designers Guide to Pricing Estimating and Budgeting.

1. I love this book and actually taking it with me all the time to work in order to refer to it while pricing products. It is a helpful reference that all interior designers would require.



2. This book has everything I need to know about budgeting and billing as an emerging interior designer.



3. I have not yet had time to read this book cover to cover, however, upon skimming have found it to be very detail orientated and supplied with all of the basics. I would definitely recommend for someone just starting out in the ID field.



4. An excellent tool that is fully up to date. A real necessity for every interior designer, student, apprentice, professional or studio. It does not disappoint as so many such volumes seem to do.



5. This book is a fabulous guide for anyone starting a business. Ms. Williams encourages and guides the new designer to be who he/she wants to be without letting fear stand in his/her way. She also give fabulous advice of do's and don'ts based on her personal experiences. I think this is a book worth reading.

5 comments about Google Sketchup Cookbook: Practical Recipes and Essential Techniques.

1. A profoundly straight-forward and informative guide to quickly mastering and getting the most out of Google's SketchUp. Bonnie Roskes years of experience in design and education are readily apparent in how the book is organized and presented. Like it's title's namesake: it is literally a volume of practical recipes that anyone can follow easily and without getting bogged down in techno babble and irrelevant details.
   
   The book's usefulness cannot be underestimated and was perfect for both novices and advance users alike. The simple to follow tutorials for solving and learning the many amazing abilities of SketchUp made learning as easy as making pie.
   
   The color graphics liberally included throughout her book provide are useful and perfect for the visually driven users of SketchUp ( a common sense detail clearly lacking in some other How-To Guides for SketchUp ). As a bonus; in this digital age, O'Reilly has thoughtfully included a complete online version of this book through their Safari Books Online service for which the purchaser can access. Also as of this writing, a Kindle version of this book was available through Amazon.com.
   
   - Lee Henry
   e-Zine Co-Editor
   [...] (Cleveland Digital Publishing Users Group)



2. Many thanks to Bonnie Roskes for a thoughtfully conceived tutorial to a mind-boggling piece of software.



3. I knew a little bit about SketchUp from playing with it, but I wanted to learn how to use it as a real tool. This book is a great way to learn from the basics to more advanced subjects, with a clear descriptive narrative and illustrations for each step along the way. All the sample models are easily obtained from 3D Warehouse and everything is well referenced. Highly recommended!



4. After trying to teach myself SketchUp last year, I decided to try again this year so I can teach my middle school gifted students how to make 3D models. Using the free tutorials at Google, SketchUp for Dummies, SketchUp Level One DVD, and SketchUp 7: Hands-On Basics (also by Roskes) will provide the new SketchUp user with a strong introductory foundation. Once you are a strong beginner, you should check out Google SketchUp Cookbook to take your SketchUp skills to the next level. Written in a problem & solution format, this book does not have to be read from cover-to-cover (though I did!), rather one can simply use the well-organized table of contents to find exactly the answer needed as problems arise. Full-color screen captures and tons of ready-made models in the 3D Warehouse make this book even more valuable. Some of the skills addressed include Follow Me; using groups, components, and layers; modeling with photos and textures; creating animations; and using the 3D Warehouse and Google Earth. Working through the entire book and all of its `recipes' takes weeks, but in the end you'll be able to anything in SketchUp that is worth doing! :)



5. This book is a huge help! I've been using SketchUp for a few years and never knew about some of the topics covered in this book. For instance you can use section planes and styles as part of an animation, which I never saw explained in another book or video. The stuff on presentation and model display is really helpful for developing models that my clients want to see. The tutorials are easy to follow, and the use of color is great bonus - very unusual for a how-to book. Excellent book!

5 comments about Sustainable Construction: Green Building Design and Delivery, Second Edition.

1. it was a ok price but the shippment was to late and i almost dropped my class for the same reason.. but its in a good condition...........



2. thanks, this is a great book. It taught me a lot about green building and construction and it got me an A in my class!



3. It's no light reading, but for someone new to sustainability and/or sustainable construction this book provides a well rounded and balanced discussion of the topics.



4. This is a very useful book. I will recommend this book to the students and the professional for their reference.



5. This is a textbook required for my green design 2 class. It provides a huge amount of statistics and green construction methods. Compared to other books about sustainable construction, this one seems much more informative and looks at the real issues behind WHY we should be using sustainable construction.

5 comments about How to Start and Operate Your Own Design Firm, Second Edition: A Guide for Interior Designers and Architects.

1. Bought this as a birthday gift for my architect bf, and he LOVED it. He was flipping through it, and said that it is a great guide...he started rattling off info about liability insurance for architects, so sounds like he learned a thing or two! As of right now - this book sounds like it is a great resource!



2. I was looking for a concise, affordable, easy to read book on the nuts and bolts of starting a design business. This book fits that description accurately. It covers all the important fun and not-so-fun topics of starting and running a design business from deciding whether it's right for you, how or if to have partners, hiring lawyers and accountants, marketing, fees and much more. In short, it covers so much of the mysterious and hard won knowledge that most of us weren't privy to while working for others. I'm finding this to be a very valuable resource already. Highly recommend it! It packs a lot of info into a slim volume at a low price. Lots of info bang for the buck.



3. This is a very good book on the nuts and bolts of how to launch an architect's office. It is extremely comprehensive for a small book, and it covers matters that are almost impossible to find elsewhere like how much to budget for your E&O insurance premiums. The author speaks as a well seasoned architect mentoring you through the process from start to finish. The only thing I would like to see changed in the future edition are the pesky sentences that read "Many a designer..." scattered throughout the book, just say "Many designers..." and the thought will flow more smoothly. Otherwise this book is great!



4. Any interior designer or architect who has dreamed of operating a design firm needs the second updated edition of this classic which covers all the basics of establishing such a business, from developing a plan and financing an office to setting fees, locating clients and marketing design services. Both general and design firm-specific tips are blended together making this an invaluable guide for any collection catering to businesspeople or designers alike.



5. Very good book if your looking to get started on your own. Everything you need to know. Nothing is left out!!!

3 comments about The Architect's Handbook of Professional Practice, 14th Ed..

1. "The Architect's Handbook of Professional Practice, 14th Edition" has 4 parts, including the profession, the firm, the project, and the contract and agreement.
   
   Each part is further divided into chapters and subchapters, including:
   
   Professional life, legal dimension of practice, and professional development
   
   Firm development, marketing and public relations, client relations, human resources, financial management, risk management, and firm operation
   
   Project definition, project delivery, project management, quality management, and building codes and regulations
   
   Types of agreements and AIA contract documents
   
   It also has some useful appendixes: Allied professional organizations, state registration boards, schools of architecture, sample AIA contract documents, glossary and Index.
   
   Most of Americans will open a book, read an average of 18 pages, and then put it away and let it sit on the shelf. I guess most architects will look through the table of content of this book, and look up the portion when they need it, and then put it away.
   
   One suggestion I have for AIA is to publish an abridged edition and reduce the number of the pages to make it more usable, and focus on the issues that architectural professionals have to deal with everyday or 80% of the time in real architectural practice.
   
   "The Architect's Handbook of Professional Practice, 14th Edition" has 1028 pages. Overall, it is a useful resource for architects.
   
   Gang Chen, AIA, LEED AP BD+C, Author of "Architectural Practice Simplified," "LEED GA Exam Guide," "Planting Design Illustrated," and other books on various LEED exams, architecture, and landscape architecture



2. not the most exciting book out there, but when you need the Handbook of Professional Practice, nothing else will do. this has been updated to meet current AIA documents, and is a must in any professional office.



3. We just received this the other day. At first glance it appears to be *slightly* more condensed than the previous full edition of the "Handbook", which, in my opinion is a good thing. Still very dense and an absolute must-have if you want or need to know anything about "mainstream" architectural practice at a fairly high level.
   
   There is so much good information contained in this tome, I'm surprised the AIA hasn't created a certification program based on it, much like CSI has done with the PRM. It would seem to me such a program would have the potential to help fill a gaping hole in architectural education.
   
   Of particular note regarding this edition: two CD-ROMs are included. The first includes sample 2007 AIA documents -- no surprises here. The second includes the entire text of the Handbook, BUT, in a locked-down proprietary format. You install an application and must activate it online or over the phone before you can use it. You can only install it on one machine at a time. There is no de-activation function; you must uninstall and then call customer support to get a new activation number if you need to change the machine on which it's installed. The electronic version allows searching, but does NOT allow printing or exporting. While the sample AIA documents are PDFs and thus cross-platform, the Handbook reader application is Windows only -- an unfortunate choice. While I understand the publisher's desire to protect their IP, a PDF file would have been so much more user-friendly.
   
   I'll try to remember to post more when I've had a chance to wade through the new edition in its entirety. In the mean time, I thought I'd share what I knew.

2 comments about The Architecture Student's Handbook of Professional Practice.

1. "The Architecture Student's Handbook of Professional Practice" has 4 parts, including the profession, the firm, the project, as well as contracts and agreements.
   
   Each part is further divided into chapters and subchapters, including:
   
   Professional life, legal dimension of practice, and professional development
   
   Developing a practice, running a practice, marketing and public relations, client relations, human resources, financial management, risk management, and firm operation
   
   Project definition, project delivery, project management, quality management, and building codes and regulations
   
   Types of agreements and AIA contract documents
   
   It also has some useful appendixes: Resources for intern architects, allied professional organizations, state registration boards, schools of architecture, sample AIA contract documents, glossary and Index.
   
   Most of Americans will open a book, read an average of 18 pages, and then put it away and let it sit on the shelf. I guess most architecture students will look through the table of content of this book, and look up the portion when they need it, and then put it away.
   
   One suggestion I have for AIA is to publish an abridged edition and reduce the number of the pages to make it more usable, and focus on the issues that young architectural professionals have to deal with everyday or 80% of the time in real architectural practice.
   
   "The Architecture Student's Handbook of Professional Practice" has 720 pages. Overall, it is a useful resource for architecture students.
   
   Gang Chen, AIA, LEED AP BD+C, Author of "Architectural Practice Simplified," "LEED GA Exam Guide," "Planting Design Illustrated," and other books on various LEED exams, architecture, and landscape architecture



2. This is required reading for many professional practice courses and is very useful beyond school. The content is a compilation of articles from experts and very well written with essential information readily available in each chapter. I would highly recommend getting the book at the beginning of any architectural studies as it is the best measure of the actual business of architectural design.

4 comments about BIM and Construction Management: Proven Tools, Methods, and Workflows.

1. In the growing BIM industry, a source of information that can guide us thru the confusing maze of procedures and technology at current disposal is always well received. And if that source speaks to the reader in a clear and concise language more power to him, Excellent job!



2. A very informative and thorough 5D resource. It helps to be relatively familiar with all of the software applications mentioned to get a true understanding of estimating and quantity takeoff concepts. Also an entire chapter devoted to sustainability, salvaging and recycling and how it fits into the whole picture of bim which is nice. A book that deals not only with design communication, but also more with scope clarification, trade coordination, facility management and the back-end benefits of bim.



3. The text of this book hits home, but it uses software not typically available to all readers. This would be a great book if it came with a CD with 90 or 180 day trials of the software so that the examples and tutorials can be worked through.



4. Good book, well written, informative. Most of the titles out there focus on BIM during the design phase, so it's great to explore uses of the technology during and after construction. a must read for anyone looking to leverage BIM.

5 comments about Estimating for Interior Designers.

1. I bought this book for an Interior Design class and have kept it. It is a great book for giving estimates for all amounts of products you may need for any design product!



2. I love this book, the pictures are a little dated, but the information you get from it helps a lot! I learned what I need to know about estimating everything from paint, floor coverings to curtains and duvets. It's everything you need to know about estimating for the Interior Design world and to verify contractors work estimates!
   Great 5 STARS!



3. I bought this book to help prepare for a professional exam which includes drapery and wallcovering calculations. I doubt it will be of any use to me after that.
   
   If the book explained how to put together a preliminary budget based on square footage, it would be useful. Instead, it explains how to calculate yardage requirements for various softgood interior finishes like carpet and drapery. These aren't really estimates--they are concrete calculations. And they require substantial knowledge of the job conditions--precise window measurements and design such as drapery fullness and pleat type.
   
   In other words, this book might be helpful if you were an interior decorator working on a retail basis and need to know how much yardage to buy and send to the workshop to fabricate a client's draperies.
   
   It is not helpful if you are a project manager or interior designer needing to put together a preliminary budget for a client based on an initial interview and square footage. It doesn't include estimating for drywall, ceilings, light fixtures, etc.
   
   I've also noticed some typos in the math calculations.
   
   Overall, I think the title is misleading.



4. Learn for yourself the secret formulas to determine how much material and what it will cost for that exotic carpet, exuberant wallpaper or snazzy fabric that would look as good on your windows as on your so-custom pillows. I always wanted to know and now I do know the basics of determining how to measure and what it means to do your own estimating for costs of goods and services in the design world.
   
   The text is straight-forward and thorough---but not completely without fault as I detected proofreading errors in spelling and some mathematical miscalculations. This is first and foremost a primer and introduction to the art of calculating carpet, wallpaper, upholstery and paint estimation.



5. The information has dated photos and not comprehensive. No charts, and estimates in developing concepts and designs based upon square footage. Where is the estimating for budgeting purposes? Ok for the library and for soft goods.

5 comments about The Function of Ornament.

1. I guess, to me at least, the title of the book is bit misleading,
   it should be "how to make an interesting building skins"
   Because this book provides ample examples of great building skins of
   contemporary (some past) architecture.
   
   Graphics, analysis, and categorization are the 3 strong points of the book.
   Each example is analyzed in the order of following:
   
   1. elements (typically material)
   2. key design concept
   3. organization and assembly of key building skin
   4. overall effect
   
   For example, for Laban Dance Center by Herzog de Meuron, three different
   colors and glasses are introduced, how they are used according to the program
   inside, how the glasses are put together as double-layer enclosure, and
   the daytime/ nighttime effects are analyzed.
   
   The book speaks with graphics, limiting the number of words used.
   The graphics were painstakingly achieved. Really delivering the message
   clearly and concisely. Hence, essence of the project concept is easily
   graspable, yet, at the same time, being graphics, it leaves room for
   subjective interpretation.



2. I purchased this book after a fellow colleague recommended it to me and I must say it's become one of my favorite books because of its explicit and clear way of explaining the concepts of the buildings selected. All architecture books should be written this way. Farshid did a great job of validating her standpoint of ornament... A concept that has been re-defined in this book.



3. This is not a technical manual as a couple reviewers seems to wish, nor a survey of ornament in architecture. Nor does it ever claim to be such--reviewers should review a book not wish it was a different book. Instead it represents the results of graduate level research at Harvard Graduate School of Design into a revitalized understanding of the role of ornament in architecture and how one employs technical and material means to produce architecture effects and phenomena. As such the book is extremely clear, useful and elegantly designed and thoughtfully organized. Great for students and professional who want to think.



4. I'll agree with some other reviews and say that this is only for students. The book DOES make some intelligent and iconic building systems very clear, but it is only a cursory look. You expect to turn the page to find more investigation and its not there. So this book is only for undergrad students. Professionals look elsewhere.



5. The title suggests that this book is about architectural ornament, but it really covers only an extremely limited, and not particularly interesting, part of that rich topic.