No comments about Construction Equipment Management for Engineers, Estimators, and Owners (Civil and Environmental Engineering).

No comments about Peter Pran NBBJ:realizations.

No comments about Residential Integrator's Project Management (Residential Integration Series).

No comments about The Survival Guide to Architectural Internship and Career Development.

1 comments about Coderch, 1940-1964: In Search of Home.

1. This book is not cheap at U$43. It is however an excellent overview on a superb architect of the mid 20th century and is as much a biography as it is a monograph of Coderch.
   The work is showcased mainly through b/w photographs of the built work and, interestingly, colour photographs of the original drawings of the architect. Unfortunately in trying to cover a lot of ground many of the drawings are too small for the annotations to be deciphered even with a standard magnifying glass. This, however, does not prevent the viewer from enjoying the planning and general draftsmanship on display.
   The book is published bilingually, in both Spanish and English, and adds to the growing (but still insufficient) body of literature in English on this important Architect.
   Recommended to all who have an interest in fine modern architecture of the mid twentieth century and one of it's best proponents. The caution remains that this book is not the best starting point but is one for initiates who wish to learn more. Start with "Jose Antonio Coderch: Houses" by Rafael Diez, published by 2G Books and also available at Amazon.

No comments about Peter Gisolfi Associates: Finding the Place of Architecture in the Landscape (The Master Architect).

2 comments about Morphosis/Diamond Ranch High School (Source Books in Architecture).

1. "Diamond Ranch High School: Source Book in Architecture" is perhaps one of the best books to have if you want to know the process of which great projects come to be.
   
   Divided into three sections, the first section is a documented transcript of Thom Mayne of Morphosis, critic Jeffrey Kipnis, and lecturer Todd Gannon during the Baumer Lecture Series at The Ohio State University. Mr. Kipnis and Mr. Gannon provide some of the best questions to Mr. Mayne - questions that many of us would actually want to ask Mr. Mayne. Likewise, Mr. Mayne's responses are eloquent and insightful. His honesty removes the aura created by his computer renderings and makes you realize that this is simply an individual who loves what he does.
   
   The second section of the book documents the drawings that Morphosis developed for the Diamond Ranch High School. Let's face it - we are usually presented with either a project proposal or a professional finished photograph and drawings are typically excluded from any typical documentation.
   
   The third section contains photos of the project under construction to the final construction photos.
   
   From the Mayne's discussion, to the drawings, and to the photographs, you gain a valuable insight into the true design and development of 'Diamond Ranch High School' that other publications simply gloss over.
   
   This series of books are simply one of the best in contemporary architectural writing and documentation today.



2. As an architect, I have followed Thom Mayne's work for a long period of time. I have collected most of his books and have always admired their production quality and most importantly, the depth of the work produced by this firm. They have been and will remain at the forefront of the architectural profession. Despite reading and studying Mayne's work and philosophies in other books, I have always been left unsatisfied, not knowing exactly how the firm works and how a project comes together within their office. The interview with Jeffery Kipnis and Todd Gannon at the front of the book enters into this territory, although I would have liked it to be much longer. The rest of the book is much like other Morphosis' books; full of beautiful sketches, computer renderings and drawings. Images walk the reader from schematic design through completion.

1 comments about On and by Frank Lloyd Wright: A Primer of Architectural Principles.

1. "On and By Frank Lloyd Wright, A primer of Architectural Principles," is the most insightful book I have read about Frank LLoyd Wright's architecture. It is well researched and well written. I enjoyed reading it and did not want it to end. I highly recommend this book to anyone who is interested in architecture, design or Frank LLoyd Wright himself.

1 comments about The Architect's Handbook of Professional Practice Update 2006 (Architect's Handbook of Professional Practice Update (W/CD)).

1. This book is short and filled with a lot of empty space. I was looking for business standards for the architectural profession. This book was not it. And it was fairly expensive for what I got.
   
   To be honest, I am not sure what audience would find this book useful.

2 comments about The Architect's Handbook of Professional Practice.

1. This book is an impressive accomplishment, admittedly. It is a vast amount of information, very thorough, complete, and seems to cover every aspect of professional practice for an architect. I have other editions of this book back to the 1958 copy, and they are fairly extraordinary records of the changes in the profession.
   
   The failures of this book are to some extent caused by its subject matter. Architectural practice has changed in the last decade for some firms, and this book admirably tries to reflect and analyze that change -- although this probably holds true for a very small number of firms. If you're a partner at Skidmore Owings and Merrill and trying to broadly envision where practice is heading, hey this book is perfect for you. But I imagine many firms are not going to have that much use for re-examining the nature of the "client" or "project," a lot of this material would be better served by smaller (cheaper) specialized books.
   
   It's an ambitious goal to attempt a comprehensive overview of architectural practice but its editing doesn't rise to the occasion. In between interesting insights and clear explanations of practice topics you really can't find elsewhere, you find some seriously clunky essays and information that is comically useless.
   
   For example, consider this gem in an essay on architecture and the web: "Email is a personal, direct connection to the Internet. You can send messages, attach drawings, and communicate instantly across the globe with a few clicks of the mouse. Email is much like regular mail. You send mail to particular addresses, and they write to you at yours..." Okay, this for a book published in 2001. Not 1981, but 2001. Are they also going to explain what a telephone thingy is on my desk, or what I'm supposed to do with this fax machine here? It might have been useful to have a page about email's legal status, or how a firm should set policies about email, but what we've got here is a page long description for someone who's been living under a rock and has no idea what email actually IS. Although this is simply one minor example, it is the kind of thing that makes this book wildly uneven and screaming for a competent editor. For the price of this book I think we deserve more.



2. In addition to the all-new format (thankfully no more binders!), this book really does cover EVERYTHING an architect needs to know to run a business-- from working with clients to developing added-value services-- all in one book. I especially appreciate the new section devoted to understanding client motivation, thinking, processes, and values and the new section summarizing services I can offer to expand my client base. This is definitely the book that every architect needs to keep close at hand!