Architecture Books - Starter Library

A personal architects’ library is an essential thing. Used for inspiration, for reference, for self-education & research, or to just flip thru over coffee for the occasional reminder of why we humans design & make things.

These are the books that caught my attention and started the journey. A lot of them are entry-level texts from college courses, and I’ve never been one to throw out reference materials. 

If you’re looking for something more detailed – I’ve broken the library into these subsections:

In the beginning...
City: A Story of Roman Planning and Construction

I came across David Macaulay’s books in the middle school library. The drawings sucked me in. I wanted everything associated with this type of drawing and making. I can credit David with planting the seeds of wonder, for a kid who already loved to draw.

 

Castle:

The illustrations contained in David’s books launched an interest in architectural drawings and illustrations. CityCastle & Cathedral were arguably the books that started it all, before I was really aware of architecture as a career field. 

Cathedral: The Story of Its Construction

If you’ve got a young one around who falls asleep next to their sketchbooks with dreams of doodles and illustrations – this series, started me on a lifelong path of drawing, building, and detailing. I highly suggest ordering David’s books. 

Design Drawing

Everyone loves architectural sketches, and that includes architects. Whether you chose to believe it or not – its a learned skill like any other. I know, I know. Shut up, no way, I can’t do that, right? If you’re curious to know the methods, this is your book. Fundamentally – its not that much different from a straight ‘How to sketch’ book, but Ching emphasizes layout, scale, proportion, shading and all of the elements for the staple of design communication – sketching what you see. 

Architecture: Form, Space & Order

All those great illustrations, and Form Space & Order breaks down basic design elements, and hierarchy. Ching’s books are well organized & packed with information and examples. 

Architectural Graphics

Architectural Graphics goes thru a step-by-step explanation of drawing tools, techniques, and explanations of how and what each of these drawings mean and should represent. Buy it for the up front knowledge – keep it for the great illustrations. This applies to all of Frank’s books. In print, I have the hand-lettered editions. Digitally, the collection is more current, and I love both of them. 

Experiences in Visual Thinking, 2nd edition

This book was taught in concert with a workshop, called ‘Materials & Methods’ where half the class was a critical thinking & drawing class and the remainder of it was a hands-on class in ‘making’ taught in the universities wood shop. The outcome was an intro to model making, sculpture and creative problem solving. It was a great concept and introduction to the rest of a creative curriculum.

Precedents in Architecture: Analytic Diagrams, Formative Ideas, and Partis

I believe that this was purchased as part of my 200-Level Archi Studio, but I could be mistaken. Regardless of the when, its a great reference manual to notable architecture and the various approaches taken to solve design problems. Its also a pretty decent reference manual for diagrammatic sketches to illustrate base-level ideas.

Architecture: An Interactive Introduction

I attended the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, and Mark & Linda wrote the book for their 100-Level Intro class. I got a lot out of the class and the book. If you can find it – I recommend it.

How Buildings Work: The Natural Order of Architecture
This book is a great introduction to how architecture has evolved from need & natural forms. It explores the ‘why’ behind the things that surround us every day, as an evolution on the basic need for shelter. If you’re starting out, or just want a casual understanding of the built environment – this is great resource
Why Buildings Fall Down: How Structures Fail

Written as a sequel, and taught as a portion of the 200-level classes that I took, this book uses case studies of all kinds of buildings. By exploring the design shortcomings in structural failures, they illustrate design principles in a way that holds your interest in ways that aren’t too bogged down with architect techno-speak that makes most people not want to talk to us.

The Architecture Pack

I picked this up just for the whimsy of having an architectural pop-up book. As a kid, I always wanted one and thought the concept was pretty cool. This one was an impulse buy, and worth getting childhood me a little something. 

101 Things I Learned in Architecture School

This is one of those books that everyone should read. I picked this up well after I graduated to see if there was anything that I might’ve missed. This brought back so many memories of studio. Great, informative book – and its fun just to have around.