10 Books an Architect must read!
Source: blog.uchceu.es
There is a lot to read in this small world and one never gets enough time to read anything enough. Books are valued treasures and architecture is a field where innumerable amounts of books exist to get a better understanding, critical ideas, and more. Reading can stimulate the architect's understanding of the user's need for the projects they design for. In this blog, we will be listing out ten books of both Indian and International authors that an architect must-read in their lifetime. Ten is just a small number and there is a lot more, our team of architects picked these books after a long discussion.
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1. Form Space and order by Francis D.K.Ching
This book serves as the classic introduction to the basic vocabulary of architectural design. It explains form and space in relation to light, view, openings, and enclosures and explores the organization of space, and the elements and relationships of circulation, as well as proportion and scale.
2. Writings on Architecture and Identity by Balkrishna Doshi
It is a curated selection of Balkrishna Doshi's exceptional writings since the 1950s. Balkrishna Doshi has played a pivotal role in shaping post-colonial architecture in India.
3. The Architecture reference and specification book: Everything Architects needs to Know Everyday by Julia McMorrough
This book contains vital information that is essential to planning and executing architectural projects of all shapes and sizes, which is also handy to carry anywhere you go.
4. Elements of space making by Yatin Pandya
This book examines the integral aspects of space-making elements of architecture. The ideas of space are physically manifested in architecture through diverse elements that constitute the fundamental recognizable parts of the man-made or constructed environment.
5. Understanding architecture, its elements, history, and meaning by Leland M. Roth and Amanda C. Roth Clark
This book vividly examines the structure, function, history, and meaning of architecture in ways that are both accessible and engaging.
6. Laurie Baker by Gautam Bhatia
It includes Life, Works, And Writings, and the biography of famous architect Laurie Baker whose architectural work in India lasted over 50 years.
7. Ten books on architecture by Vitruvius
Ten Books on Architecture is the single most important work of architectural history in the Western world, having shaped humanist architecture and the image of the architect from the Renaissance to the present.
8. Letters to a Young Architect by Christopher Charles Benninger
Letters to a Young Architect is a sensitive memoir of the author's life in India and his personal concerns about architectural theory and contemporary urban issues. The book represents a mature reflection of lessons learned along an arduous journey.
9. Architecture: a world history by Daniel Borden, Jerzy Elzanowski, and Joni Taylor
This book provides a broad and comprehensive foundation to the intersection of architecture and history, exploring how architecture has been affected by social, political, intellectual, religious, economic factors, and more.
10. Paths unchartered by Balkrishna Doshi
This book recounts the extraordinary life and achievements of the architect BV Doshi from lifelong notes and diaries kept by him. It also features several of his own drawings Dr. Balkrishna Doshi is widely known foremost among the modern architects of India.
“I guess there are never enough books.”
– John Steinbeck