If you want to be a better architect, you should read these 15 books. These are the books that have had a significant impact on the way I think design. Thinking design is the key difference between an architect and a builder or drafter. An architect knows how to think about design, space creation, and solutions that can bring beauty and balance. If you are an architect or thinking about being an architect read these books. Add the books you think I should read in the comments section below.
Serve God Save the Planet by Matthew Sleeth
This is a wonderful book of hope for the future that re-imagines the way we live.
Timeless Way of Building by Christopher Alexander
This book proposes that design is interconnected and relies on patterns.
Architecture: Form, Space, & Order by Francis Ching
A very nice summary of the principles of architecture with very nice graphics.
How to start and operate your own design firm Albert W. Ruseling Jr.
How to start and operate your own design firm by Albert Rubeling
Understanding how to run a design firm allows you to work well in a firm and eventually run your own firm. This book gives a nice introduction.
The Poetics of Space by Gaston Bachelard
The Poetics of Space by Gaston Bachelard
A book that explores application of lived experience using phenomenology.
Space Time and Architecture The Growth of a New Tradition by Siegfried Giedion
Space, Time, and Architecture: The Growth of a New Tradition by Siegfried Giedion
If you can find a first or second edition, get it, the book has been referred to as the bible or architecture.
Cradle to Cradle Remaking the way we make things by William McDonough
Cradle to Cradle: Remaking the way we make things by William McDonough
Rethinking the way we approach design to include how we can deconstruct the built environment is an important next step for our profession. This book sets up the idea.
Towards a New Architecture by Le Corbusier
Towards a New Architecture by Le Corbusier
A manifesto for generations of architects.
Rural Studio Samuel Mockbee and an Architecture of Decency by Andrea Dean
Rural Studio: Samuel Mockbee and an Architecture of Decency by Andrea Dean
A story of a man who changed architecture forever and my career path for the better.
Builders Guide to Mixed Humid Climate by Joseph Lstiburek
Builders Guide to Mixed Humid Climate by Joseph Lstiburek
If you don’t know the lessons in this book (know your climate and order that version) you should not be drawing wall sections.
The Not So Big House by Sarah Susanka
The Not So Big House by Sarah Susanka
A new way of thinking about how to make a place feel like home.
The Death and Life of Great American Cities by Jane Jacobs
The Death and Life of Great American Cities by Jane Jacobs
A call to action for creating urban spaces that have organic urban vibrancy.
Sun, Wind, and Light by Mark DeKay
Sun, Wind, and Light by Mark DeKay and G.Z. Brown
Another book that if you don’t know this book, stop drawing wall sections, stop creating spaces, stop building buildings.
The Essential Calvin and Hobbes
There are more life lessons in this one book for architects and everyone else than all the other books combined.
The Lorax by Dr. Suess
A call to action to care about our decisions and to take action to make the world better.
#Architects are not normal people. Part II. See part I here.
As an architect, I have had years of training that has taught me how to observe spaces, building science solutions, and aesthetics in a unique way different from normal people. I see beauty in brick and emotion in statues. For instance:
What an architect sees: an exquisite juxtaposition of material and form, hard surfaces and soft textures, dark and light.
What a normal person sees: a rock wall with a wood bench.
What an architect sees: a solar chimney used to pull warm air from the lower level of the house to create a natural convection loop to cool the house.
What a normal person sees: a two-story tall entrance with windows.
What an architect sees: a balanced space that allows in filtered light, encourages gatherings, and offers comfort.
What a normal person sees: a living room / kitchen space for the family to enjoy
What an architect sees: a complicated building science challenge to maintain humidity and heat levels while preserving the existing wood structure of the building.
What a normal person sees: A hot yoga studio
What an architect sees: a properly installed thermal envelope that will allow the home to operate in an efficient manner while protecting the indoor-air quality.
What a normal person sees: open cell spray foam insulation
Clutter around the house is a common issue in many homes today. Of course the best way to reduce clutter is to have less stuff. However, even once you have less stuff, there needs to be a storage system to keep all that is left in order. From shelving to closets there are many solutions to make your home easy to keep orderly and neat. You can get rid of the mess in your house with these design strategies:
1. Shelving – there are many types of shelving and many places to install it. From slat walls in your garage, pantry in your kitchen, to built-ins in your closets – having the right systems in place allows you to have a place for your things and for things to stay neat.
2. Functional Kitchen Cabinets – Designing your new kitchen to include the right storage solutions is critical. Whether you are a gourmet or an occasional morning pancake maker, easy to access spices, pans, and dishes make life easier. This might include pull down wall shelving, lots of drawers, or extra tall cabinets. No matter your need in the kitchen, I guarantee with a little design time, you can find the right solutions for all your storage desires making life easy in the kitchen.
3. Attic Storage Space – If you are building a new home, think about designing in easily accessible, dry, conditioned storage space. This gives you a place to put the Christmas decorations, kids art work that is not on display, clothes waiting for to be hand-me-downs, and all the other accumulations that we keep. Whether it is a basement, above a garage, or in an attic – a full stair that is wide enough to carry things, lots of natural light, and the proper ventilation will keep these spaces usable for many years to come.
4. Cubbies – This term has become as common and “lots of light” in designing new homes. Creating a spot for everything from shoes and coats to backpacks and sports equipment right by the entry door keeps the mess contained.
5. Built-Ins – Movable shelving is nice, but built-ins give permanence to your storage solutions. Taking advantage of book shelves to define a space or to create a place to hide more storage behind is a simple technique to improve your homes functionality.
What solutions to storage do you use in your home to keep things in order and life simple?
I have posted pictures of the barn behind our house before – check some of them out here. So while I was working this past weekend, I took some images inside the barn.
Roof inside the second level – yes that is a basketball goal.
I have been documenting the history of Chesapeake Western Railroad Depot building in Harrisonburg. With help from many area resources the history of the building is coming together.
The structure was built in 1913 at 141 West Bruce Street and was a site to behold. According to the Harrisonburg Daily News on April 22, 1913:
“The passenger station proper is being finished on the interior with a white pressed brick, impervious to moisture, the first of its kind used in Harrisonburg. It makes a very attractive and neat appearance.
The first floor of this building will be taken up by a large general waiting room, in the four corners of which will be constructed the ladies, waiting room, smoking room, colored waiting room, and ticket office.
Entrances will be made from north and west sides, with steps down to trains on the east.
The second floor of the passenger station will be occupied by the general offices of the company, which are at present located on the fourth floor of the First National Bank building.
The building is being erected of native burned brick, with cut stone trimmings, and will be a very handsome and imposing structure when completed.”
The depot was built as the second passenger station in Harrisonburg only minutes apart. When access was denied to Union Station, the Chesapeake Western Railroad set out to build a “bigger and better” station for their passengers. The structure was placed strategically to block expansion of competing rail lines. According to reports from 1913, the new station was constructed in a fit of spite against the B & O, effectively blocking the Baltimore & Ohio RR from ever expanding business west of it mainline. Mr. Charles Grattan Price, Jr. in his book, “The Crooked & Weedy,” noted of the building “in every respect the new station was one that citizens of much larger cities could envy…. It even made Harrisonburg’s other station, Union Station, look puny.”
Over the 102 year history of the building there have been several fires, one in 1949, 1980, and 1982. The 1982 fire was the most destructive and stopped the active use of the building to present day. The fire started in the warehouse and spread quickly into the attic of the office structure. According to a Daily News Record article on July 30, 1982:
“Mrs. Griffith said she first thought the blaze was in a trash can beside the former railroad station. When she went outside to investigate, she found “fire coming out of the windows and doors.”…
…The fire apparently started in the one-story storage area near where it joins the two-story front portion of the building.
City Fire Chief William A. Austin said the blaze apparently burned toward the two-story section, swept into a stairwell and roared up through the building.
Firefighters said the blaze was under control at 12:45 a.m and was contained in the two-story portion of the building.
On Sept 11, 1980 fire swept through the same building and did an estimated $125,000 damage to the same three businesses.”
At the time of the fire the building was used as a lighting showroom (Light World) and the upstairs still was used by the railroad and a Securities company.
In the mid-1990’s a movement to purchase the building and convert it into a railroad museum failed to gain traction. Until 2005 when the building was purchased from the railroad, it sat empty with fire damage and deterioration happening every day. The new owners, JM Apartments, worked to stabilize the building with hope of renovating it in the future.
A historic building is a structure that has historic, architectural, or cultural significance. The building can be part of a historic district or be an individual property. The structure is generally at least 50 years old. In addition to having the appropriate age, the property will have historic physical integrity. The character-defining features of the structure will still be present.
A property is considered significant by three measures: 1. direct association with individuals, events, activities, or developments that shaped our history or that reflect important aspects of our history; 2. embodiment of distinctive physical and spatial characteristics of an architectural style or type of building, structure, landscape, or planned environment, or a method of construction, or embodies high artistic value or fine craftsmanship; or 3. having potential to yield information important to our understanding of the past through archaeological, architectural, or other physical investigation and analysis.
So why is the preservation of historic buildings important for green building? It is all about embodied energy. Embodied energy is the energy it takes to manufacture building materials, maintain the building, transport materials, construction of the building, and the disposal of the building at the end of life. So taking down an existing building that is full of embodied energy is much more intensive than saving that same building. The struggle with saving a historic building is bringing it up to current energy-efficiency standards without impacting the historic fabric. Every time a building is demolished, it’s possible to calculate the ratio of the building’s embodied energy to its total lifetime energy use. The longer the day of demolition is delayed, the smaller that ratio becomes.
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