Hi, Eric here with 30X40 Design Workshop,
today we’re going to be discussing architecture
books and specifically the books I find most
useful and inspiring from my library but also
more broadly I’ll be discussing how you
can begin building your architectural library
whether you’re an architecture fan, a student,
or a professional.
Now, this is an edited look at my essential
books, the ones I couldn’t imagine practicing
without.
Some are books that inspire, some challenge,
some remind me of the fundamentals, some are
thick with theory, others are just favorite
monographs, and there’s a few reference
books thrown in there too.
Now, although much of my reading is done digitally
nowadays, architecture books are – for me
– best consumed in physical form.
Not only do I enjoy the ritual of opening
the book, and smelling the inks, the tactile
quality of the page, but I appreciate that
you can spread them out on the work table
if you need some sort of creative spark and
I’ll often grab one from the shelf to illuminate
an idea during a client meeting.
Analog books remain incredibly useful to my
practice in many ways.
The books in your architecture library provide
context for your work; history, precedent,
theory, technics, best practices, fresh perspectives
and of course creative stimuli.
The ones I return to often are like harmonic
frequencies, which continue to vibrate and
resonate over time even as my ideology is
evolving.
Is it a coincidence that some of the most
emotive connections to books and architectural
writings were forged in architecture school
many years ago?
You know how they say the music you’ll listen
to the rest of your life is the music you
were into when you were eighteen?
Master, master.
That’s how many of these books are for me.
So, these precise books may not hold the same
importance for you, but as a thought exercise,
consider what your library currently says
about you, your interests and your blind spots
or your knowledge gaps one you might want
to fill in.
So, let’s have a look at my favorites, all
the links are in the description below along
with a link to a resource page I created on
my site.
I broke things down into six different themes
or threads that my library is built around
and I’ve winnowed it to five books in each
thread.
First, there’s history.
Now, this is a respect for history – not
in a kitschy kind of way – but in a real,
wanting to understand the origin of things
kind of way.
This doesn’t only mean buildings, but objects,
art, and places too.
Historical context is vitally important to
an architect’s work.
Nothing we do is without precedent and this
is the bible on history; a thoroughly researched
textbook on architectural history set in the
cultural context up through roughly the early
eighties.
Next, Modern Architecture: A Critical History.
My critical regionalist hero Mr. Frampton
decodes and critiques the architecture of
the modern world.
It’s hard to imagine a more resonant teacher
of the history of modern architecture for
me.
Okay, next up, A Field Guide to New England
Barns and Farm Buildings.
There’s a real reason why farmers built
cupolas on their barns and its linked to cow
manure.
You’re curious now, right?
This book is filled with gems like this that
decipher the humble agricultural buildings
we’re surrounded by.
This is foundational, practical knowledge
that guides my own work.
Next up is: Reading the Forested landscape
and The Granite Landscape.
There’s something about knowing everything
that’s shaped a place or what’s happening
beneath our superficial – often purely visual
- understanding of the world.
These books nurture that for me.
Understanding how trees rot – softwoods
from the outside in, hardwoods from the inside
out – or the evolution of a tree’s bark
forges this innate comprehension of materiality.
Seeing the way glaciation shaped our topography,
particularly where I live on the coast of
Maine, is fundamental to knowing how we might
more thoughtfully build on the earth.
This one’s beautifully illustrated and it
has a clear writing style.
The next category I’ve termed: Narrative.
Story is integral to the way we remember events,
places and it’s the thing that colors our
lives.
These books remind us that it’s the architect’s
duty to effect experience, to account for
it and shape it.
Thinking architecture.
A collection of short snippets, tiny essays
– love letters almost - about the human
experience of architecture, explicitly showing
how Zumthor thinks about design and space.
This is an accessible quick read I find myself
coming back to again and again.
Next is, In Praise of Shadows.
More of an essay than a book, it’s a study
in contrasts of not only Japanese architecture,
but more generally the eastern arts and the
cultural differences with the west and modern
culture.
The idea of aged and patinated surfaces versus
the shiny, perfect, new is one I return to
when thinking about how buildings age.
Next up, Condemned Building.
Invented architecture and the stories that
created them supported by models and richly
detailed graphite drawings.
Ghost.
This is an alternate, hands-on teaching model
developed by the author, professor and practitioner,
Brian MacKay Lyons, this book chronicles the
works built by this ad-hoc Nova Scotian seaside
academy.
MacKay Lyons has influenced my own work significantly.
His work is humble, refined, and deeply rooted
in place as well as the tectonics of building.
Next up, Anarchitecture.
In a dystopian near future his architecture
appears self-organizing, irrational, empty,
and prickly and yet strangely seductive.
Colored pencil on Strathmore paper, chipboard
models, text, composition, light.
His monograph, ‘Anarchitecture’ is a personal
favorite, but anything you can get your hands
on will be soul-enriching.
The drawings are so emotive you’re left
wondering if civilization has been eviscerated
leaving only husks of buildings or whether
the human race has actually evolved to become
the buildings.
This is stunning, visually-challenging work.
Next up: process + making.
I find the design process and rituals surrounding
the processes of creation endlessly fascinating.
So first here is, Type Variant House.
The book quietly narrates the design process
that led to the finished home and it’s documented
in intricate detail.
You can appreciate the iterative nature of
design as you leaf through the volume.
Finished photos composed alongside hundreds
of tiny sketches reveal the toil behind such
seemingly simple details as a stone water
table for example.
From the macro to the micro I find myself
returning to discover things I’d missed
previously.
Next up is, Boundaries by Maya Lin.
She likens her ideation process to laying
an egg.
Beautifully expressive ideas and philosophies
and a unique working methodology.
It’s one of the few architecture books that
incorporates writing as a part of her work.
This is something I find myself doing more
and more of during the early stages of design.
Next, the work of Shim Sutcliffe.
Similar to Charles and Ray Eames, their architecture
is defined by the tectonics of making.
They use humble materials and experiment at
full-scale to design the right connections,
the perfect light fixture or the most appropriate
door handle.
Nothing they touch seems left to chance, everything
is considered.
Okay next up: any of the Tom Kundig monographs.
There’s kinetics, hot-rodding, details,
connections, gizmos, and a deep respect for
the physical and visual properties of materials.
Kundig’s sketches are raw; they seem to
ooze with the internal thought processes that
led to the final building.
Now Peter Zumthor’s five volume monograph
set is spare but it’s beautifully photographed
work.
Process, models, sketches abound.
It’s a lot to consume and the sheer volume
of it makes it easy to skim over any of the
less resonant work.
The format indulges a desire to peer more
closely at his carefully wrought details.
Here again, every connection is thoroughly
designed and measured.
Zumthor’s work as recounted in these books
is a continual source for surprise and delight
even though I’ve not visited a single one
his buildings.
The next category is machines and architecture.
A fetish I suppose and a product of the time
when I attended architecture school when deconstruction
was a thing and I couldn’t get enough of
it.
The first book here is Building Machines.
The mechanistic forms of Neil Denari, Wes
Jones and others fill this pamphlet and synergize
with a collection of essays that build on
Corbusier’s “building as a machine for
living” ideology.
Next is, Instrumental Form.
The graphics and formal language here are
to die for.
I find myself a little bit at odds with the
real spatial implications of these forms,
but I can’t stop coveting them as objects.
Okay next, Gyroscopic Horizons Neil Denari.
Similar themes as Instrumental Form.
His urban monastery was the impetus for my
own Bachelor of Architecture fifth-year thesis.
Ridiculous models, completely satisfying in
every possible way.
Okay next: Morphosis.
There’s buildings and projects there’s
all kinds of mongraphs.
More uber-crisp graphics and huge models in
balsa and chipboard along with detailed photos
of each, it’s easy to get lost in the level
of detail and care invested in designing every
last inch.
In school I wanted nothing more than to be
on their model building team.
And the last one in this category is, Blast
Furnaces by Bernd and Hilla Becher.
This book is pure gold to me.
I had a chance to see some of their original
prints at the Tate Modern in London recently
and they brought me to my knees.
That’s how good they are.
The Bechers documented humble structures like
water towers, grain elevators and other seemingly
plain industrial architecture in a really
austere, head-on portrait style that’s often
copied today, but uniquely their invention.
As a photographer, there’s so much to behold
in the photographs – the prints, the composition,
the lighting, the contrast, I mean they’re
simply stunning.
As an architect, it’s a visual feast of
connection details and a repository of forms
to borrow for my own work.
Okay next is: mechanics, connections, and
details.
A deep understanding of the way things work
and how that’s revealed rather than hidden
is an important design motivator for me.
So, the first publication here: the Detail
publications.
These are magazines but I treat them kind
of like books because they’re on par with
the cost of books, but also because their
graphics are excellent source material.
Detail in Contemporary Residential Architecture
Series.
There’s a number of these books they’re
published by the same group as the Detail
magazines I just mentioned, these books are
fantastic because they correlate the physical
building with the detailed construction notes
and drawings the architects used to achieve
the result.
Now, once you’ve practiced for any period
of time you know the real magic of architecture
is being able to execute your ideas in built
form.
This requires a particular sequence, real
materials and a labor force comprised of both
skilled and unskilled workers.
How one details a building determines how
successful it is at expressing the ideas you
started with and how it performs over time,
in the weather and during use.
Next is, The Works: The Anatomy of a City.
A systems book that illustrates how things
work together.
The graphical clarity of this book is beautiful.
This also feeds the part of me that wants
to know and understand the inner workings
of every minute detail.
Things like, how New York City gets its drinking
water and the objects, wires, and pipes hidden
beneath the street.
Coordinating these systems is not unlike putting
a building together which demands we plan
for myriad concealed systems: mechanical,
electrical, plumbing, structural and we have
to do it in a way that’s both elegant and
aesthetically pleasing.
Next up: Wood and Wood Joints.
This is a peek into the wood building and
joinery traditions of Northern Europe, China
and Japan.
Wonderful photographs and line drawings.
I look here for fresh ideas and new ways to
connect things simply without fasteners.
Okay then there’s: Architectural Graphic
Standards.
I have the abbreviated student version and
admittedly, this is an extremely dry book,
but it covers everything from anthropomorphic
design to common cabinetry dimensions with
a similar – often excruciatingly granular
- level of detail.
This isn’t a book to fall in love with,
but one to keep close by to verify technical
details.
I think the Steel Manual falls into a similar
vein for me, not particularly lovable but
necessary.
Okay, next: Fundamentals and General.
Form, Space, and Order.
Part inspiration, part hand-drawn manifesto,
this work by Francis Ching distills architecture
to its formative principles and it’s illustrated
with beauty and style.
I’d be shocked if this book wasn’t in
every architect’s library.
It’s remarkable really when you consider
the depth and breadth of the subject of architecture
that he’s managed to capture our practice
so succinctly.
Okay next is, Architectural Graphics.
It’s another one by Frank Ching.
My parents purchased this for me the day I
visited the architecture school I knew I wanted
to attend.
Drawing and model making led me to this profession
so this one holds a special place on the shelf.
Pair this with Building Construction Illustrated
by Ching and you’d have an excellent foundation
to work from.
It’s just enough information and it’s
lovingly presented in his signature drawing
style.
I usually find myself reaching for BCI before
Graphic Standards because of this.
Next is: Programs and Manifestoes on 20th
Century Architecture.
All the greats are represented here: Mies,
Wright, Corbusier, Gropius, Loos, and Kahn.
It’s proof that communicating our ideas
in prose is every bit as powerful and important
as the visual syntax we rely on.
Although many of these writings can be challenging
to digest, I love their exuberance.
They’re bold; almost like battle cries.
If you’re feeling down, this is a good place
to go for a pick-me-up.
Next is the Lego Architecture Studio Companion
book.
It really is quite amazing.
There’s real architecture in here along
with a presentation of the fundamentals of
design exploring topics like making space,
addressing context, sketching, and abstraction.
Each one is presented by a different firm:
SOM, Sou Fujimoto, Safdie, REX Architecture
and others.
Now, you can’t buy this as a stand-alone
book, you’ll get the Legos along with it
but honestly, who doesn’t like Legos?
Especially all white ones with little clear
plastic tray organizers.
Next are David MacCaulay’s books: Unbuilding,
Cathedral, Castle.
McCauley’s illustrations say as much as
the text and each narrates the depth of thought
and story that goes into the making of architecture.
I saw him speak years ago about his drawing
process where he said he imagines himself
as a bird flitting about searching for the
right perspective on a building and when he
finds it, he closes his eyes and begins sketching
what the bird sees.
This is an all-ages, all-abilities, intro
to architecture and a masterclass in drawing
by hand.
So those are a few of my favorites and of
course this list can’t – by nature – be
exhaustive.
There are so many more books out there than
I have the budget to acquire: there’s Koolhaas’
S,M,L,XL; Corbusier’s Complete Works, Yes
Is More, the works of Ando, Aalto, Rural Studio,
Rick Joy, Glenn Murcutt, Saarinen, Richard
Serra, Phaidon’s Atlas of Contemporary World
Architecture.
Books feed the intellect, and a studio full
of books assures you’ll be surrounded by
ideas of many – the masters, your colleagues,
artists, entrepreneurs, performers, and documentarians;
so choose wisely.
They’re a great equalizer when it comes
to education and at a fraction of the cost
of architecture school.
Please remember to hit the thumbs up if you’ve
found something useful here and be sure to
tell me in the comments what your architecture
book essentials are.
What did I miss?
Thanks for watching as always, cheers!
