13 Architecture Books to improve your Creativity

An important and fascinating collection of original projects by unique thinkers in the world of architecture and spatial design

Architectural practice today goes far beyond the design and construction of buildings the most exciting, forward-thinking architecture is also found in digital landscapes, art, apps, films, installations, and virtual reality. This remarkable book features projects surprising, beautiful, outrageous, and sometimes even frightening that break rules and shatter boundaries. In this timely book, the work of award-winning architects, designers, artists, photographers, writers, filmmakers, and researchers all of whom synthesize and reflect our spatial environments - come together for the first time.

Radical Architecture of the Future's featured architects includes Diller Scofidio + Renfro, David Adjaye, SANAA, Amateur Architecture Studio, and Ensemble Studio. Artists, designers, filmmakers, and writers covered include Julie Mehretu, Wolfgang Tillmans.

Discover the beautiful details, principal elements, and decorative features of every architectural style, from the Great Pyramid of Giza, Machu Picchu, and the Colosseum to the Sydney Opera House, the Gherkin, and Burj Khalifa. Architecture offers a truly worldwide look at historical and contemporary buildings, with breathtaking photography and intriguing cross-sections to enhance your view. See how and why certain features were common in specific time periods and how these amazing buildings have stood the test of time.

Unique specially-commissioned CGI artworks throughout the book showcase more than 10 specific buildings, including The Pantheon and the United States Capitol, giving you a pristine view of their features. Clear annotations of each artwork, along with exquisite photography of specific details, make sure that you don’t miss a thing. Presented in a special slipcase, this stunning guide makes the perfect purchase for anyone who is fascinated by our world’s most wondrous buildings.

In order to master the foundation of architecture, you must first master the basic building blocks of its language; the definitions, function, and usage. The Language of Architecture provides students and professional architects with the basic elements of architectural design, divided into twenty-six easy-to-comprehend chapters. This visual reference includes an introduction to architecture design, a historical view of the elements, as well as an overview of how these elements can and have been used across multiple design disciplines. Whether you're new to the field or have been an architect for years, you'll want to flip through the pages of this book and use it as your go-to reference for inspiration and ideas. This comprehensive learning tool is the one book you'll want as a staple in your library.

For more than forty years, the beautifully illustrated Architecture: Form, Space, and Order has served as the classic introduction to the basic vocabulary of architectural design. The updated and revised Fourth Edition features the fundamental elements of space and form and is designed to encourage critical thought in order to promote a more evocative understanding of architecture.

This Architecture book distils complex concepts of design into a clear focus and brings difficult abstractions to life. The book 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. In addition, the text’s detailed illustrations demonstrate the concepts presented and reveal the relationships between fundamental elements of architecture through the ages and across cultures.

Elements of Architecture focuses on the fragments of the rich and complex architectural collage. Window, façade, balcony, corridor, fireplace, stair, escalator, elevator: the book seeks to excavate the micro-narratives of building detail. The result is no single history, but rather the web of origins, contaminations, similarities, and differences in architectural evolution, including the influence of technological advances, climatic adaptation, political calculation, economic contexts, regulatory requirements, and new digital opportunities. It’s a guide that is long overdue in Koolhaas’s own words, “Never was a book more relevant at a moment where architecture as we know it is changing beyond recognition.”

Derived, updated, and expanded from Koolhaas’s exhaustive and much-lauded exhibition at the 2014 Venice Architecture Biennale, this is an essential toolkit to understanding the fundamentals that comprise structure around the globe. Designed by Irma Boom and based on research from the Harvard Graduate School of Design, the 2,600-page monograph contains essays from Rem Koolhaas, Stephan Truby, Manfredo di Robilant, and Jeffrey Inaba; interviews with Werner Sobek and Tony Fadell (of Nest); and an exclusive photo essay by Wolfgang Tillmans.

The most comprehensive and widely acclaimed guide to domestic architecture: in print since its original publication in 1984, and acknowledged everywhere as the unmatched, essential guide to American houses. This revised edition includes a section on neighbourhoods; expanded and completely new categories of house styles with photos and descriptions of each; an appendix on "Approaches to Construction in the 20th and 21st Centuries"; an expanded bibliography; and 600 new photographs and line drawings.

The publisher has taken this massive tome, with its hundreds of images and synchronized the accompanying text to make what is a daunting printed volume into a remarkably useful and informative masterpiece. So much easier to navigate and extract data in this format than the cumbersome hardbound version. The ability to manipulate drawings and photos is impressive.

This book is designed as an introduction to the field of 3Dprinting. It includes an overview of 3D printing technology in the industry, education, and the exploding area of Do-It-Yourself. It contains a detailed look at the common 3D printers, materials, and software. Using full-colour images throughout, the book guides you on setting up your own printer and performing calibration tasks, including descriptions of printing methods, best practices, pitfalls to avoid, and how to finish a completed project. Companion files are included with videos, applications, and examples of 3D printing.

Features:

• Companion files are included with printable 3D objects in common formats, additional lessons, checklists, figures from the text, and videos showing time-lapse, printing, and print refinement
• Provides an overview of the technology, applications, and design issues associated with 3D printing technology
• Includes review questions, discussion/essay questions and "Applying What You’ve Learned" in every chapter

Three hundred years ago, intellectuals of the European Enlightenment constructed the mythology of technology. Influenced by a confluence of humanism, colonialism, and racism, this mythology ignored local wisdom and indigenous innovation, deeming it primitive.

Designers understand the urgency of reducing humanity’s negative environmental impact, yet perpetuate the same mythology of technology that relies on exploiting nature. Responding to climate change by building hard infrastructures and favouring high-tech homogenous design, we are ignoring millennia-old knowledge of how to live in symbiosis with nature. Without implementing soft systems that use biodiversity as a building block, designs remain inherently unsustainable.

With a foreword by anthropologist Wade Davis and four chapters spanning Mountains, Forests, Deserts, and Wetlands, this book explores thousands of years of human wisdom and ingenuity from 18 countries including Peru, the Philippines, Tanzania, Kenya, Iran, Iraq, India, and Indonesia. We rediscover ancient mythology in a contemporary context, radicalizing the spirit of human nature.

Marcus Vitruvius Pollio, a Roman architect and engineer flourishing in the first century B.C., was the author of the oldest and most influential work on architecture in existence. For hundreds of years, the specific instructions he gave in his "Ten Books on Architecture" were followed faithfully, and major buildings in all parts of the world reveal the widespread influence of his precepts.

Vitruvius describes the classic principles of symmetry, harmony, and proportion in architecture; the design of the treasury, prison, senate house, baths, forum, and temples; the construction of the theatre: its site, foundations, and acoustics; the proper style and proportion for private dwellings; the differences between the Ionic, Doric, and Corinthian styles; methods of giving durability and beauty to polished finishings; and many other topics that help us understand the methods and beliefs of the Roman architect. It is a direct, authoritative, and detailed introduction to the ancients' methods of construction, the materials of the architect, and the prevailing aesthetic beliefs of the times; but it is also a work of art. 

Walt Disney Imagineering: A Behind-the-Dreams Look at Making the Magic Real, the Imagineers serve up another dose of magic with an even closer look at who they are, what they do, and how they do it, illuminating their theories and explaining the tools they use, and where and how they use them. Contained within this deluxe tome are rough drawings, conceptual models, and behind-the-scenes stories showcasing Disney's newest attractions and innovations from the inside out. There's also an exclusive peek inside the Research and Development Lab to see what new magic will soon be appearing.

The Imagineers tell their own stories, as well as how they got there, what they do on a daily basis, what they show their friends in the parks, and how you can learn what it takes to become an Imagine.

Revit Architecture 2021 for Electrical Workers will help get you up to speed quickly on developing your own construction documents. The author developed and coordinated this book with a local chapter of electrical workers to ensure it would meet the needs of electrical journeymen. This textbook shows you how to work with Revit documents provided by outside contractors and architects.

Using this textbook, you will be able to learn enough skills in Revit to be fully functional in less than a week. The textbook can be used in a training class or by someone teaching themselves in their own home or office. If you can open a file and use a mouse, you can learn Revit. You don't need a college degree to use Revit software. There is no other Revit book out there that covers so much material specifically for electricians and electrical engineers.

Knowing Autodesk Revit software is a valuable skill that will help you earn more money, increase your value as an employee, and collaborate better with other team members.

Revit Essentials for Architecture combines a straightforward, reader-friendly style with detailed project-focused exercises that encourage you to learn by doing. Readers will gain practical, firsthand experience with the powerful and popular Autodesk(R) Revit(R) software; purpose-built for Building Information Modeling (BIM), which industry-leading architects and building design professionals are using to move beyond traditional Computer-Aided Design (CAD) and drafting to manage complex projects, foster collaboration and boost productivity. With tools for early schematic design and planning, detailed design development studies and tools to create complete sets of deliverables including traditional construction document sets and modern digital output, Revit offers the modern architect everything they need to be successful in today's competitive market. 

Revit Essentials for Architecture provides resources designed to shorten your learning curve, raise your comfort level, and, most importantly, give you real-life, tested, and practical advice on the usage of the software to create architectural Building Information Models.

Keep track of dates and appointments in style with the Frank Lloyd Wright 2021 Wall Calendar from Galison. It's a full-colour tiered calendar that covers 16 months, including September 2020 to December 2021. Not only does it feature 12 images of Frank Lloyd Wright's iconic works, but there is also a famous quote on each page for added entertainment. With all major holidays and important dates marked, as well as room for you to write in your own important dates, you can use this wall calendar to stay organized and on top of your schedule. It also makes a great gift idea for any occasion and is ideal for use in the classroom, in your office, or at home.

Galison was founded in 1979 to work with museums to make artist imagery widely available in the form of well-designed paper products. With new collections each year, Galison has broadened its assortment well beyond stationery to puzzles & games, office products, home décor, and more. Our vision is to inspire people by adding more art to daily life with the products we create.