Best Architecture Project Planning & Management
Small-firm practice, use of technologies such as BIM, and project delivery methods, such as IPD and architect-led design-build Career development and licensure for emerging professionals and state-mandated continuing education for established architects Business management topics, such as organizational development, marketing, finance, and human resources Research as an integrated aspect of architectural practice, featuring such topics as evidence-based design and research in a small-firm context. In his essay, “Architect-led Design Build and Architect as Construction Manager for Small Firms and Small Projects,” James Walbridge, AIA provides practical information on how to get started. Read David Gamble’s article, ”Architects in the Non-Profit Sector,” to gain insight into how architects are engaging in pro-bono work. Learn how this is done from François Lévy, AIA in his article, “Small Firms, Small Projects, and Building Information Modeling.” Straightforward explanations of the technology and its usage in a small firm context are provided, sharing experience gained directly from practice. Susan Jones, FAIA in her essay, “Research and Small Firm Practice,” describes how research can benefit every design practice.
Reviews
Find Best Price at Amazon"A must have for any architect, designer, or intern studying for the ARE."
"Excellent source of information of all things technical in the architecture field."
"He said it helped him alot in his exams."
"Good reference book for architects and anyone else involved in design & construction."
"Also note that the mouse on a WACOM tablet does not work properly with the Wiler reader software. The installer can be downloaded from the Wiley web site located here: http://wiley.custhelp.com/ci/fattach/get/85722/. I hope this helps."
"Needed this for a collegiate course and considering it is the very book used by architects themselves, it is great."
"A great resource for anyone going into the architectural and design field."
"I would love to buy the CAD standard from Amazon too."
Comprehensive Architect Registration Exam 5.0 Coverage The ARE 5 Review Manual has been revised – to account for a printing error on our part.If you have a copy of this book without the orange REVISED banner on the cover, you are using the incorrect book. Once the authenticity of the book you purchased is confirmed, you will need to send the book to PPI and we will replace it. David Kent Ballast, FAIA, NCARB, CSI, is the owner of Architectural Research Consulting, a firm offering information and management services to architects, interior designers, and the construction industry.
Reviews
Find Best Price at Amazon"PcM: This book serves as a guideline of what to study, but not nearly enough in depth content is provided."
"When you go through them, you get a feeling that the authors and editors threw together their "Best Guesses" tossed in a few questions and said, "Hey! Now that I've gone through my first test, I'm very tempted to throw another five hundred dollars down the toilet and get the architectexamprep materials too and use the PPI/Ballast books as supplemental material/expensive coasters."
"Examples: Page 18-21: "The most common method of preliminary sizing is to calculate the depth-to-span ratio, because this can be done even if only the structural layout and the basic use of the system are known. Page 19-12: "The inverse square law, , states that... [passage continues]". Double comma, arguably the most benign error I have come across. Page 21-8 ends with a complete sentence, page 21-9 begins: "being extended to a lower level." Page 22-11: "For exterior cladding, precast elements can be as thin as 5/8 in. Page 22-21: "When used as wall panels in one-story buildings, they usually reach from the foundation to the roof framing.two panels must be placed end to end, they are butt-jointed with flashing between.""
"The Practice Exams and Practice Problems books are full of terribly worded questions, questions that don't apply to the topics covered by the exam division, and questions that rely on obscure and unrelated assumptions which would never be on the actual exams. These materials make it HARDER to study for the exam divisions because they have so many confusing and poorly worded practice questions."
"In the sample questions they even provide the wrong answers."
"I would recommend Ballast for 4.0 ARE tests."
Together, architects, developers, politicians, and consultants form an improvised world of contest and compromise that none alone can control. Something of a revelation…[De Graaf] has produced an original and even occasionally hilarious book about losing ideals and finding them again…He deftly shows that architecture cannot be better or more pure than the flawed humans who make it. The heart of the book is a series of astonishing accounts of the protracted―and as it turns out, all doomed―sagas to get big urban projects approved and built in London (just pre-crash), Moscow (just pre-Putin), the Emirates (just pre-oil slump), and Kurdistan (just pre-Isis). Not only is de Graaf a good anecdotalist (his hilarious account of a long-winded and fruitless masterplanning competition in Russia should be turned into a film), but a perceptive analyst of how architecture represents, or connects with, wider political and economic movements and trends. The title of this book, provided by an innocent enquirer, has provoked Reinier de Graaf into a shrewd, lucid, and engaging survey of the architecture and building scene. These vivid, uncompromising narratives are contextualized with shrewd essays about architecture’s lost ideals, its false pretentions, and utter dependence on forces far more powerful than design. [It] tells the stories that tend to get left out of official histories, but which actually shape our physical environment…De Graaf’s book is sharp, revealing, funny, drily passionate and not always encouraging.
Reviews
Find Best Price at Amazon"Its intention may not be to critically help architects to achieve better philosophical design understanding but to show them wisdom (or make them wiser) in decision making and to be able to stand back and laugh to momentarily remove us from the stressfulness of our profession, thus allowing us to be back in being creative."
"Individual articles give insight to all those things we have observed and experienced in our careers."
"As an Architect, I can attest to the fact that Architecture can be a surprisingly cryptic profession, in the sense that although most people think they know what an architect "does", it is often the case that the practice of architecture has a much wider reach than most realize."
"A collection of short stories that go from deeply sad to exceedingly funny, but invariably manage to feel brutally honest."
"This book is unlike any architecture book I've ever read, in a great way."
"This book is both a funny and enlightening read, candidly revealing the ups and downs of the professional life of an architect, written by somebody able to laugh at the world (himself included) regardless of success or set-backs."
"This book is a great read."
"It’s also rare to combine academic and practice-based pieces into a single body of work - most architects are focused on one or the other."
Best Architectural History
Travel through the history of architecture in The LEGO Architect . "Stunning...be the Corbusier of LEGO.
Reviews
Find Best Price at Amazon"THIS is the book that SHOULD HAVE come with my LEGO Architecture Studio set!"
"I am a huge fan of the “You view it and you do it” genre of LEGO books and Tom Alphin’s The LEGO Architect book is a winner. There’s a small model you can build that illustrates each style, yet it is pretty interesting to just look at the building instructions."
"A nice book for kids and adults learning to work with architectural Lego."
"This has been a great inspiration for my son to dig back into his misc."
"good book if you like design, most models can be done with the lego architecture studio set, which is a big plus."
"Got this as a gift for our niece, an architect who loves Lego."
"Fun book with step by step instructions on most of the pictures."
"Bought this for my son who loves Legos."
Best Architectural Decoration & Ornament
Weaving together the insights and guidance of dozens of wallpaper and paint specialists, textile fabricators, accessories artisans, and interior designers, Lemieux has curated an unparalleled education in recognizing the hallmarks of timeless, heirloom-quality pieces. Named to Fortune ’s Most Powerful Women Entrepreneurs, CHRISTIANE LEMIEUX is founder of the lifestyle brand LEMIEUX et CIE.
Reviews
Find Best Price at Amazon"Great book. Which makes this book a great resource for use by you or your friends should you be lucky enough to be able to afford to commission some of them."
"There are 5 main sections to the book: Walls, floors, furniture, textiles, and accessories."
"This book should be required reading for anyone new to design. DON'T MISS THIS BOOK!"
"I really wasn't sure what to expect but the reviews were good so I thought worst case scenario it would look lovely on a coffee table."
"This is a very impressive book!"
"This has turned out to be one of the hottest books in the interior design field this year - And I bought it before it got hyped and expensive!"
"A must read for everyone with an interest in interior design and/or just wanting to understand how to make their home look better!!"
Best Architectural Drafting & Presentation
With a simple, witty story and free-spirited illustrations, Peter H. Reynolds entices even the stubbornly uncreative among us to make a mark — and follow where it takes us. To prove her point, Vashti jabs at a blank sheet of paper to make an unremarkable and angry mark. Once the child takes that very first stab at art, winningly and economically dramatized by Reynolds's fluid pen-and-ink, watercolor, and tea image of Vashti swooping down upon that vacant paper in a burst of red-orange energy, there's no stopping her. Everything about this little gem, from its unusual trim size to the author's hand-lettered text, from the dot-shaped cocoons of carefully chosen color that embrace each vignette of Vashti to her inventive negative-space masterpiece, speaks to them.
Reviews
Find Best Price at Amazon"It's such a inspiring book!"
"This story is amazing."
"Great story!"
"A fantastic book and super price!"
"My grandchild is creative but struggling with her interest in reading."
"The Dot gives reluctant artists confidence to take a risk and draw, create and, more importantly, love what was created!"
"One day I was reading my cousin's FB status and it read, "My seven year old Natalie said that a mistake can become a masterpiece ...she learned that in art class...her own thoughts on this was that sometimes you can make something that you don't like but everybody else loves it and that's because you tried your best ...out of the mouths of babes comes wisdom.""
"It masquerades as a children's book, though it has been read and been life affecting for this 58 year old guy time and time again."
Best Architectural Buildings
With their idyllic settings, unique architecture and cozy interiors, the Cabin Porn photographs, are an invitation to slow down, take a deep breath, and feel the beauty and serenity that nature and simple construction can create. Photographer Noah Kalina 's editorial work has been featured in New York Magazine , Esquire , and, Food & Wine .
Reviews
Find Best Price at Amazon"Remember that time you read Walden your sophomore year and vowed you'd stop wearing deodorant and live a life closer to nature only to get sucked into that marketing internship because Uncle Bob owed your mom and favor and now you're an account executive at a nameless corporation that you secretly hate and every now and then you look wistfully out the window and dream of what it would be like to live (you know like really live, man) out in the forest where you chop wood and catch fish and make moonshine and wear clothes that last forever never go out of style and you wake up at dawn and howl at the moon at night and your house is this beautiful cabin that you built yourself with a pot of strong coffee on the stove and dried elk meat in the storehouse and you have everything you ever wanted as you puff your pipe on the porch during a warm summer night and you breath the cool air and the fireflies illuminate the dusk and you pause and you remember the exact instant when you decided to press reset on your old life and start over again."
"The book is stunning."
"Gave as a gift to a family member who was building his own cottage."
"Great book drafted up from a great website!"
"Great book with tons of good information and pictures!"
"I love the idea, and the title, but as others have said, the printing quality is poor, as was the choice of size."
Best Architectural Criticism
After a ten-year silence, Christopher Alexander and his colleagues at the Center for Environmental Structure are now publishing a major statement in the form of three books which will, in their words, "lay the basis for an entirely new approach to architecture, building and planning, which will we hope replace existing ideas and practices entirely." At the core of the books, too, is the point that in designing their environments people always rely on certain "languages," which, like the languages we speak, allow them to articulate and communicate an infinite variety of designs within a forma system which gives them coherence. The second of three books published by the Center for Environmental Structure to provide a "working alternative to our present ideas about architecture, building, and planning," A Pattern Language offers a practical language for building and planning based on natural considerations.
Reviews
Find Best Price at Amazon"I have read this book cover to cover and love it."
"This is one of those classic alternative-design tomes."
"The most important primer on how the built and natural environment can impact human feelings and behavior - and how design can impact these outcomes."
"This book manages to capture all of the details that add up to well designed cities neighborhoods and houses."
"Recommended years ago by a well renowned Central Texas Landscape Designer and Adjunct Lecturer at Austin Community College."
"Brilliant, timeless thoughts of the New Urbanist school of design."
"It's not sorcery, the perfect knowledge in this book."
"Philosophy, human relationships and architecture are always interdependent - this book takes notice of the importance of each."
Best Regional Architecture
Third Coast Atlas: Prelude to a Plan describes the conditions for urbanization across the Great Lakes region. The book is primarily divided into two different types of chapters: “Potentials” (which are topical and cover subjects like political borders, hydrology, and trash disposal) and “Prospects” (which focus on specific cities like Chicago, Buffalo, and Montreal).
Reviews
Find Best Price at Amazon"The Great Lakes region contains the world’s largest freshwater system and is likely the greatest single surface aggregation of rare resources on the planet. The book contains maps, plans, diagrams, timelines, photos, and they aim to describe the current state of the Great Lakes more than offer prescriptions for the future."
"There is a lot of great content here."
Best Landscape Architecture
A history of landscape design ranges from antiquity to the present day, exploring the diverse ways in which humankind has shaped the landscape around them, from ancient Egyptian royal cemeteries to magnificent Renaissance gardens to modern-day earthworks, reflecting on how the landscape reflects social development and cultural values. Perhaps best known as the founding director of New York's Central Park Conservancy, which oversaw and funded the park's revitalization, Rogers (The Forests and Wetlands of New York City) here presents a comprehensive survey of landscape design. Embracing all cultures and ranging from prehistoric times to the present, this book covers the broadest range of subjects implied by the title, including city planning, landscape architecture, conservation, earthworks, and other uses of land in contemporary art.
Reviews
Find Best Price at Amazon"The author is incredibly intelligent and knowledgable in this field, and on more than one occasion makes you take out your old grammar cards and confirm that yes... somehow the past 12 lines on this page have all been one coherent literarily sound sentence."
"Print is very small and sentences seem to run on."
"This was recommended by one of my students, and it is terrific."
"This is the book i was looking and i did not have to wait long."
"Well written and interesting."
"This book follows landscape and cultural architecture through history and makes me wonder why all schools - from elementary on up - don't attack history lessons from such a practical and fascinating point of view."
Best Vernacular Architecture
In the tradition of Rizzoli’s Historic Houses of the Hudson Valley and Great Houses of New England , Great Houses of the South features a stunning array of newly photographed homes that range over three centuries and are distinctive examples of the architecture of the region. Laurie Ossman has served as the Deputy Director at Vizcaya Museum and Gardens in Miami.
Reviews
Find Best Price at Amazon"THis book is of the great homes of the south that are open to the public."
"My mother-in-law has always been enamored with the South."
"my buddy loved this gift."
"I gave this book to my sister in law for Christmas and she loved it."
"It's the perfect coffee table book - looks so pretty in our living room and I have received numerous compliments."
"Just exactly what I wanted."
Best Historic Architectural Preservation
He has set a high standard for what all historic house museums strive for: magnificently preserved buildings and grounds, engaging interpretation, and--perhaps most challenging of all--economic self-sufficiency. "If George Vanderbilt did nothing more than engage the two most prominent and storied designers of their time, architect Richard Morris Hunt and landscape architect Frederick Law Olmsted, to carry out his vision of a European estate in the southern Appalachians, he would have created an American icon. Covington defends the Biltmore owner's model of private, for-profit historical preservation against charges of commercialism leveled by nonprofit preservationists, repeats his complaints about inheritance taxes, extols his entrepreneurial daring, salutes his Biltmore restoration projects ("surpassed what many had seen anywhere") and raves about "customer satisfaction reports... comparable to those enjoyed by a five-star resort."
Reviews
Find Best Price at Amazon"Very interesting."
"Had to get after the visit."
"Great in-depth understanding of how Biltmore Estate, Biltmore Village and Asheville came to flourish with under the watchful eyes of family dedicated to preserving the legacy of the iconic house and grounds."
"This wonderful book about the Biltmore Estate shows some photos that I had never seen before, and really tells the story of how it was conceived and built -- then lived in -- then restored and opened as a true USA treasure Estate!"
"If you've visited Biltmore, walked it's halls, climbed the Grand Staircase, savored the Library, and said "Wow" more than once, then this book is for you."
"Great read."
"If you love to feel like are behind the scenes you will love this book."
Best Urban & Land Use Planning
After a ten-year silence, Christopher Alexander and his colleagues at the Center for Environmental Structure are now publishing a major statement in the form of three books which will, in their words, "lay the basis for an entirely new approach to architecture, building and planning, which will we hope replace existing ideas and practices entirely." At the core of the books, too, is the point that in designing their environments people always rely on certain "languages," which, like the languages we speak, allow them to articulate and communicate an infinite variety of designs within a forma system which gives them coherence. The second of three books published by the Center for Environmental Structure to provide a "working alternative to our present ideas about architecture, building, and planning," A Pattern Language offers a practical language for building and planning based on natural considerations.
Reviews
Find Best Price at Amazon"I have read this book cover to cover and love it."
"This is one of those classic alternative-design tomes."
"Recommended years ago by a well renowned Central Texas Landscape Designer and Adjunct Lecturer at Austin Community College."
"Brilliant, timeless thoughts of the New Urbanist school of design."
"This book tells you what kinds of solutions work, and for what reasons, in architecture."
"This was a gift for my daughter."
"This is an excellent reference book on Architecture ."
"My second copy, I needed to replace my first."
Best Individual Architects & Firms
For the first time ever, The Louvre: All the Paintings collects all 3,022 paintings currently on display in the permanent collection in one beautifully curated volume.Organized and divided into the four main painting collections of the museum— the Italian School, the Northern School, the Spanish School, and the French School— the paintings are then presented chronologically by the artist's date of birth.Four hundred of the most iconic and significant paintings are illuminated with 300-word discussions by art historians Anja Grebe and Vincent Pomarède on the key attributes of the work, what to look for when viewing the painting, the artist's inspirations and techniques, biographical information on the artist, the artist's impact on the history of art, and more. All 3,022 paintings are fully annotated with the name of the painting and artist, the date of the work, the birth and death dates of the artist, the medium that was used, the size of the painting, the Louvre catalog number, and the room in the Louvre in which the painting is found. He created the Erich Lessing Culture and Fine Arts Archive which is an extensive image library featuring over 40,000 high resolution images from over 500 museums and private collections throughout the world, including a thorough coverage of such institutions as: The Louvre and the Musée d'Orsay in Paris, the Kunsthistorisches Museum in Vienna, the Uffizi in Florence, the Pinacoteca di Brera in Milan, the Prado in Madrid, and many more. He lives in Vienna and travels regularly to Paris and other art capitals of the world.
Reviews
Find Best Price at Amazon"This theoretical DVD only holds 228 MB of data including the software program which doesn't work very well for viewing the images; a CD holds almost 700 MB of data."
"Their Internet site offers far more data than would fit on a DVD."
"It really requires a table top lectern for ease of viewing and study."
"My mother recently traveled to Paris and went to the Louvre where this book was for sale for twice the price."
"It is a good compilation of Louvre collection."
"I was going to pick it up in Paris, but it is so big and heavy it would have put me over the weight limit on my luggage and besides, it was less expensive to buy through Amazon even with shipping."
"The book itself is a work of art."
"Then I got the book."
Best Sustainability & Green Design
In A Guide to the Good Life , William B. Irvine plumbs the wisdom of Stoic philosophy, one of the most popular and successful schools of thought in ancient Rome, and shows how its insight and advice are still remarkably applicable to modern lives. Readers learn how to minimize worry, how to let go of the past and focus our efforts on the things we can control, and how to deal with insults, grief, old age, and the distracting temptations of fame and fortune. William B. Irvine is Professor of Philosophy at Wright State University in Dayton, Ohio.
Reviews
Find Best Price at Amazon"I am a reader of Albert Ellis' books, in particular the subject of how to stop allowing people to push my buttons; I am engaged in cognitive therapy to help me learn how to banish negative emotions and develop tranquility while living my values and developing positive qualities such as reasonableness, self-discipline, and courage; listening to Tom Petty, really for the first time...I know, this is a whole packet of different sources of inspiration which all seem, to me, to be pointing in the same direction - developing integrity while experiencing joy... Learning about Stoic philosophy is like finding a perfectly ripe orchard peach after living with the memory of what they taste like while making due with those tasteless grocery store articles. I'm enjoying this book, thrilled to be finding some texts here on Amazon to learn more about Stoicism written by knowledgeable authors, and feeling very optimistic about life in general again."
"I had a mild interest in these ideas before reading this book, but my interest and the applicability of these ideas to my life have become much more apparent after reading this book!"
"Great book."
"In a "Guide to the Good Life", William B. Irvine wants the reader to understand the very practical benefits ancient stoic thinking can have on problems in our own lives."
"Great book for a resonable price."
"I still use a lot of the stoic practices he teaches in the book even a couple months after I finish it and I must admit it has helped me live a happier more content life."
"If you want to determine if these principles might be beneficial in your life this book will help you determine that."
"Great product, great delivery."
Best Security Design
Keys to the Kingdom addresses the topics of impressioning, master key escalation, skeleton keys, and bumping attacks that go well beyond any treatment of these topics in the author’s previous book, Practical Lock Picking . Every year at DEFCON and ShmooCon, Deviant runs the Lockpick Village, and he has conducted physical security training sessions at Black Hat, DeepSec, ToorCon, HackCon, ShakaCon, HackInTheBox, CanSecWest, ekoparty, and the United States Military Academy at West Point.
Reviews
Find Best Price at Amazon"Easy to read format and a wealth of information."
"Another well written Deviant Ollam book."
"very interesting, average locksmith doesnt care about this stuff."
"Awesome product."
"Keys to the Kingdom: Impressioning, Privilege Escalation, Bumping, and Other Key-Based Attacks Against Physical Locks by Deviant Ollam is an excellent source of information."
"Insights like how something is manufactured that helps you remember why it is an issue (and makes you seem like a genius when explaining it to the rest of your lockpicking buddies)."
"Going through things I have purchased from Amazon after a few pints and realized I have waste a lot of money."
Best Interior Design
With their idyllic settings, unique architecture and cozy interiors, the Cabin Porn photographs, are an invitation to slow down, take a deep breath, and feel the beauty and serenity that nature and simple construction can create. Photographer Noah Kalina 's editorial work has been featured in New York Magazine , Esquire , and, Food & Wine .
Reviews
Find Best Price at Amazon"Remember that time you read Walden your sophomore year and vowed you'd stop wearing deodorant and live a life closer to nature only to get sucked into that marketing internship because Uncle Bob owed your mom and favor and now you're an account executive at a nameless corporation that you secretly hate and every now and then you look wistfully out the window and dream of what it would be like to live (you know like really live, man) out in the forest where you chop wood and catch fish and make moonshine and wear clothes that last forever never go out of style and you wake up at dawn and howl at the moon at night and your house is this beautiful cabin that you built yourself with a pot of strong coffee on the stove and dried elk meat in the storehouse and you have everything you ever wanted as you puff your pipe on the porch during a warm summer night and you breath the cool air and the fireflies illuminate the dusk and you pause and you remember the exact instant when you decided to press reset on your old life and start over again."
"The book is stunning."
"Gave as a gift to a family member who was building his own cottage."
"Great book drafted up from a great website!"
"Great book with tons of good information and pictures!"
"Bought this book for all my children for Christmas....I know they will love it!"
"I love the idea, and the title, but as others have said, the printing quality is poor, as was the choice of size."