Architecture books
Architecture books are the written record of the discipline of architecture, and they are the 3 kinds of text the field is built on, the monograph that studies one building or one architect, the theory book that argues for a way of reading the building, and the handbook that teaches the practice. The books every practitioner should know are a short, stable list, because the canon of the field was written across the 20th century and has held since, and a working shelf of the core titles takes up under 1 meter of desk. A student who reads the core titles enters the studio with the vocabulary the faculty assumes, and a professional who keeps the shelf on the desk has the references the project is argued with, the books the discipline wrote and the practice still reads.
The core titles the field is built on
The core of the architecture bookshelf is the 5 titles that form the canon of the field, and they are the ones the studio assigns and the practice cites. The first is the history, the account of how the building developed, from the temple and the monument of antiquity to the movement of the 20th century, and it is the book that gives the discipline its dates and its names, the survey the first year reads. The second is the theory of the form, the short book that argues for the reading of the building as the form and the space, the book that set the terms the design studio works in, the form and the order and the proportion the design is judged by. The third is the monograph of the modern movement, the book that studies the architects who made the building new in the 20th century, the work of the movement that the contemporary practice descends from. The fourth is the book of the drawing, the text that teaches the representation, the line and the section and the model that the design is drawn in, and it is the one the studio keeps for the drawing. The fifth is the book of the city, the text that sets the building in the ground it stands on, the urban idea the architecture is read against. The 5 titles, the history, the theory, the monograph, the drawing and the city, are the core the shelf is built on.
| Kind of text | What it studies | Where it sits on the shelf |
|---|---|---|
| The monograph | One architect, or one building | The example shelf, read as the project sets its form |
| The theory book | A way of reading the building as form and space | The core shelf, read before the project starts |
| The handbook | Detail, structure and material | Within reach of the drawing |
The 3 kinds of text the field is built on
The 3 kinds of text are the ones a shelf can never grow beyond, because every title a student adds later is a monograph, a theory book or a handbook in one of those 3 places, and the field has been built on the same 3 forms from its start to its present practice.
The monographs that carry the names
The monographs of the architecture book are the books that study one architect or one building, and they are the titles that carry the names the field is known by. The monograph of Frank Lloyd Wright carries the work of the American architect who built the organic house and the prairie form, the book that studies the Robie House and the Fallingwater and the Guggenheim that the movement he led built, and it is the title the practice reads for the life that ran from 1867 to 1959 and made the house the field holds up. The monograph of the modern masters carries the work of the architects of the 20th century movement, the Mies and the Le Corbusier and the Wright whose work the contemporary practice descends from, and the book that studies each is the one the design studio reads for the form. The monograph of the single building carries the study of the one structure that the field holds up, from the tower that opened in 1889 to the opera house that opened in 1973 and set the form the new century works in. The 3 kinds of monograph are the titles that carry the names.
The handbooks and the practice shelf
The handbooks of the architecture book are the reference texts that answer the question of the practice, and they sit on the shelf beside the theory. The handbook of the detail is the book that collects the junction, the wall and the roof and the window detail that the building is put together from, and it is the one the project architect keeps within reach, the reference the drawing is checked against. The handbook of the structure is the book that explains the frame, the way the building carries its weight, and it is the one the design reads when the form meets the span. The handbook of the material is the book that names the substance, the concrete and the steel and the timber and the glass the building is made of, and it is the one the specification is written from. The 3 handbooks, the detail, the structure and the material, are the working shelf of the office, and they are the books the practice opens before the theory.
| Handbook | The question it answers | When the practice opens it |
|---|---|---|
| The detail | How the building is put together at the junction | While the drawing is being checked |
| The structure | How the building carries its weight across the span | When the form meets the span |
| The material | What the building is made of, and how it is named in the specification | When the specification is written |
How the working shelf is arranged
The working shelf is arranged in the order the day works in, the handbook of the detail nearest the hand, the handbook of the structure beside it, and the handbook of the material at the end, so that the 3 handbooks are open in the sequence the drawing needs them, and the theory book waits for the evening on a shelf of its own.
How to build the reading list
To build a reading list in architecture, the reader works from the 3 needs of the work, the foundation, the example and the tool. The foundation is the 2 or 3 books that define the field, the history and the theory, and they are read first because every later book assumes them. The example is the monograph of the architect or the building the work is closest to, and it is read as the project sets the form. The tool is the handbook of the detail and the structure and the material, and it is read as the need for the answer appears. The list is built in that order, the foundation before the example and the example before the tool, and it grows with the career.
- The foundation, the 2 or 3 books that define the field, read first because every later book assumes them
- The example, the monograph of the architect or the building the work is closest to, read as the project sets the form
- The tool, the handbook of the detail and the structure and the material, read as the need for the answer appears
Where to find them
The architecture books are found in the 3 places the discipline keeps them, the library, the publisher and the professional body. The library is the first source, the university and the public library that hold the canon in print and the monograph in the reading room, and it is the source the student uses while the degree is running, the shelf the studio points to. The publisher is the second source, the presses that carry the monograph and the theory and the handbook of the field, and it is the source the professional buys the new edition from, the updated handbook and the new monograph that the study issues. The professional body is the third source, the institute that publishes the journal and the position paper and the catalogue of the work, and it is the source the practitioner reads for the current argument and the recent building rather than the settled canon. The 3 sources together, the library, the publisher and the body, are where the architecture book is found, and the reader who knows the 3 has the whole shelf within reach.
- The library, where the canon is held in print and the monograph sits in the reading room
- The publisher, where the new edition and the updated handbook are issued
- The professional body, where the current argument and the recent building are recorded
The reader who wants to go further starts with Architecture jobs and careers, which maps the practice side of the shelf, and with Construction jobs and trades, which maps the building side, and the two together are the map of the work the architecture book describes. The reader who wants the bridge between the drawing and the build turns to Architecture engineering, where the form and the span meet, and the reader who wants the whole practice in one plain voice turns to A plain-language reference to the practice of architecture, which is the text the studio keeps for the question the project asks before it has a name.