5 comments about Materials, Structures, and Standards: All the Details Architects Need to Know But Can Never Find.

1. This book is so helpful in my studies. I would highly recommend it to anyone in the profession, or students trying to get an edge in class.



2. architectural graphic standard ALWAYS checked out in the library? and all you need to know is how wide the turning radius needs to be for this stupid parking lot? yea i've been there billions of times. my friends at school all started buying this book as a quick reference and it has great information inside. it's by no means exhaustive, but it definitely has enough to get a student by. the information is written and organized in a very accessible way. i highly recommend this book



3. I purchased this book because I had experience borrowing a copy of a friend. It helps when you want to keep working, but need to get specifics. This was you don't have to fish through the Internet for standards, they are easily available in the book.



4. The person who reviewed this book and gave it two stars was definitely unaware of what the book was meant to be. I would NEVER replace graphic standards or any other set of architectural data. However, it is a WONDERFUL quick reference guide for people just starting out in the field. It gives some easy ADA info, some AIA sheet numbering, and other easy to use reference material. I agree with the person that said an architecture student and intern would get the most use out of it. That said, it should be on every student's and intern's studio desk.



5. I am a licensed architect, and have been in professional practice now for 15 years. I thought this book was going to offer me some of the common reference tables I need, or perhaps some of the general ADA measurements that must be exact, but it fell well short of my expectations.
   
   It's not really suitable for anyone in the design profession, and I think much of the book is littered with detailing and CAD standards that are not necessary for your normal do-it-yourselfer or home builder. I think it may be appropriate for architecture students, however, it really does not have sufficient information to instruct students, and much of the material selection information and detailing is flat elementary.

5 comments about Intimate Weddings: Planning a Small Wedding that Fits Your Budget and Style.

1. This book was very helpful. We had three months to plan and it has great check lists.



2. You will not be sorry! The information is organized and practical! There are real-life examples that really make sense and will be useful to you if you are planning an intimate wedding. The author also has first-hand knowledge since she has been through the same experience! My favorite part was the budget guide!



3. While planning my wedding, I found this book to be okay. There were some interesting ideas, but nothing that I really found to be too new/novel; nothing I hadn't already seen in a lot of the bridal magazines. After doing a lot of searching, I found the books published by The Knot to be a lot more helpful.



4. Was a gift for my sister and future brother-in-law. Had it shipped to them, but it was never received. Sounds like a good book though.



5. Friedrichsen's book is good to jump start ideas about having an interesting, frugal wedding. The best parts of her book are the profiles done of various couples, how they managed their small wedding, and how they broke down the budget. Especially well done are ideas that the couples used to save money.
   
   The book may not be good for in depth wedding planning, but perhaps no book is good for that. We have turned to Wedding Planning for Dummies, among others, to help us with the details of ceremonies, contracts, etc.
   
   If you're interested in a good introduction to frugal weddings, this is a good place to start.

5 comments about You Are Here: Personal Geographies and Other Maps of the Imagination.

1. I used a graphic design class I teach as an excuse to purchase this book (I've been wanting it for a while). My students are loving it as much as I do.



2. I've been buying books for 45 years and this is the most wonderful book I own--amazing, thought-provoking, beautiful. My only regret is that I waited so long to purchase it. As improbable as it sounds, "You Are Here" comes across as what might be the lush, lovely, and totally unlikely synthesis of Bachelard's "The Poetics of Space," the imaginative joy of A.A. Milne ("Winnie the Pooh" and "The House at Pooh Corner," etc.) or P.L. Travers ("Mary Poppins," "Mary Poppins Opens the Door," etc.), and the deep wisdom of place and spirit found in the works of Annie Dillard and Kathleen Norris or even Terry Tempest Williams. When I open "You Are Here," my heart, spirit and imagination invariably soar.



3. This book was not what I was expecting but it is interesting nonetheless. It is a collection of (mostly) unconventional maps with a few paragraphs written about each. In addition there are some articles on topics loosely related to cartography and the mind. It is more of a picture book than a reference volume and provides food for thought on mapping and identity.



4. This is a great collection of eccentric, unique and brilliant conceptual maps. It is one of those books that will take you places you never imagined.



5. This is a wonderful and thoughtful and visually stunning collection of artist maps. I LOVE it!!! If you're interested in environmental art, it's a must have for your book collection.

1 comments about Living Systems: Innovative Materials and Technologies for Landscape Architecture.

1. As the former Director of Material Research at Material ConneXion, Liat Margolis combined her many years of experience in innovative multi-industry materials research with the professional design experience of her co-author and fellow Harvard GSD graduate, Alexander Robinson in "Living Systems: Innovative Materials and Technologies for Landscape Architecture."
   
   "Vertical landscapes also represent a conceptual shift toward a synthesis between landscape and architecture; building facades, for example, can be embedded within emergent, active and responsive skins..." Liat Margolis and Alexander Robinson wrote.
   
   They continued to discuss various living systems and applications demonstrated with real examples, including:
   
   Launch (Multi-tiered Vine Park, Misting Vine Pergola, Wind Adapted Road Canopy Structure, Fire-Escape Ecosystem, Parasitic Vegetal Structure)
   
   Stratify (Mechanically Stabilized Landform, Floating Glass Plain, Multi-Operational Modular Surface, Gradient of Resilience, Surface Inversion)
   
   Fluid (Weaving Porous and Non- porous Surfaces, Inflatable Dam System, Stormwater Garden, Drop Structures for Suburban Stormwater System, Networked Sidewalk Stormwater System, Bio-technical Wave and Erosion Control Structures)
   
   Grooming (Tree Crutches Growing Guide, Artificial Winter for a Bamboo Garden, Saltwater Herbicide System, Low-Maintenance Perennial Plantings, Stunted Growth Pattern)
   
   Digestive (Bio-Remediation Park Design, Fluvially Integrated Effluent Wetlands, On-site Sewage Treatment System, Ground Reconstitution Strategy, Strategic Contaminated Soil Placement)
   
   Translate (Pheumatic Body, Power by Wind, the Ground is a Turntable, Weather Informed Park Access System, Fiber Optic Marsh)
   
   Volatile (Responsive Cloud Machine, Computer Animated Rain, Dynamic Thermal Wind Wall, Impression of Rain).
   
   There is a helpful list of products and technologies at the end of the book.
   
   "Living Systems: Innovative Materials and Technologies for Landscape Architecture" has 191 pages and many color interior photos and illustrations. It is a good reference book for both design major students and seasoned professional designers.
   
   Gang Chen, Author of "LEED AP Exam Guide" & "Planting Design Illustrated," LEED AP, AIA

5 comments about Robert Venturi: Complexity and Contradiction in Architecture.

1. "I like complexity and contradiction in architecture." That's how Robert Venturi starts this superb book. No great proclamation. It was an age tired of great proclamations. Instead, Venturi takes us through an impressively learned tour of his favorite things, a grand overview of great architecture, with acute formal analysis of facade and plan composition, sectional variety, and an accumulating realization that complexity is an inevitable force in the tumult of human, urban life.
   Postmodernism has come and gone, but modernism looks as it does today because of this book.



2. this book impacted the field of architecture during its time as much as LeCorbusier did with his book. Its extreme in its area of covering the world of architecture and how Venturi studies each theory on how the world of architecture has changed and is changing. Definately a must read for any architecture student or anyone associated in this long term field. the history of this book is more important than anything. Although alittle complex it is a must for those mentioned.



3. Now that the bottom of postmodernism has actually fallen out and is being dragged along the street by the chains of American capitalism, it's "alright" for students of architecture to return to that misjudged canonical textbook of post-modernism, C+C by Venturi. While not as engaging as his other main work "Learning from Las Vegas", this book still leads the reader into a meticulous analysis of the physical composition of major pieces of architecture, and the composition of the thoughts that made them. After reading it, I found myself unconciously applying it's main dichtomy of complexity and contradiction to much of the architecture around me, if that is any testament to its power.



4. I had to read this book for a class specifically regarding Robert Venturi and the postmodernism movement that he became a leading proponent of. However, this book is NOT a manifesto for a postmodern vacabulary- rather, this book looks at all architecture from the Parthenon to the common family home. Let me say that I have read many architectural theory books, but nothing that really inspired me to look at a building and really see what the architect intended like Complexity and Contradiction. This book really focused my attention on the possibilities for great architecture on any level- from museum to treehouse. I feel that anyone with an interest in appreciating architecture should certainly read this book. Because of my studies of Robert Venturi and his contemporaries, I have pursued a degree in architecture and certainly plan to incorperate his ideas and philosophies into my work.



5. venturi's book highlights the inherent complexity in today's post-modern society, coupled with the depth of comprehension often mistaken by critics. A must buy for Architecture students!

5 comments about The Green House: New Directions in Sustainable Architecture.

1. The order was processed and shipped very quickly. The product is just as it was described. Excellent purchase experience!



2. Well designed and easy to use Layout on this Book for People interested in modern & green architecture. I recommend this book without any doubt. A very good source of inspiration!



3. Very nice book if you are interested in sustainbility and green architecture.



4. The book focuses on very modern designs, which are frequently stark or very heavy on the glass and steel. There are some ideas for creating a "greener" house, but most of the examples ignore the most basic green principle of minimizing the square footage of the house. Also, with a few exceptions, most of the examples appear to be very pricey.



5. I liked this book and I think the other reviews have summed this book up well.

3 comments about Spiral Jetta: A Road Trip through the Land Art of the American West (Culture Trails).

1. Land art was a controversial movement that came out of the 1960's and 1970's. Artists like Robert Smithson, Nancy Holt and Walter DeMaria tore apart the concept of art being individual works displayed in a gallery or sculpture garden independent of surroundings and time. They went to the most remote corners of the American west and southwest and created huge installations that are wedded to the landscape with an expectation that time and elements, as well as the viewers' physical perspective, can change their work and statement.
   
   A generation later, an urbanite armed with a doctorate in art history, who was well read on the debate about land art realized that since its entire point is about where it is, she ought to go out and see these icons for herself. Erin Hogan may have been intellectually equipped, but going to land art is nothing like donning heels and a black dress and going to a gallery opening in Chicago. Thus her book is an amalgam of art history, art criticism and a frequently funny travelogue of an innocent who had never traveled solo before. The title of the book incorporates this range: the first earthwork she visits is Smithson's "Spiral Jetty" on Salt Lake, and the car she drives to remote, off-road locations requiring high-riding all-wheel drive vehicles is a VW Jetta.
   
   This book works on many accounts: Hogan is a natural storyteller and she is an accessible interpreter of art history and criticism. Due to very poor directions, not to mention a scary evening in a bar called the Saddle Sore, she does not find Holt's "Sun Tunnels" and later, a conversation with a Navajo ranger convinces her that it would be foolhardy in gun country to seek James Turrell's "Roden Crater." Although that's disappointing, she achieves some major experiences, especially a transformative overnight at De Maria's "Lightening Field." However inauspicious their start on the trip, she and the Jetta survive, and she provides revised travel directions for those who would like to make their own pilgrimages without the slapstick.



2. As a woman who also took a road trip (well, OK, it was in a converted bus with my husband, pets, 200 pairs of shoes - and I still had to be dragged kicking and screaming), and lived to write about it, I had high expectations for this book. I was not disappointed. Even though I've never been that interested in "land art," Hogan nevertheless manages to bring it to life with humor and grace. I could also relate to her many misadventures as well as her growth during the trip, and I'm certain other readers will love going along for this ride.



3. Many art historians have written about the great modern earthworks of the American West and Southwest, but this is the first travel book to do so. What sets this book apart from others of its kind is the quality of the writing and the personality of the author, Erin Hogan. Hogan, an avowed urbanista from Chicago, writes with real comedic flair about the road trip she took in her trusty VW Jetta to visit the legendary Spiral Jetty, Lightning Field, Double Negative, Rodencrater, and Donald Judd's Chinati Foundation in Marfa (almost all of them funded by the Dia Foundation). Writing in a picaresque mode, along the way she encounters some pretty hairy and scary characters straight out of the old Wild West, but gone wrong, terribly wron. While her discussions of the formidable works of Judd, Smithson et al are excellent and accessible for general readers, the account of her accidental discovery of a folk-art site known as Hole 'n' the Rock is absolutely transcendent, right up there on a par with Perelman, Benchley, Woody Allen. A fabulous read. I hope we'll be seeing more from this talented writer--and soon.

5 comments about Sun, Wind & Light: Architectural Design Strategies, 2nd Edition.

1. An excellent book. A must have for any architect, builder, interior designer...
   
   Just buy it.



2. This is one of the best books I've seen that address building architectural design considerations that affect heating, cooling, ventilation and lighting. It presents tidbits from real designs, focuses on maximizing the effects of the local climate on the building toward the objective of a comfortable and usable living/working space, and addresses supplemental systems as well. This information presumes a level of knowledge relating to some of these concepts that I don't currently have, making it a pretty hard read in many places. However, the book digs pretty deep into each area, providing enough information to get a good start on a building design. The fusion of engineering and creativity is my favorite feature of this book. It provides insight into creative building designs while also presenting the more quantitative factors necessary to size and evaluate a design for intended use.



3. I thought the book itself was really interesting although a little confusing. Especially when I actually had to use it for class assignments!



4. Although I normally read books in twos and threes on the same topic to gain varied perspectives, this is the first time I am writing a single review encompassing two books. They mesh together so well that I cannot imagine studying this subject without having BOTH in hand.
   
   The two books are Sun, Wind & Light: Architectural Design Strategies, 2nd Edition and The HOK Guidebook to Sustainable Design.
   
   Start with the introduction in the Guidebook, which is blessed with a Foreword from Paul Hawken and see especially page 13 where the cost benefits are shown, with 48% energy savings for Gold, 30% for Silver, and 28% for Certified. See also the illustration on page 15 that I have reproduced in the image I am loading for both books: the old decision model was Cost at the top, with Schedule and Quality anchoring the triangle. the new decision model still has cost at the top, but Schedule and Human Health, Safety, & Comfort are on corners of this new pentagon, and the bottom is achored by Quality and Ecology, or what Paul Hawken would call in his books, "true cost" to the Earth and Humanitas.
   
   NOW shift to the Contents and the Detailed Contents of Sun, Wind, & Light. As one reviewer notes, this is a course book. I did not recognize it as such, I saw it as one of the most gifted complete collection of factors to learn and apply that I have ever seen for ANY topic of study. The content and organization of this book is nothing short of Nobel-level "wow." Finish going through this book.
   
   NOW go back to the first 218 pages of the Handbook, and study the checklists and varied helpful boxes and explanations. The rest of the book (217-459) is case studies of specific buildings, each a few pages, that can be left for last.
   
   At this point, I went into the Glossaries and Bibliographies of both books. Each is distinct, neither supplants the other. They must be taken together. I read Glossaries, and Indices, as content, and use them as a form of "second look" (in extremely complex books, this is actually where I start).
   
   NOW go back to the Case Studies in the Handbook, and read each from the point of view of what "take away" lessons are there for your own building.
   
   Reading these two books was a real treat. Outside my office kitchen is a deck with an 11 point system for attracting birds from bluebirds and bluejays to cardinals, gold finches, two kinds of woodpecker, and a flicker as well as the more common birds. I believe in diversity, and I believe that if we don't get our act together and start living up to the ideals of Natural Capitalism (see other recommended books below), our world will go sterile and dark before out great-grandchilden can share in the beauty of this planet. These two books are part of the solution, and I am in serious awe of those who made them available to all of us, and at reasonable prices to boot. Well done!!!
   
   Blessed Unrest: How the Largest Movement in the World Came into Being and Why No One Saw It Coming
   Natural Capitalism: Creating the Next Industrial Revolution
   The Ecology of Commerce
   Ecological Economics: Principles And Applications
   For the Common Good: Redirecting the Economy toward Community, the Environment, and a Sustainable Future
   The Soul of Capitalism: Opening Paths to a Moral Economy
   Capitalism 3.0: A Guide to Reclaiming the Commons (Bk Currents)
   The Philosophy of Sustainable Design



5. So instead of getting a manual on how to design a building to maximize sun, wind, and light, what I got was a lengthy math book on how to quantitatively analyze the sun, light and wind in existing conditions.... There are some nuggets of good info but I don't see myself getting very much out of the book in general.

5 comments about The Very Efficient Carpenter: Basic Framing for Residential Construction (For Pros By Pros).

1. VERY informative, need a slight tweeking for 2008 Guidelines for Los Angeles County. Otherwise I thought it was excellent reading, either at the site or in the kitchen with a cup of Coffee.
   They need to rethink the binding, the pages fall out after awhile, but Otherwise I'm ready for the next edition. Many thanks to the Author.



2. I want a Larry Haun tee shirt, beer mug, calendar, tool bag and special edition saw. It is a pleasure to read a book that was written by someone who knows what he is talking about. It doesn't get any better for me. I'm not kidding, this is one of those rare books that teach a trade in an inspiring way. For what I'm up to, I will never need to look at another framing book.



3. Mr. Haun certainly knows a great deal about carpentering and he conveys a lot of that knowledge in this book; however, terms are introduced prior to being defined or explained, which makes it a bit difficult to extract the information. If one has the patience to read the entire book, the terms are eventually explained, but it requires you to go back and re-read the parts where these mysterious terms were initially used. A little help from a professional writer/editor would enhance the value of the book.



4. this is a great resource. it covers the basics and then some. if everyone on your crew was familiar with this system, you could easily frame a house in a week.



5. I am doing an addition and wanted to frame it my self, knew a little about framing but not enough. Great book on the way to frame and how to build walls. highly recomended. There is a video that goes with this book buy it also. I went back and referenced both the book and the video through out the framing of our addition.

5 comments about Why Buildings Stand Up: The Strength of Architecture.

1. As a structures primer, there is no better read. Why Buildings Stand Up covers the breadth of historical presidents intermingled with well presented, clearly written structural techniques. Certainly not an exhaustive textbook, it does however generate momentum for further study and will definitely lay a solid foundation of structural understanding. An absolute essential for young architects and a great read for anyone interested in some construction fundamentals. If you're more interested in the "what went wrong" kind of structural failure documentary as opposed to this more technical piece, see Why Buildings Fall Down also by Salvadori.



2. Very nice book!!
   Very easy to read!
   There you can learn many things that you never known!!



3. I receipt the book very quikly and in excelent conditios of use, as a new book.



4. This book provides a layman's explanation of structural engineering without being overly simple or condensending.
   
   The early chapters on loads, materials, and beams and columns were a short but good foundation. The explanations of buildings, bridges, and dams, and other "non building" structures provides a useful broadening of perspective for those involved primarily in commercial building projects, but who may, on occasion, encounter more unusual complex sturctures.
   
   For those who are not engineers, but make their living building commercial building every day - building owners, architects, contractors, lenders, and insurers - this is about as much information as they need and can handle.
   
   Choosing Project Success - A Guide for Building Professionals



5. I never received this book from Amazon. Now I get to go through the fun process of trying to get a refund. Amazon sucks. Meanwhile, I bought this book at a bookstore and it is really good.